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) wander at dusk once a year; but Hell shall never parole Hermann". To put it simply, the reader can never be positive if Hermann is accurately narrating the events because he tends to conflate his own skills and talents while ignoring reality around him. Additionally, Despair is also a tale of false doubles, one of Nabokov's favorite themes. The very title of the novel announces this theme as French-speaking Nabokov chose a word (despair) which in French means 'some pairs', or simply 'pairs' ("des paires"). But it also means, so to speak, 'to undo a pair', to 'dis-pair', i.e. the