Journey to the Center of the Earth was written by the French writer Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905), who is best known for Extraordinary Voyages, a series of science fiction/dystopian adventure stories that includes Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) as well as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). Verne was born in the French port city of Nantes and from a young age was fascinated by the idea of sea adventure. According to family legend, Verne attempted to run away from home as a child to join a ship crew and sail to India but was safely retrieved by his father. Verne’s desire for adventure expressed itself in later years in his literary interests. He was sent to Paris to study law but soon began attending literary salons and engaged full time in writing stories and plays, garnering the attention of such prominent authors as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Despite his father’s displeasure with his literary inclinations, Verne continued writing and publishing, augmenting his income with various low-paying jobs, such as a secretary position at the Théâtre lyrique, where he could cheaply produce some of his plays.

In 1857, Verne married Honorine de Viane, a young widow with two daughters, and, needing a steady income, he eventually became a stockbroker, continuing to write in his spare time. In 1862, he met the well-known editor and publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, who became interested in Verne’s writing. The following year Hetzel publishes his novel Five Weeks in a Balloon, which becomes an immediate literary success. The two men continued their collaboration, giving rise to the series Extraordinary Voyages. These works showcase Verne’s innovative style of combining scientific facts and theories with romantic adventures. Even though the writer had no formal education in science, he had a passion for knowledge and read widely. His works seem almost prophetic at times as he predicted a number of scientific inventions, such as submarines, cars, and television.

During his lifetime, Verne achieved international commercial success, but his popularity, in a way, prevented him from receiving critical acclaim. His literary influence in anglophone regions, for example, remained limited for a long time as his works were often published in highly abridged or altered translations, earning him a reputation as a children’s writer, while in France he was relegated to the role of a genre writer. However, in the second half of the 20th century, his oeuvre was reassessed by critics and scholars, and his works were eventually included in the French literary canon. Along with H. G. Wells, Verne is now hailed as one of the fathers of modern science fiction. At present, Verne is the second most-translated author in the world, ranking between Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare.

Journey to the Center of the Earth plays an important role in contemporary Western popular culture. It has been adapted for the screen multiple times, starting with the 1959 Hollywood film version. There have also been several TV and radio adaptations, as well as video games and theme park attractions based on the book’s premise. This study guide refers to the Dover Thrift edition from 2005, based on the 1876 Routledge publication. This version is the most faithful translation of the original text; other editions may include chapter titles, different character names, and even changes to the plot or dialogue.

Plot Summary

Journey to the Center of the Earth follows a first-person linear narrative, told in retrospect. In Hamburg, a well-known German mineralogist, Professor Otto Lidenbrock, lives together with his orphaned nephew, Axel, and his goddaughter, Gräuben. Axel and Gräuben are in love and secretly engaged. One day, Otto discovers a note written in code by a famous Icelandic alchemist, Arne Saknussemm. With the help of his nephew, Otto discovers that the note, written in Latin in reverse, gives instructions on how to reach the center of the Earth via a crater in Iceland: At the end of June, the shadow of the Scartaris peak will fall onto the entrance. Without delay, the two men embark on a journey to Iceland, via Copenhagen.

Otto and Axel sail to Reykjavik and there hire a local guide, Hans, to take them to the Snäfell mountain, where the crater is supposed to be. The small group traverses Iceland, observing its landscape and people. After more than a week on the road, they ascend the southern peak of Snäfell, called Scartaris by the locals, and descend into its crater. There they find three chimneys and, after waiting for several days because of overcast skies, they are finally able to observe that the peak’s shadow marks the middle chimney as the entrance described by Saknussemm.  

The three men use a rope to climb down the chimney. At the bottom, a tunnel opens, leading southeast. After several days, the group reaches a fork in the road. Otto decides to turn left, and the three men continue their journey. However, the tunnel seems to be horizontal, and they eventually reach a dead end. It becomes clear they need to return to the fork, but they are running out of water and suffer greatly on the way back. After barely making it back to the crossroad, Axel wants to go back to the surface. Otto, however, is determined to explore the other tunnel and is convinced that they will soon find water. Axel does not want to abandon his uncle, so the three men continue forward. After an hour, Axel is exhausted and delirious from thirst, and they are forced to stop. Hans eventually continues alone in search of water and soon discovers a place in the tunnel where it is possible to hear the sounds of a river. Hans uses a pickaxe to pierce the wall where the sound is the strongest, and soon there is a stream of boiling liquid flowing into the tunnel. The three men must wait for some time for the water to cool down but are finally able to quench their thirst. The little stream continues flowing down the tunnel and serves as a water source for the group.

Otto, Axel, and Hans continue their slow descent. At one point, Axel somehow takes a wrong turn unnoticed and finds himself completely alone. He also stumbles, injuring himself and damaging his lantern, which turns off, leaving him in complete darkness and silence. After some time wondering in the dark, Axel hears his uncle’s voice, carried a long way through the tunnel. They determine they are in parallel shafts and that Axel should go down so that he will eventually reach a chamber where multiple tunnels open up. He does that but causes a rockslide and falls down, hitting his head. He loses consciousness but is rescued by his uncle, who is waiting at the bottom.

After regaining consciousness, Axel discovers that they have reached a vast open space that contains a subterranean sea. Otto decides that they must cross the open water to reach the other shore, where he anticipates they will continue their descent into the center of the Earth. Hans constructs a raft from semi-fossilized wood, and they set sail. While traversing the sea, they encounter huge prehistoric monsters who battle each other, as well as a volcanic island with a geyser next to it. Eventually, they sail into a storm and are tossed around for several days. The raft reaches land, but to Otto’s despair, it seems they have arrived on the same shore from which they embarked. While waiting for Hans to repair the raft to try traversing the water a second time, the professor and Axel go on a walk. They come across human remains, theorizing that these must be people who lived in pre-historic times. Further along the shore, they come across a forest where they observe a herd of mastodons. Axel is convinced he sees a 12-foot-tall human among the trees, but after he and his uncle run away in fear, he begins doubting his own eyes.

On the way back, they discover Saknussemm’s initials and discover an opening in the rock face. However, the passage is blocked by a wall. The group decides to use gunpowder to blast away the obstacle. They board the raft and set fire to powder. Even though they do not hear an explosion, they observe a shift in the rock face and realize that they have created a chasm and that the sea is flowing through the new opening. Their raft is swept along, and they keep falling for a long time, until eventually they stop and Otto realizes that they are being swept upward on top of a waterspout. They realize they are at the forefront of a volcanic eruption, carried upward by a side shaft by water, which soon becomes a white boiling mass. In this way, they are swept up and out of the ground. The three men find themselves on the Italian island of Stromboli. From there, they make their way in several stages to Hamburg. Hans continues on to Iceland as he feels homesick. Back home, Otto becomes famous, while Axel is finally able to marry his sweetheart, Gräuben.