Verne's dystopian vision of Paris in 1960 — ruled by finance, speed, and machinery. Young Michel Dufrénoy, a poet, wanders through a cold, electric metropolis. Science and industry dominate; literature and beauty are obsolete. He fails to find love, meaning, or recognition in a mechanized society. The story ends in isolation and despair — the poet buried beneath technological triumph. Verne’s "lost" novel: a prophetic elegy for imagination in an age of machines.