Paris in The Twentieth Century - Literary Significance and Criticism

Literary Significance and Criticism

The appearance of Verne's lost novel caused a stir among modern critics, who mostly received the book warmly, greeting it as "prescient and plausible". On the other hand, some saw the book every bit as unnecessarily pessimistic about the future as did Verne's editor.

The book was a best seller in France, where it was heavily promoted before publication. Some critics were put off by the publisher's hype of the book, although most readily admitted it was "a work of inestimable historical importance."

Critic Evelyn C. Leeper suggested that Verne might be a good candidate for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996, noting that she had not read very many novels that were much better than Verne's work that year. The Hugo award is given annually to honor the best science fiction of the preceding year.

The work is also of importance to scholars of Verne's literary achievements, some of whom had long asserted that none of his works ever came close to prophesying the future of a whole civilization.

Within two years of the novel's appearance, it had been adapted as a stage play in the Netherlands.