Five-minute digest

Off on a Comet

Jules Verne

Summary

Off on a Comet, or Hector Servadac, is one of Verne's most fanciful books. On the night of 31 December, Captain Hector Servadac, a French staff officer in Algeria, and his orderly Ben Zoof are knocked unconscious by a tremendous shock. When they awaken, everything has changed: the sun rises in the west, days are only twelve hours long, gravity is weaker so they can leap enormous distances, and the sea has become strangely calm. Exploring, Servadac discovers that a small part of North Africa and the Mediterranean, with Gibraltar and a few other islands, has been torn from the earth by a passing comet and carried off into space. The survivors gradually gather: a Russian count, Timascheff, with his yacht crew; a few British officers holding Gibraltar who stubbornly refuse to admit anything has changed; a group of Spaniards and a little Italian girl, Nina; and a miserly German-Jewish trader, Isac Hakkabut, whom Verne presents as a crude caricature. Finally they find the eccentric astronomer Professor Palmyrin Rosette, Servadac's former teacher, who discovered the comet, named it Gallia, and calculated its orbit. The comet will travel out past Jupiter and Saturn and return to strike the earth in exactly two years. The colonists survive the long journey by sheltering in the warm lava caves of a volcano, while the sea freezes around them. Verne takes his readers on a tour of the solar system, describing the planets as they pass. Finally, as the comet returns, Servadac and his companions build a hot-air balloon and lift off just before the comet touches the earth, landing safely in Algeria close to where they started. On earth, no one believes their story, and Servadac half suspects it was a dream. The novel combines astronomy lessons, comedy and adventure, though the science is fanciful and Verne admitted it. Its portrait of Hakkabut reflects the antisemitism of the time and should be discussed openly in class.

Top Lessons

Wonder at creation
The tour of the planets invites wonder at the vastness and order of the solar system.
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- Cold Comfort Farm, Summary
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- Eclogues and Georgics, Lesson: Toil conquered all: work after the golden age
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- Cold Comfort Farm, Early chapters and passim
  Aunt Ada keeps to her room and controls her family through the memory of the woodshed.
Prejudice in a classic
Verne's portrait of Hakkabut repeats ugly stereotypes. Students should name it honestly and contrast it with the dignity Scripture gives every person.
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- Elements of Chemistry, Summary
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- Elements of Chemistry, Lesson: Science as a common work
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Cooperation in crisis
People from many nations must work together to survive.
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- The Nibelungenlied, Introductory Sketch
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- Uncle Vanya, Lesson: Idleness and beauty
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- Bliss and Other Stories, Lesson: A child's eye on adult life
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Off on a Comet

Summary

Top Lessons

Wonder at creation

Prejudice in a classic

Cooperation in crisis

Verified Quotes