Jules Verne Short Story 'The Camera-Phone'

AMIENS, FRANCE—Literary scholars announced that they have unearthed a 33-page handwritten manuscript of "The Camera-Phone," a short story believed to have been written in 1874 by French novelist Jules Verne, the man often considered to be the originator of modern science fiction.

Jules Verne, 1828–1905.

"The discovery of this highly prophetic work is exciting in both a literary and a social context," Jean-Michel Frelseien of the Ecole-Polytechnique said Monday. "This story of a hand-held communications and picture-taking device that leads to social upheaval in 21st-century France provides yet another example of Verne's celebrated prescience."

"Le Telephon-Photographique," which Frelseien identified as having been written just after Verne's masterpiece 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, is narrated by Gui Cingulaire, the nephew of brilliant but monomaniacal professor Bernard Cingulaire. An ambitious, gifted scientist, Bernard fails to predict that his invention, a portable telephone that can take photographs and send short script messages, will contribute to the breakdown of traditional manners among Parisians.

Frelseien said the manuscript was found among the belongings of Verne's publisher, Pierre-Jules Hertzel, along with an uncompleted letter rejecting the work as "pessimistic, preposterous, and unappealing in premise."

via: The Onion :October 13, 2004