Mathias Sandorf
Encyclopedia
Mathias Sandorf was an 1885 adventure book by French
writer Jules Verne. It was first serialized in Le Temps in 1885, and it was Verne's epic Mediterranean adventure. It employs many of the devices that had served well in his earlier novels: islands, cryptograms, surprise revelations of identity, technically advanced hardware and a solitary figure bent on revenge. Verne dedicated the novel to the memory of Alexandre Dumas, pere
, hoping to make Mathias Sandorf the Monte Cristo
of Voyages Extraordinaires
(The Extraordinary Voyages) series.
Fifteen years later, the renowned physician Dr. Antekirtt (actually Sandorf) sets out to avenge his friends. Enlisting the aid of two French acrobats, Pescade and Matifou, he scours the Mediterranean in search of those who planned the betrayal. Rich beyond all imagination, wielding great power and master of an island fortress filled with advanced weaponry, Dr. Antekirtt will not rest until justice is done.
, the Steam House
(La Maison à vapeur) and Mathias Sandorf, are set in three of Europe's great Empires: the Russian, the British (in India), and the Austrian. Their plots and themes have a good deal in common, as Jean Yves Tadie points out. Each one is about the empire's political troubles, each features a pursuer who is himself pursued, each has a trio of characters at its centre and each grants minor importance (compared with other Verne books) to machinery.
(From Seven Types of Adventure: An Eniology of Major Genre by Martin Green Penn State Press).
, one of the publisher's friends. Others see similarities with Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth
and Austrian prince Ludwig Salvator.
The action moves from Trieste down the Adriatic coast, to Sicily and the shores of North Africa. "I wish my readers to learn everything they should know about the Mediterranean," Verne wrote Hetzel," which is why the action transports them to twenty different places" (Simon Vierne, Jules Verne, Paris Ballard 1986). Several of the settings come from Verne's own travels, a rescue during a storm off Malta and visits to Catania and Etna.
Verne researched the Italian landscape by rereading some of Stendhal's works notably Promenades in Rome and The Charterhourse of Parma. Verne may have first heard about the Foiba
beneath Pisino
castle in Charles Yriarte’s
works Les Bords de l'Adriatique (The Ports of the Adriatic) - (Hachette, Paris 1878) and Trieste e l'Istria (Trieste and Istria) - (Hachette, Paris 1875). Yriatre described the old castle as well as his trip down into the gorge. He also mentioned an experiment by a young nobleman, Count Esdorff, to find the end of the underground river. Unfortunately the count's boat never made it out of the underground cave.
The first edition was dedicated to Alexandre Dumas, père. His son
was so moved by the love expressed in the dedication that he wrote a letter to Verne which said 'I've been loving you for so long that I feel like your brother', and admitted that in literature Verne is Dumas' son more than he himself.
The steam yacht
of doctor Antekirtt, Savarena, is a true portrait of Verne's own steam yacht which he bought from the eccentric millionaire marquis
de Préaulx for 60,000 F
.
There have also been three screen adaptations of Mathias Sandorf. The first was made in 1921 and directed by Henri Fescourt
. It starred Yvette Andréyor
, Romuald Joube, Jean Toulout
.
During the 20s Fescourt was one of the most successful directors working for Cineroman, and Mathias Sandorf, Les Gransa and Mandarin were among his most popular works.
In 1963 Georges Lampin
directed another version and starring Louis Jourdan, Francisco Rabal
, Renaud Mary, Serena Vergano
. The most recent version was a TV miniseries made for French television in 1979. Directed by Jean-Pierre Decourt it starred the Hungarian Istvan Bujtor
as Mathias Sandorf, Ivan Desny
as Zathmar, Amadeus August
, Claude Giraud, Monika Peitsch, Sissy Höfferer
, Jacques Breuer
.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
writer Jules Verne. It was first serialized in Le Temps in 1885, and it was Verne's epic Mediterranean adventure. It employs many of the devices that had served well in his earlier novels: islands, cryptograms, surprise revelations of identity, technically advanced hardware and a solitary figure bent on revenge. Verne dedicated the novel to the memory of Alexandre Dumas, pere
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, hoping to make Mathias Sandorf the Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...
of Voyages Extraordinaires
Voyages Extraordinaires
Les Voyages Extraordinaires was a publishing title affixed to the novels and non-fictional writings of French author and science fiction pioneer Jules Verne...
