March 29, 2024

Top 10 19th Century adventure novels

I love old literature, and none more than the old kind of swashbuckling, romantic adventure novels that came out of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I won’t speculate about why this was so, but I’m thankful to Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs and all the other authors of their sort who have given me so many hours of entertainment.

I wasn’t entirely sure where to draw the date cut-off line for my list, so I’ve chosen to simply use the turn of the century as my divider. It works well enough, and there weren’t too many old-timey adventures produced after the year 1900 that I feel it to be a fair place to draw the line.

Let it be known this is my own list of preferences. I’m sure many would notice the lack of some other well-known classics; some other novels that have found themselves considered just good classics, and not genre-pieces. But this is a list by myself, for myself, and with that, here are my top 10 classic adventure novels:

1. “The Time Machine,” by H. G. Wells

Not many novels have been able to capture my imagination like this one. Wells’ descriptions of the far away places his unnamed Time Traveller visits, and the creatures that inhabit them, are absolutely enthralling. The story begins and ends with a group of Victorian gentlemen sipping liquor and telling stories, and this is a recipe for success.

2. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” by Jules Verne

Verne’s classic tale of submarine exploration is hard to beat. I never thought I had much of an interest in the sea until I’d read this. Add to that what is an excellently dramatic, emotional story of the mystery-wrapped Captain Nemo, and this is an instant classic.

3. “She,” by H. Rider Haggard

“She” follows the adventures of a group of explorers who find themselves snared by the beauty of a mysterious foreigner, with what appears to be a cult-like following deep within the jungles of Africa. I particularly enjoy how Haggard describes Ayeesha’s seemingly magic powers. “King Soloman’s Mines,” by Haggard, is another classic tale.

4. “Lord Jim,” by Joseph Conrad

I love Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” but “Lord Jim” is, to me, a more complete novel. It follows the fall, then rise, then fall of our hero Jim as he attempts to resolve himself on a tropical island of his unforgivable sin made in boyhood.

5. “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” by Jules Verne

Another classic by Verne. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is simply remarkable, even if entirely improbable. This novel is Verne’s imagination at its finest.

6. “Kidnapped,” by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is an interesting novel — little happens, but much is described. The most memorable events involved long treks from one part of the Scottish landscape to another. But the writing is superb, and so is the adventure. I enjoyed it more than “Treasure Island,” but mostly because I didn’t know how it would end.

7. “The Prisoner of Zenda,” by Anthony Hope

Not hugely well-known, but certainly deserving of a spot on my list. This “political thriller” apparently spawned an entire genre of “Ruritanian” romance fiction on its own. The plot revolves around fictional country Ruritania, and the political intrigue and action that occurs within.

8. “Dracula,” by Bram Stoker

Written in a somewhat epistolary style, this classic tale of horror and adventure succeeds most in creating a dark, mysterious atmosphere. Most memorable are Stoker’s descriptions of Dracula’s castle, and the journey our hero makes in approaching and living within.

9. “The Lost World,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Not a Sherlock story, but a great story nonetheless. One of the original tales of a “Lost World.” This is way better than Jurassic Park.

10. “Tarzan of the Apes,” by Edgar Rice Burroughs

There’s not too much to this novel, but what’s there is good stuff. Tarzan’s back story is explained, and talking apes talk to each other. What more could you ask for?

In the end, I choose Verne as my author to receive two spots on the list. Not just because he was so prolific an author — he wrote more than 25 full-length novels — but because they’re all so dang interesting. Like all the other authors on this list, he’s an expert in creating suspenseful atmospheres. But what sets him apart is his originality. This was a man who literally wrote the impossible into being — and for that, I think he was the greatest adventure novelist out of the 19th century.

According to a Reader’s Digest insert lying inside a condensed Jules Verne novel collection I recall picking up in a Goodwill store about two years ago, Verne was a bit of an enigmatic person (take this with some salt). Though he traveled some in his early years, in his later years he was, purportedly, often found holed up in the attic of his home or at the library, deep in research and in planning. His novels are more works of industry than experience. And I think this is one more reason to respect him.

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Email — afelker@crestonnews.com

Twitter — @Felkums