Эссе Софьи Лукиной, студентки 3 курса (группа 0452-05) направления 45.03.02 "Лингвистика", профиль «Перевод и межкультурная коммуникация» Факультета русской филологии и иностранных языков Института гуманитарных наук и языковых коммуникаций ФГБОУ ВО «Псковский государственный университет».

Jules Verne is a French writer, a classic of adventure literature, one of the founders of the genre of science fiction. According to UNESCO statistics, his books are the second most translatable in the world, yielding only to the works of Agatha Christie.

More than one generation has grown up on his novels, and Verne himself is called the "father" of science fiction. Despite the fact that most of his works are considered children's literature, in his novels the man described in detail technologies and events that turned into reality many years later.

It is striking that so many inventions seemed to be fiction during the life of Jules Verne, but now we use many technologies that were previously described in his books.

I would like to consider the story "The Day of an American journalist in 2889".

The work was written in 1889 together with his son.

The writer put forward an idea close to what today can be called video communication. A device called telephote allowed people to communicate with each other over long distances. He transmitted images using sensitive mirrors connected by wires.

Quote from the book:

“The telephone, completed by the telephote, is another of our time's conquests! Though the transmission of speech by the electric current was already very old, it was only since yesterday that vision could also be transmitted. A valuable discovery, and Francis Bennett was by no means the only one to bless its inventor when, in spite of the enormous distance between them, he saw his wife appear in the telephotic mirror.”

Admires how the writer is ahead of time, because the first device that could transmit an image was a TV and it appeared only in 1925!

What the writer depicted can be called a smartphone with video communication.

At that time, Jules Verne did not know that a camera, social networks, and credit card data could be placed in one small box, but he still looked into the future with his thoughts.

Now a huge number of people use video communication, not only for chatting, but also to conduct lessons and conferences. It has become an integral and habitual part of our life, while at one time the writer was considered a dreamer.

But who knows, maybe the inventors were inspired by the works of Jules Verne?