(The Extraordinary Voyages) series.
Overview
In Trieste, 1867, two petty criminals, Sarcany and Zirone, intercept a carrier pigeon. They find a ciphered message attached to its leg and uncover a plot to liberate Hungary from Habsburg-Austrian rule. The two meet with Silas Toronthal, a corrupt banker and form a plan to deliver the conspirators to the police in exchange for a rich reward. The three Hungarian conspirators, Count Mathias Sandorf, Stephen Bathory and Ladislas Zathmar (in their Hungarian form: Sándor Mátyás, Báthory István and Szatmári László, respectively) are arrested and sentenced to death. Only Sandorf can escape.Fifteen years later, the renowned physician Dr. Antekirtt (actually Sandorf) sets out to avenge his friends. Enlisting the aid of two French acrobats, Pescade and Matifou, he scours the Mediterranean in search of those who planned the betrayal. Rich beyond all imagination, wielding great power and master of an island fortress filled with advanced weaponry, Dr. Antekirtt will not rest until justice is done.
The Wanderer's Tale: An Adventure Subgenre
In the generation after Dumas, Jules Verne wrote a number of Wanderer adventures. Three of the most notable, Michael StrogoffMichael Strogoff
Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1876. Critics consider it one of Verne's best books. Unlike some of Verne's other famous novels, it is not science fiction, but a scientific phenomenon is a plot device. The book was later adapted to a play, by Verne...
, the Steam House
The Steam House
The Steam House is a Jules Verne novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant...
(La Maison à vapeur) and Mathias Sandorf, are set in three of Europe's great Empires: the Russian, the British (in India), and the Austrian. Their plots and themes have a good deal in common, as Jean Yves Tadie points out. Each one is about the empire's political troubles, each features a pursuer who is himself pursued, each has a trio of characters at its centre and each grants minor importance (compared with other Verne books) to machinery.
(From Seven Types of Adventure: An Eniology of Major Genre by Martin Green Penn State Press).
Background on the novel
Verne claimed that Sandorf was modeled on his publisher. Like Hetzel, a former exile, Sandorf has fervent patriotism and a high moral sense. Dr Antekirtt is a mixture of Hetzel and BixioNino Bixio
Nino Bixio was an Italian soldier and politician, who fought for the Italian unification.Born in Genoa, while still a boy, Bixio was compelled by his parents to embrace a career in the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia...
, one of the publisher's friends. Others see similarities with Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
and Austrian prince Ludwig Salvator.
The action moves from Trieste down the Adriatic coast, to Sicily and the shores of North Africa. "I wish my readers to learn everything they should know about the Mediterranean," Verne wrote Hetzel," which is why the action transports them to twenty different places" (Simon Vierne, Jules Verne, Paris Ballard 1986). Several of the settings come from Verne's own travels, a rescue during a storm off Malta and visits to Catania and Etna.
Verne researched the Italian landscape by rereading some of Stendhal's works notably Promenades in Rome and The Charterhourse of Parma. Verne may have first heard about the Foiba
Foiba
Foiba is a type of deep natural sinkhole, doline, sink and is a collapsed portion of bedrock above a void. Sinks may be a sheer vertical opening into a cave, or a shallow depression of many acres which are common in the Kras region, a karstic plateau region shared by Italy, Slovenia and...
beneath Pisino
Pazin
Pazin is the administrative seat of Istria County in Croatia. The town has a population of 4,986 , the total Pazin municipality population is 9,227...
castle in Charles Yriarte’s
Charles Yriarte
Charles Yriarte was a French writer from a family originally from Spain. He studied architecture in the École des Beaux-Arts and became in 1856 inspector of government buildings. Later, he joined the Spanish army as reporter for the Monde illustré on their campaign in Morocco...
works Les Bords de l'Adriatique (The Ports of the Adriatic) - (Hachette, Paris 1878) and Trieste e l'Istria (Trieste and Istria) - (Hachette, Paris 1875). Yriatre described the old castle as well as his trip down into the gorge. He also mentioned an experiment by a young nobleman, Count Esdorff, to find the end of the underground river. Unfortunately the count's boat never made it out of the underground cave.
