tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500704922792766299.post7665083993510561410..comments2024-03-27T18:33:35.372-07:00Comments on Yesterday’s Papers: Mokeanna; or, The White Witness (1863)john adcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02601087030921802835noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500704922792766299.post-79573340892089204532023-05-11T06:20:47.285-07:002023-05-11T06:20:47.285-07:00Thanks for pointing that out, Richard. It is very ...Thanks for pointing that out, Richard. It is very possible that Burnand was making reference to Verne's novel. Balloons as a mode of transportation were common in the penny papers, particularly for boys, but the pseudo-scientific explanation is something I have never seen and makes it very likely that his intent is to parody Jules Verne.<br />john adcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02601087030921802835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500704922792766299.post-48820747897832044212023-05-11T00:37:36.526-07:002023-05-11T00:37:36.526-07:00As one of the characters is a mule, a 'moke...As one of the characters is a mule, a 'moke', it's possible that the intended pronunciation was 'moke-anna'.<br />This work also made fun of pseudo-scientific explanations in contemporary narratives in the following passage, ‘The pressure of the atmosphere beneath him opposed his descent, and as he had calculated, impelled him with a fearful velocity upwards into space, but Richard Durynoreply@blogger.com