Jules Verne. The Mysterious Island (1874). Trans. Sidney Kravitz, ed. William Butcher & Arthur B. Evans. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan Univ. Press, 2001.
6 x 9", 777 pp., 151 illustrations
$40.00 cloth ISBN 0-8195-6475-3
$17.95 paper ISBN 0-8195-6559-8

"The second title in Wesleyan's new 'Early Classics of Science Fiction' series is Sidney Kravitz's translation (14 years in the making) of Jules Verne's castaway epic, The Mysterious Island. Like the new Modern Library edition (noted in Forecasts, Dec. 24), it boasts black-and-white illustrations and is unexpurgated; unlike it, this volume contains a Verne chronology and brief biography, endnotes, appendixes and information about previous translations." -- Publishers Weekly

"The many good things contained in this book begin and rely on translator Sydney Kravitz's wonderful rendering of Verne's original words. There is nothing fusty or dull about this tale, as filtered through Kravitz's talents. The dialogue sounds like actual people might speak it, and hardly any archaic constructions obtrude. Reading this prose is pure pleasure; it allows the story itself to leap free."-- SciFi.com

"Recommended for all libraries." -- Library Journal

"One of Verne's best works, and a fine addition to this new Wesleyan series of sf classics. Recommended." -- Interzone