- For the real-life author, see: Jules Verne
Jules Verne, a fictional character in the science fiction series The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, is a budding French writer in his mid twenties. He was born in the provincial Atlantic port city of Nantes, in Brittany, the son of a well-to-do attorney. His father wanted him to join the family firm, and he has come to Paris to study law. However, he is determined to pursue a literary career, and though he continues his studies he has made as many contacts as he can in the world of the arts, including established writers like Alexandre Dumas. So far his plays are either not performed at all or only performed for a few nights, and he finds himself eking out the classic life of the starving artist in the poorer quarters of Paris. It is during this period that the series finds him, before he has found his true vocation as a novelist. He is committed to literature and to the creative life, but has not yet found his niche within it. Jules is part of the impoverished world of young artists which later became famous through La bohème, sitting with his friends in low bars and cheap cafes on the Left Bank trying to make cups of coffee and glasses of wine last as long as possible. He has always been a compulsive note-taker, gathering facts the way a squirrel gathers nuts and scribbling them on file cards. He relieves some of his frustrations about women - and indeed life in general - by drawing sketches of imaginary machines. These inventions pour out of his head almost without thought; and often, while talking about something else entirely, he'll dash one off, crumple it up and throw it away. It is his natural vision of the future which is sought after by the forces of good and of evil. Jules is a visionary, with all the weaknesses and strengths that implies. He has grand holistic visions of society and man's place in the world. These are based on his belief in the value of the individual and universal self-expression, but they make him vulnerable to seduction by other holistic visions - such as those of the League of Darkness.
