Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Published 1872 · 66,393 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Fiction, Adventure, Satire, Travel
How hard is Around the World in Eighty Days to read?
Around the World in Eighty Days scores 34 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 55 out of 100
- The text employs a formal, somewhat elevated 19th-century vocabulary, incorporating specific terms related to travel, geography, and various cultures (e.g., 'hypogea,' 'palkigharis,' 'zebus,' 'howdahs,' 'suttee,' 'brigantine'). While not truly archaic or invented like 'Finnegans Wake' (99), these terms require a slightly broader vocabulary than contemporary fiction, placing it above 'The Great Gatsby' (45) but below the specialized jargon of 'Moby-Dick' (72). Context usually clarifies meaning, making it accessible to an educated reader.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Jules Verne's prose features sentences that are often long and multi-clausal, utilizing extensive subordination and coordination to build detailed descriptions and narrative. However, the grammatical structures remain clear and logical, avoiding the extreme hypotaxis of Henry James or the stream-of-consciousness of Joyce. This makes it more complex than the direct sentences of '1984' (35) but far from the challenging density of 'Ulysses' (98) or 'Absalom, Absalom!' (85).
- Abstraction: 35 out of 100
- 'Around the World in Eighty Days' is fundamentally a concrete adventure narrative, driven by plot, action, and vivid descriptions of diverse locations and customs. While it offers observations on English character and the impact of technology on travel, these are presented within the story's framework rather than as deep philosophical or theoretical explorations. The content is far more grounded than 'The Waste Land' (92) or 'Waiting for Godot' (85), aligning with a direct adventure focus, albeit with more descriptive depth than 'Asterix the Gaul' (25).
- Information density: 68 out of 100
- The narrative is rich with specific details, including precise travel itineraries, distances, times, geographical features, and cultural observations across numerous global locations. This constant influx of factual-sounding information (e.g., railway routes, ship tonnages, local customs, historical context) demands sustained attention from the reader to follow the intricate journey. It presents a higher density of distinct concepts than a simple plot-driven novel like 'The Housemaid' (35) but is less thematically layered or allusive than 'Ulysses' (90) or 'War and Peace' (80).
- Narrative indirection: 30 out of 100
- The narrative explicitly details events, character traits, and motivations, leaving little for the reader to infer. For instance, the narrator directly states Phileas Fogg 'was, indeed, exactitude personified' and describes Passepartout's inner thoughts and reactions, similar to the direct exposition found in '1984' (35). While Fogg's stoicism makes his internal world somewhat opaque, the narrator consistently explains his nature and the circumstances, rather than relying on subtle implication.
- Symbolic density: 20 out of 100
- Around the World in Eighty Days functions primarily as a literal adventure, focusing on the practical challenges and logistical details of the journey. The text does not heavily employ recurring motifs, allegories, or layers of meaning beyond the surface plot, placing it closer to the direct experience of 'Diary of a Young Girl' (18). While the journey itself could be broadly interpreted as a triumph of human will or progress, the narrative does not invite deep symbolic analysis of specific objects or events.
- Ironic distance: 30 out of 100
- The author maintains a largely straightforward and earnest narrative voice, with humor arising from character contrasts and situational comedy rather than deep ironic commentary. While there are amusing observations about Fogg's unflappable nature or Passepartout's exasperation, the text does not present a significant gap between what is stated and what is truly meant, unlike the complex satire of 'Lolita' (75). The tone is generally aligned with the events, offering a direct engagement with the story.
- Resolution withholding: 25 out of 100
- The novel is structured around a clear, high-stakes wager with a definite objective: completing a global circumnavigation within a fixed timeframe. Each obstacle encountered, such as the unfinished railway or the attack by Sioux, is presented as a challenge to be overcome, driving the plot towards a conclusive resolution of the bet. This clear narrative trajectory and focus on achieving the explicit goal offers little ambiguity or open-endedness, akin to the genre-expected closure of 'Beach Read' (25).
- Structural complexity: 25 out of 100
- The narrative employs a highly conventional and linear structure, following the chronological progression of Phileas Fogg's journey around the world. The story maintains a consistent third-person omniscient point of view, without shifts in perspective, fragmented timelines, or experimental formal elements. This straightforward presentation of events makes the structure easily accessible, similar to the linear storytelling found in 'Beach Read' (28).
How Around the World in Eighty Days is regarded
Around the World in Eighty Days holds a literary regard score of 69 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.