The Mysterious Island The Mysterious Island The Mysterious Island () is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "In Search of the Castaways", though its themes are vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled "Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson," seen as indicating the influence of the novels "Robinson Crusoe" and "The Swiss Family Robinson". Verne
Despair (novel) Dostoevsky's writing, with its excessive soul-searching and glorification of criminals and prostitutes and this is reflected in "Despair" and Hermann, who carries certain similarities to Raskolnikov, who had also planned a perfect murder in "Crime and Punishment". Additionally, the book is rich in intertextual connections to other authors such as Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Oscar Wilde, and Conan Doyle. "Despair" is generally acclaimed as one of Nabokov's better Russian novels, along with "Invitation to a Beheading" and "The Gift" (1938), and has a reasonable volume of literary criticism. British author Martin Amis ranked it second on his list of best Nabokov