A Drama in the Air

"A Drama in the Air" (French: "Un drame dans les airs") is an adventure short story by Jules Verne.

The story was first published in August 1851 under the title "Science for families. A Voyage in a Balloon" ("La science en famille. Un voyage en ballon") in Musée des familles with five illustrations by Alexandre de Bar. In 1874, with six illustrations by Émile-Antoine Bayard, it was included in Doctor Ox, the only collection of Jules Verne’s short stories published during Verne’s lifetime. The first English translation by Anne T. Wilbur was published in May 1852 in "Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature" and it was the first ever work by Jules Verne translated into English language.

Plot outline

Just as the narrator starts the ascent of his balloon, a stranger jumps into its car. The unexpected passenger only intent is to take the balloon as high as it will go, even at the cost of his and pilot's life. The intruder takes advantage of the long journey to recount the history of incidents related to the epic of lighter-than-air travel.

This short story foreshadows Verne's first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon.

Publication history

as "A Voyage in a Balloon" (translated by Anne T. Wilbur) in

• 1852 - "Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature"

as "A Drama in Mid-Air" (translated by Abby L. Alger) in

• 1874 - From the Clouds to the Mountains, Boston: Gill

as "A Drama in the Air" (translated by George M. Towle) in

• 1874 - Dr. Ox and Other Stories, Boston: Osgood
• 1876 - A Winter Amid the Ice, and Other Stories, London: Sampson Low
• 1911 - Works of Jules Verne, Vol.1, New York: Vincent Parke, ed. Charles F. Horne
• 1964 - Dr. Ox, and Other Stories, London: Arco/Westport, CT: Associated Booksellers: Fitzroy Edition, ed. I. O. Evans
• 1999 - The Eternal Adam, and other Stories, London: Phoenix, ed. Peter Costello

as "A Drama in the Air" (translated by Andrew Jackson Brown) in

• 2003 - A Fantasy of Dr. Ox, London: Hesperus

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: A Drama in the Air

• Illustrations by Émile-Antoine Bayard
• Un drame dans les airs available at Jules Verne Collection (French)