View source for Jacques Paganel

{{Expand Chinese|topic=cult|date=November 2021}}
{{short description|Fictional character created by Jules Verne}}
{{Infobox character
| name               = Jacques Paganel
| series             = [[Voyages Extraordinaires]]
| image              = 'The Children of Captain Grant' by Édouard Riou 015.jpg
| image_size         = 200px
| caption            = Jacques Paganel by [[Édouard Riou]] (1868)
| creator            = [[Jules Verne]]
| occupation         = Professor
| gender             = Male
| nationality        = French
}}

<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:Kapgranta.jpg|thumb|250px|Lembit Ulfsak as Paganel (center) in 1985's ''In Search of Captain Grant'']] -->
'''Jacques Eliacin François Marie Paganel''' is one of the main characters in [[Jules Verne]]'s 1867-68 novel ''[[In Search of the Castaways]]'' (original title ''Les Enfants du capitaine Grant''). Paganel represents the [[absent-minded professor]] [[stock character]].{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

Verne gives a memorable characterisation of his hero:

{{Quotation|He was a tall, thin, withered-looking man, about forty years of age, and resembled a long nail with a big head. His head was large and massive, his forehead high, his chin very marked. His eyes were concealed by enormous round spectacles, and in his look was that peculiar indecision which is common to nyctalopes, or people who have a peculiar construction of the eye, which makes the sight imperfect in the day and better at night. It was evident from his physiognomy that he was a lively, intelligent man; he had not the crabbed expression of those grave individuals who never laugh on principle, and cover their emptiness with a mask of seriousness. He looked far from that. His careless, good-humored air, and easy, unceremonious manners, showed plainly that he knew how to take men and things on their bright side. But though he had not yet opened his mouth, he gave one the impression of being a great talker, and moreover, one of those absent folks who neither see though they are looking, nor hear though they are listening. He wore a traveling cap, and strong, low, yellow boots with leather gaiters. His pantaloons and jacket were of brown velvet, and their innumerable pockets were stuffed with note-books, memorandum-books, account-books, pocket-books, and a thousand other things equally cumbersome and useless, not to mention a telescope in addition, which he carried in a shoulder-belt.}}

In the novel, Paganel is the "Secretary of the Geographical Society of [[Paris]], Corresponding Member of the Societies of [[Berlin]], [[Bombay]], [[Darmstadt]], [[Leipzig|Leipsic]], [[London]], [[St. Petersburg]], [[Vienna]], and [[New York City|New York]]; Honorary Member of the Royal Geographical and Ethnographical Institute of the [[East Indies]]"<sup>[http://jv.gilead.org.il/pg/cstwy/1/06.html]</sup>. After many years of being a cabinet professor, he decides to take a voyage to India, but by mistake boards the protagonists' yacht ''Duncan'' (which is going to [[Patagonia]]), the first of Paganel's absent-minded actions.

A further mistake was to learn the [[Portuguese language]] accidentally, rather than Spanish. Paganel studied ''[[Os Lusíadas|The Lusiads]]'' of [[Luís Vaz de Camões|Camoens]] over six weeks, believing the poem to be written in Spanish.<ref>Chapter XV, "Jacques Paganel's Spanish".</ref>

Nevertheless, Paganel proves to be an important member of the search party. His interpretation of the documents is vital in the advancement of the novel; he also provides numerous geographical references and is a constant source of humor.

==In film and television==
Actors who have played Paganel on the screen include:
*[[Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov|Nikolai Cherkasov]], in ''The Children of Captain Grant'' (1936)
*[[Maurice Chevalier]], in ''[[In Search of the Castaways (film)|In Search of the Castaways]]'' (1962)
*[[Lembit Ulfsak]], in ''[[V poiskakh kapitana Granta|In Search of Captain Grant]]'' (1985)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Jules Verne}}
{{In Search of the Castaways}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paganel, Jacques}}
[[Category:Jules Verne characters]]
[[Category:Fictional French people in literature]]
[[Category:Fictional scientists]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1868]]


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