Has Jules Verne been resurrected in the works of Andy Weir? It’s a fun concept to contemplate.
Of course, Verne left a few things in the grave, such as vivid, heroic characters and prose, but science was not one of them. Or perhaps Weir’s books are a cosmic, cumulative type of reincarnation of Verne, as suggested in Weir’s short story “The Egg” (2009).
Andy Weir has not explicitly named Jules Verne as his inspiration (though he has mentioned Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), but Verne may be a better fit for this imaginative exercise. In any case, like Verne, Weir has put the “science” back into science fiction. At first appearance, Andy Weir’s The Martian (2011), Artemis (2017), and Project Hail Mary (2021) may not seem similar to Journey to the Center of the Earth (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Mysterious Island (1875), but they have much in common.
Andy Weir and Jules Verne’s Science-Driven Sci-Fi Plots
Twenty-six years ago, at a writers’ conference, an editor said that if Jules Verne were alive today, his hard science would not be publishable. That was 12 years before Andy Weir’s first book, The Martian. Both Verne and Wier use hard science to drive the plot, integrate it, and intertwine science into the story. Weir, like Verne, takes time to explain and detail scientific principles.
Some suggest that 20 to 40 percent of Verne’s technical and “boring” material was cut out of his books by translators and editors. Weir’s 10-20 pages describing his welding reactor project in Artemis might have benefited from Verne’s editor. Still, both authors go to great lengths to explain and incorporate scientific concepts.
Indeed, Andy Weir and Jules Verne use science to frame their plots as science projects, solving a problem or testing a hypothesis in their fiction, thereby bringing a childlike wonder to science. Weir’s description of the work of his character, who finds a way to produce water and grow potatoes on Mars in The Martian, reads like a science project. Verne’s depiction of the production of chemicals, steel tools, and a telegraph system in Mysterious Island also reads like a series of science projects.
Both authors were strong science enthusiasts and conducted extensive research. Verne developed his own pre-Internet methodology of data mining and cataloging, while Weir uses Google. Neither author is afraid to include mathematical calculations in their books, which few science fiction writers ever do.
Weir, like Verne, includes orbital calculations and mechanics in his space journeys. Verne consulted scientists and engineers, whereas Weir relies on the internet; however, the success of Weir’s film adaptation of Ridley Scott’s The Martian has led to a symbiotic, collaborative relationship with NASA.
The Authors’ Anchors to Reality
Plausibility is a crucial aspect of the authors’ science fiction. Weir and Verne utilized hard physical science, historical events, and accurate geography to establish a foundation. Verne used chemical and geological facts to anchor the reader before entering an underground prehistoric world in Journey to the Center of the Earth and in an early Verne short story, “Master Zacharius” (1854), to move into the supernatural, and in The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz (1910) to use invisibility in the story. Weir does the same in Project Hail Mary to draw the reader in before the aliens appear.
Jules Verne loved geography and exploration as much as science and filled his novels with accurate geographic details, again frustrating publishers with what they deemed excessive description. This detail in Verne’s novels, such as The Mighty Orinoco (1898) and Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon (1881), can test the patience of even the most avid Verne reader. In Weir’s novel The Martian, his depiction of Martian geography is a significant aspect of the book’s realism, as is his depiction of moon geography in Artemis.
Mutual Short Horizon of Expectations
Science Fiction, since Jules Verne’s time, has drifted from the verge of scientific possibility to the seemingly infinite realm of fantasy. Still, even Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, which goes into interstellar space and involves an alien, is grounded in current scientific research and reasonable scientific expectations for the future.
Verne employed a similar grounding in the technology of his era and a reasonable set of expectations in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, From the Earth to the Moon, and Robur the Conqueror. Both authors prefer a time horizon of 10-100 years for the creative emergence of an invention or innovation. Still, their stories seem to gain popularity the further into the future they extend. In Artemis, Wier does not appear to extrapolate sufficiently to meet the popularity requirements of film producers.
Instead, Andy Weir employs Jules Verne’s technique of blending science, history, and theory to establish credibility with readers and to shape expectations for the future. Verne stayed close to evolving science via constant research. Verne scholar James Miller notes in Verne’s 1867 application of evolving aluminum technology for his moon capsule:
“Here Verne is using a technique that he has proved eminently successful in his earlier novels. He is extrapolating from the daily news into the not-so-distant future. Thus, he predicts developments that his readers will live to see in a matter of years. And so, he more easily gains their credence when he extrapolates into the more distant future.” Weir based the technology in The Martian on contemporary NASA plans for a crewed Mars mission, extrapolating it into the future.
Hard science fiction requires effective plot-time management and a focus on the present narrative, employing narrative techniques to incorporate the past and future. For example, the action in Weir’s Project Hail Mary spans 2019-2037, employing time dilation to explore the future and flashbacks to address the past. Verne, like Weir, commonly used flashbacks in novels such as The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1866) and Mysterious Island (1875) to develop his characters. Weir uses flashbacks to manage time, but weaves them into the plot rather than employing them in the traditional way, as Verne does, making Weir’s audiobooks difficult to follow.
Robinsonades Methods
Andy Weir and Jules Verne’s characters demonstrate creative ways to utilize their limited resources to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and survive. Verne drew inspiration from the survival plots of his muses, David Defoe (Robinson Crusoe, 1719) and Johann David Wyss (The Swiss Family Robinson, 1818). For Verne, it was a common plot narrative in as many as 12 Verne novels.
This subgenre is an ideal form for science-based fiction, allowing the science project approach to integrate science seamlessly into the plot. It also explains the adaptability of Weir and Verne’s stories into films, drawing in moviegoers’ interest by tapping into common human themes of survival, ingenuity, overcoming insurmountable odds, and the psychological effects of isolation.
Weir’s The Martian and Project Hail Mary reflect the same quest for survival as Verne’s stranded colonists in Mysterious Island, arctic explorers in The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1866), trappers in Fur Country (1873), and cosmic travelers in Off on a Comet (1877).
Engineering Problem Solving
Both Jules Verne and Andy Weir incorporated numerous comprehensive engineering solutions into their novels. Weir employs a detailed approach to produce water on Mars and the Moon. Verne’s island survivalists manufactured iron, glass, and chemicals with only primitive resources. Weir incorporated basic science and engineering into his novels, utilizing the specific environments of each story’s setting to produce oxygen. In The Martian, he uses an “Oxygenator” to separate oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, while in Artemis, his lunar colonists produce oxygen as a byproduct of aluminum smelting.
Both authors followed modern engineering design approaches, including reverse engineering, failure analysis, and project management. Weir’s projects, such as interstellar space travel, moon colonies, and Mars exploration, were part of an engineering solution to a problem similar to Verne’s moonshot project in From Earth to the Moon.
Andy Weir’s Artemis and Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon are the best examples of hard science integrated into science fiction. Overall, it’s not the styles, plot narratives, and literary settings that evoke this reincarnation musing; it’s the romantic fusion of science and story that makes Weir and Verne so very much alike.