Thompson and Co. Agency

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Literature · Subcategory: Literary fragments · Year: 1907 · Authors: Jules Verne

The fabulous popularity of Jules Verne (Nantes, 1828-Amiens, 1905) has perhaps paradoxically contributed to blurring his literary quality. Exalted as a precursor of science fiction and as an author for children and adolescents, criticism in recent decades has recovered the author as a writer with unquestionable artistic values, although for the vast majority of the public he remains and will remain, above all, an exceptional adventure storyteller. Among his novels, some can be cited such as: Journey to the Centre of the Earth , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , From the Earth to the Moon or Around the World in Eighty Days , to name a few examples.

In his work " Thompson and Co. Agency ", published in Paris in 1907, two years after his death and possibly written in the early 1890s, Verne initially satirises British tourism as a new organised business activity; but what begins as a sarcastic portrait ends in an adventure novel set against the backdrop of the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores. Regarding the city of Santa Cruz, the great French author dedicates, in chapter XX entitled "At the Summit of Teide", only a series of descriptive phrases to what was then the capital of the Canaries, in the following terms:

"About 50 miles barely separated Las Palmas from Santa Cruz. The Seamew , returned to its normal speed of twelve knots, took four hours to cover that distance; at half past three it anchored in the port of the capital of Tenerife.

Between this city, rival in importance to Las Palmas, and Europe communications are easy and frequent. Numerous steamship lines connect it with Liverpool, Hamburg, Le Havre, Marseille and Genoa, not counting the local company, which ensures a bi-monthly passage between the various islands of the archipelago.

Built amphitheatrically, with a belt of mountains, Santa Cruz is a seductive arrival and can, in this respect, compete with Las Palmas.

Its charm was, however, insufficient to shake the indifference of the passengers. During the crossing, only vague and bored glances had been directed at those grand and wild coasts, with bare rocks, towards which the Seamew 's propeller pushed them. In the port, most limited themselves to a glance ashore, and their curiosity seemed satisfied with that.

What did that spectacle matter to them, surely wonderful, but already banal through custom? What interest did that city hold for them, pleasant no doubt, but also very similar to other cities already visited? Their only concern was the famous peak of Teide, better known as the peak of Tenerife, whose ascent, promised by the programme, was the clou of the trip. There is something truly new and original! Only the prospect of such an excursion made the shares of the Thompson agency rise."

28.523147, -16.161022