Journey to the Centre of the Earth (French: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titles A Journey to the Center of the Earth and A Journey into the Interior of the Earth, is a classic science fiction novel written by French novelist Jules Verne. It was first published in French in 1864, then reissued in 1867 in a revised and expanded edition. Professor Otto Lidenbrock is the tale's central figure, an eccentric German scientist who believes there are volcanic tubes that reach to the very center of the earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their Icelandic guide Hans rappel into Iceland's celebrated inactive volcano Snæfellsjökull. They then contend with many dangers, including cave-ins, subpolar tornadoes, an underground ocean, and several living prehistoric creatures from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras (the 1867 edition inserted additional prehistoric material). Eventually the three explorers are spewed back to the surface by the eruption of an active volcano, Stromboli, located in southern Italy. The category of subterranean fiction existed well before Verne. However, his novel's distinction lay in its well-researched Victorian science and its inventive contribution to the science-fiction subgenre of time travel—Verne's innovation was the concept of a prehistoric realm still existing in the present-day world. Journey inspired many later authors, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his novel The Lost World, Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Pellucidar series, and J. R. R. Tolkien in The Hobbit.
Plot The story begins in May 1863, at the home of Otto Lidenbrock, a professor of geology in Hamburg, Germany. While leafing through an original runic manuscript of an Icelandic saga, Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel find a coded note written in runic script along with the name of a 16th-century Icelandic alchemist, Arne Saknussemm. When translated into English, the note reads:
Descend into the crater of Snaefells Jökull, which Scartaris's shadow caresses just before the calends of July, O daring traveler, and you will reach the center of the earth. I have done so. Arne Saknussemm
Lidenbrock departs for Iceland immediately, taking the reluctant Axel with him. After a swift trip via Kiel and Copenhagen, they arrive in Reykjavík. There they hire as their guide Icelander Hans Bjelke, a Danish-speaking eiderduck hunter, then travel overland to the base of Snæfellsjökull.
In late June they reach the volcano and set off into the bowels of the earth, encountering many dangers and strange phenomena. After taking a wrong turn, they run short of water and Axel nearly perishes, but Hans saves them all by tapping into a subterranean river, which shoots out a stream of water that Lidenbrock and Axel name the "Hansbach" in the guide's honor. Following the course of the Hansbach, the explorers descend many miles and reach an underground world. During this descent, Axel once again comes close to death as he diverges from Lidenbrock and Hans and suffers major injuries finding his way back, however he manages to do so and is saved by them. The travelers then build a raft out of semipetrified wood and set sail. While at sea, they encounter prehistoric fish and giant marine reptiles from the age of dinosaurs (a Plesiosaur fighting a gigantic Ichthyosaur). A lightning storm threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the site of an enormous fossil graveyard, including bones from various extinct creatures like Lophiodon, Anoplotherium, Megatherium, mastodon, Pliopithecus, the pterodactyl, and the preserved body of a man. Lidenbrock and Axel venture into a forest featuring primitive vegetation from the Tertiary period. In its depths they are stunned to find a prehistoric humanoid more than twelve feet in height with a huge unshapely head and a mane that hid most of its heads. It was watching over a herd of mastodons as a shepherd. Fearing the humanoid may be hostile, they leave the forest. Continuing to explore the coastline, the travelers find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead, but it has been blocked by a recent cave-in. The adventurers lay plans to blow the rock open with gun cotton, meanwhile paddling their raft out to sea to avoid the blast. On executing this scheme, they find a bottomless pit beyond the impeding rock and are swept into it as the sea rushes down the huge open gap. After spending hours descending at breakneck speed, their raft reverses direction and rises inside a volcanic chimney that ultimately spews them via an eruption into the open air. When they regain consciousness, they learn that they have been ejected from Stromboli, a volcanic island located off Sicily. The trio returns to Germany, where they enjoy great acclaim; Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of the day, Axel marries his sweetheart Gräuben, and Hans returns to his peaceful life in Iceland.
Main characters Professor Otto Lidenbrock: a German "professor of philosophy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and many other ologies" at the Johanneum Gymnasium, described as an "old geologist, very gruff and unpleasant". Axel: Lidenbrock's nephew (Lidenbrock had married the sister of Axel's mother), a young student, affianced. Hans Bjelke: an Icelandic eiderduck hunter who is hired as their guide; resourceful and imperturbable, described as "stoical". Gräuben: Lidenbrock's goddaughter, with whom Axel is in love; from Vierlande (region southeast of Hamburg). Martha: Lidenbrock's housekeeper and cook.
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