The first edition was dedicated to Alexandre Dumas, père. His son
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
was so moved by the love expressed in the dedication that he wrote a letter to Verne which said 'I've been loving you for so long that I feel like your brother', and admitted that in literature Verne is Dumas' son more than he himself.
The steam yacht
Steam yacht
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...
of doctor Antekirtt, Savarena, is a true portrait of Verne's own steam yacht which he bought from the eccentric millionaire marquis
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
de Préaulx for 60,000 F
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Mathias Sandorf was performed as a five act play in Paris in the 1880s. It even played the Boston theatre in the fall of 1888.There have also been three screen adaptations of Mathias Sandorf. The first was made in 1921 and directed by Henri Fescourt
Henri Fescourt
Henri Fescourt was a French film director. He directed some 40 films in his career.- Filmography:* 1912 : Un vol a été commis* 1912 : Le Petit restaurant de l'impasse Canin...
. It starred Yvette Andréyor
Yvette Andréyor
Yvette Andréyor was a French actress of the silent era. She appeared in 108 films between 1910 and 1962.She was born and died in Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* Fantômas * Judex...
, Romuald Joube, Jean Toulout
Jean Toulout
Jean Toulout was a French film actor. He appeared in over 100 films between 1911 and 1959.He was born and died in Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* La Fugue de Monsieur Perle...
.
During the 20s Fescourt was one of the most successful directors working for Cineroman, and Mathias Sandorf, Les Gransa and Mandarin were among his most popular works.
In 1963 Georges Lampin
Georges Lampin
Georges Lampin was a French film director. He directed twelve films between 1946 and 1963.- Selected filmography :* La Tour, prends garde ! * Crime and Punishment * Passion...
directed another version and starring Louis Jourdan, Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
, Renaud Mary, Serena Vergano
Serena Vergano
Serena Vergano born Adalgisa Serena Maggiora Vergano , is an Italian actress. She was the muse of the Barcelona School of Film, acting in many of the films of this movement.-Career:...
. The most recent version was a TV miniseries made for French television in 1979. Directed by Jean-Pierre Decourt it starred the Hungarian Istvan Bujtor
István Bujtor
István Bujtor , born István Frenreisz, was a Hungarian actor, director, producer and screenplay writer- Biography :...
as Mathias Sandorf, Ivan Desny
Ivan Desny
Ivan Nikolai Desnitskij was a Russian actor born in China who worked for most of his life in Germany.-Career:Desny was a film/movie actor. He acted in more than 150 films, most of them German...
as Zathmar, Amadeus August
Amadeus August
Amadeus August was a German actor and singer who spoke French and English.- Career :Amadeus August became famous throughout Europe as protagonist of the successful European TV series Quentin Durward which was broadcast for the first time in 1971 and had later on some re-runs...
, Claude Giraud, Monika Peitsch, Sissy Höfferer
Sissy Höfferer
Sissy Höfferer is an Austrian television actress.She had engagements at numerous theater companies such as the Residenztheater Munich, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg and the Volkstheater Munich after completing her studies at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna...
, Jacques Breuer
Jacques Breuer
Jacques Breuer is a German television actor.-Selected filmography:*2006 Im Tal der wilden Rosen-Vermächtnis der Liebe TV-movie*2006 Vergiss, wenn du lieben willst TV-movie...
.
External links
- Read Chapter 1 of the classic edition reissued by ROH Press
- Click to read the first two chapters of Ed Brumgach's new 2005 English translation.
- Click to read the original French version.
- Mathias Sandorf international list of first editions.
- Mathias Sandorf Article and little known facts.
- Leon Bennet's Illustrations.