Novel – 140 pages – my copy (1988; hardback) borrowed from my parents bookshelf
- 4 nods
Mr Wells is regarded, and perhaps rightly so, as one of the top science fiction novelists; indeed, it was Mr Wells himself who put the genre in the limelight, ensuring its success throughout the twentieth century: from the book to radio, from the big screen to the TV. The War of the Worlds is a prime example of a story that has spellbound audiences across several mediums: Orson Welles captivated his audience in the late 1930s, with many supposedly believing an actual alien invasion was underway; while more recently, Spielberg and Cruise made their own Hollywood adaptation.
The War of the Worlds is a short novel, written from the perspective of a middle class writer based in the greenbelt area around London. Perceptive and at first alarmingly casual about many things (though written from a later viewpoint), he documents the landing of the Martians and their eventual destruction of all around them and their march into London, then ‘the greatest city on earth’.
Of course, everyone is well versed in the eventual outcome of the story: the Martians are defeated not by human willpower, technological prowess or ingenuity, but rather by the bacteria on our planet. It is natural force over the human brain; a bold statement made by Wells at a time when man believed he had conquered science.
And here lies Wells’ ultimate vision: that humankind survives despite the struggle, despite the tears, despite the blood; more humbled and more respecting of life. It is a vision the story’s imitators have failed to grasp, with later versions focusing on the glory of defeating the invading alien. Such a difference has been neatly summarised by various commentators in being the difference between British and American values, with many British Sci-Fi being cut in the Wells mould. And, if we look further into the twentieth century, much of Wells’ vision is found in the British psyche, nowhere more clearly than in the resistance to the Nazi bombs in the Blitz. Further applause, then, to Wells: not only the novelist, but the great anticipator of the future.
