Jules Verne appeared on the French literary scene in 1863, with his first novel Cinq semaines en ballon. In the middle of the nineteenth century he both witnessed and participated in, the evolution of literature, due in particular to the increasing number of readers and changes in publishing techniques. New genres were born, such as serialized novels, detective stories, and futuristic novels. Verne was to try to impose one of his own, the ‘scientific romance’ as he called it, ‘for the want of a better name’.

The 1867 edition of Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras begins with an ‘Editor's Note’, stipulating the guidelines that Verne was to follow:

Two slightly conflicting points of view emerge from this preface written by Verne, and revised by the publisher. One undeniably corresponds with Hetzel's intentions: ‘to bring together all the … elements known to modern science’. The emphasis is placed on education, but in an ‘attractive and picturesque form’. The second point of view is that of Verne himself, and shares the ideas of Flaubert, Zola and Hugo on the subject of literature being exposed to its period, thus in contrast with romantic theories: ‘for science to take its rightful place in literature’.