Verne’s Political Underground Variations on a Motif, from L’Île mystérieuse to Face au drapeau

We observe the endurance of a model of political thought in Verne’s stories, which is not entirely his own, but to which he is particularly attached, and which allows him to question or represent certain political notions. This is expressed in several novels through the motif of the “ false bottom,” which serves as a matrix for reveries on the promises and threats of the new democratic age where “the man from below” dominates.