New-York tribune., 1902-07-24
NO NOVELS IN THE FUTURE
NJ JULES VERNE BELIEVES THAT NEWS
PAPERS WILL BE A SUBSTITUTE.
From The London Daily Mail.

From The London Daily Mail.
I had not NJ Jules Verne's address when / ar
rived at Amiens Station. but soon found that
1t was quite unnecessary for everybody knew
M Jules" as his fellow townsmen call the
veteran author 1 found him at his club, and it
will interest English admirers of the man TO
know that in appearance he is exactly what the
author of his books should be.
faced Jules Verne looks like a captain who
is spending the autumn Of a We'll hlled lie on
shore. Although seventy-four years old, suffer-
ing from cataract and lame in one leg (he was
shot in the foot by a madman some years ago),
the old gentleman is hearty In manner ana
brightly interested in all the worlds dolngs-
II really would much rather interview you
than be interviewed" he said. Yes, suppose
] may consider my life's work as nearly finished.
at work now on my hundredth volume, ana
in the nature of things doubt whether shall
ever write another. In fact, my feeble eye
sight prevents from doing more than page
or two of it a day just now if 1 want to keep
up with the worlds news as we'll Only eighty
four of my one hundred volumes have been pub
Ushed so far and they will continue to appear
st six month intervals, so that, of course ten
or twelve Of them very likely to be post
hunaous I work extremely quick when am in
health, and if the operation Tor cataract Whlch
I must shortly undergo, restores my eyesight
for me, as the doctor hopes 1t WILL may, after
ALL go on into my second century or volumes
For 1 am quite untired and work, either at my
books or at the municipal business of Amiens, is
my chief recreation
THE field OF the romance writer of the future?
You're quite right, the question is an interest
ing one and I'm inclined to think my answer to
Il will astOnish you. Where do l think will
the novelist of the future seek the plots and the
environment for his novels?"
Jules Verne leaned forward, and drummed
gently on the table. Il do not think there viii
be any novels OF romances, at all events in vol
ume form. in fifty or a hundred years from
now" he said. And the old gentleman laughed
at my surprise.
mo, do not think there will be any novels.
They will be supplanted altogether by the daily
newspaper. which has already now taken such
q grip OF the lives of the progressive nations"
But the romance?" l said. The novel, the
descriptive story. the story historic and the
'They will all disappear said NJ Verne.
They are not necessary, and even now their
merit and their interest are fast declining. AS
historic records, the world will file its news
papers. Newspaper writer's have learned to
color everyday events so well that TO read them
will give posterity a truer picture than the his
toric or descriptive novel could do, and as for
the novel psychological, that will soon cease to
be, and Will die of inanition in your own life
time"
ond to no living man. he cried, lin my ad-
mration of the greatest psychologist the world
has ever knowT-Guy de Maupassant-and he.
Ike all true seniuses, foresaw the trend Of
human ideas and needs, and wrote his stories in
the smallest possible compass. Each one of De
Maupassant's soul studies is a concentrated loz-
enge Of psychology. The De MaupasSants who
will delight the world in years 10 come will do
so in the newspapers of the day, and not in
volumes, and they VIII, you newspaper men
express it. crystalline the psychology Of the
world in which they live by writing up the day
TO day events. The real psychology of life is in
its news and more truth-truth with big t
can De Salnereu IrOh the poiice court STORY the
railway accident, from the everyday doings of
the crowd and from the battles of the future
than can be obtained If attempt is made to
clothe the psychological moral in garb Of fc-
ton
You mentioned battles. You dc not think
then, that in the fulness Of time all war must
cease?'
mo; I do not think so. Nature will always
sway the world, and il is mans nature to fight
for supremacy, matter how deadly the con-
fict may become
And in your line, NJ. Verne? Where
will the imaginative fantasists OF the future 20
for their plots?"
II do not think there Will be many of them -
said Jules Verne 81 have heard OF Mr.. Wells
and intend, soon as can flnd the time 10
read the French transations of his book. But
believe that the fantastic novel is on it's last
legs. The writer OF the future, even IL he peo-
pies Mars the moon and other planets, can only
Go so upon human data. The moon men will be
human beings in carnival attire, that is all. One
day, perhaps communication with the other
planets will be possible. and then you will have