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jefrye t1_ix5gxxq wrote

Reply to comment by milly_toons in Question about the compass in Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Jules Verne) by milly_toons

I think Verne is just expecting readers to put it together themselves, but he could have stated it outright.

Axel doesn't actually recognize anything when they "return." They're all a bit confused. He's trying to get his bearings and keeps seeing things that he thinks could be familiar landmarks, but every time he takes a few more steps and sees that they aren't, or they realize if they're where they think they should be finding their own footprints from a few days ago but they aren't. They eventually conclude that they must have returned far down the coast, but can't quite figure it out. It's page 201 in the Wynne translation.

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milly_toons OP t1_ix5jk7f wrote

Thanks, makes sense! I remember they thought they had landed on the same coast but in a different area far away from their original location at Port Grauben, but I wasn't sure if we were meant to believe that Axel's apparent recognition of certain landmarks was correct. I guess we're supposed to consider his perspective unreliable when he says he recognizes certain things.

I read the Baldick translation but will definitely check out either the Wynne or Butcher translation when I re-read this novel in the future.

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jefrye t1_ix5lio2 wrote

Yep, it very much has the vibe of "well the map says we're here so I guess that rock kind of looks familiar?" Finding out the compass was messed up clears up the mystery.

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