Paschal Grousset (André Laurie.) (* 7. April 1844 auf Korsika; † 9. April 1909 in Paris) verfasste unter anderem Science-Fiction-Geschichten.
In seinen letzten Jahren war er sozialistischer Abgeordneter.
Er veröffentlichte Schriften unter zahlreichen Pseudonymen. Während seiner Zeit im Exil begann er Geschichten zu
schreiben, die sich dem Genre der Science Fiction zuordnen lassen. Er bediente
sich dafür meist des Pseudonyms Andre Laurie. Bei dem Buch Die 500 Millionen der
Begum und anderen Werken arbeitete er mit Jules Verne zusammen. Grousset lieferte erste Entwürfe, die
Verne dann für eine Veröffentlichung überarbeitete. Später schrieb er ähnliche
Werke alleine. Dazu zählt Die Kristallstadt unter dem Meer.
Hier, der Beginn einer
ebook-Ausgabe in englischer Übersetzung:
CHAPTER I
AN OFFICER OVERBOARD!
ON the 19th of October, in the year 18—, a strange and
tragic accident happened on board the cruiser Hercules, en
route for Lorient, after long and laborious duty on the
station in the Gulf of Benin.
They were in mid-Atlantic, just above the Azores, as nearly as
possible to the spot where 25° E. longitude crosses 36° N. latitude.
The vessel was running at full speed to the N. N. E. before a
cyclone, which had come up about six o’clock in the evening. It was
seven, and the starless night only added to the horror of the storm,
when either a mistake on the part of the helmsman, or a sudden
veering of the wind, brought the cruiser broadside to a formidable
wave from the west. A liquid mountain struck the upper deck of
the Hercules a blow as if a hammer had done it, carrying away “with
it the starboard gun and its carriage; then dashed away like a
cataract, leaving a surface of thirty square feet Or more shaved as
clean as a hulk. The next instant, as the vessel pursued its course,
running before the cyclone, a cry, followed by a second, was heard
from the maintop: “An officer overboard, from the upper deck!” “A
man wounded!” At the first call the luminous buoy was severed by
the stroke of a hatchet, and Commander Harancourt, rushing to the
speaking-trumpet, gave in person the order to stop. In two minutes
one of the life-boats was afloat, and set off in the tumult of boiling
waters in search, and disappeared into the darkness. Amid the
gruesome howling of the wind and the furious blows of the waves,
seemingly enraged at the slackened speed of the cruiser, the officer
in command brought his verbal report to his chief. The officer
carried away by the wave, with the cannon from the upper deck,
was Midshipman Caoudal. The man wounded in the thigh by a
splinter of the planking was seaman Yvon Kermadec. Every one
crowded round to listen to the lugubrious report. A half-hour of
intense anxiety passed before the life-boat signalled its return, and
the fruitlessness of its search. It was hoisted on board, and the
dripping crew were treated to a ration of hot rum. Every man of
them was obliged to own, with a sob in his voice, that any further
attempt at rescue would be useless. The sea held its prey, and would
not give it up. The Hercules went on her way, with the poignant
regret of every one on board at abandoning to the deep a brave
young fellow, certain of promotion, fallen ingloriously and without
advantage to any one, in full health and hope, at the threshold of his
career. Rend Caoudal was the most popular officer on board, a great
favourite with his brother officers; and, among the roughest of the
men, there was not one who did not shed a tear.
Andre Laurie hat viel von der
Phantasie eines Verne, und die Geschichte von den Abenteuern des jungen
Offiziers, Rene Caoudal, der in der Nähe der Azoren über Bord fällt und in der
Kristallstadt die Liebe eines griechischen Mädchens namens Atlantes findet,
zeigt dies deutlich. Einige von den Abenteuern sind jedoch ein wenig zu
unwahrscheinlich. Die Geschichte als Ganzes wird gut erzählt und fast alle
Nebenfiguren werden sorgfältig skizziert.
