SPOILERS
| Added | Mon, 11/09/2017 |
| Release date | 1897
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| Original title | The War of the Worlds
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| Феномены | |
| References | Герберт Уэллс. Война миров (роман, перевод М. Зенкевича), 1989 г.
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"The War of the Worlds" is considered the first work of fiction describing an attack on people by aliens from another planet. For the first time the magazine text of the novel appeared in the publication "Pearson's magazine" in April 1897. The book was published in the publishing house "Heinemann" a year later - in February 1898.
The novel consists of two parts: "The arrival of the Martians", "The Earth under the rule of the Martians" - and the Epilogue.
The story is narrated on behalf of an unnamed protagonist, a resident of Victorian England at the beginning of the XX century, and the events themselves unfold in London and its environs: the towns of Horsell and Woking, Surrey. The entire invasion, from the moment of landing to the death of the Martians, lasts 21 days.
The novel was written in 1897, but even after 40 years it was able to inspire horror. The radio drama "War of the Worlds", stylized as a live report about an alien invasion, caused mass panic in 1938, even though the book was set in England and broadcast in the United States. A similar radio play in 1949, broadcast in the capital of Ecuador, caused panic among local residents, and later anger and pogrom of the radio station, which resulted in the death of 6 people.
The novel has been filmed twice twice. The 1953 film adaptation directed by Byron Haskin is considered a classic.
There is also a free 2005 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg.
"The War of the Worlds" (1897, H. G. Wells) is considered the first work of fiction describing an attack on people by aliens from another planet.
Destroyer "Son of thunder" fighting the tripods of the Martians (the illustration to the edition of 1906, the artist Coria)
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
Sculpture depicting the tripod, in the town of Woking (Surrey)
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
A few years before the start of the main events, astronomers registered a strong flare on the surface of Mars, and then nine more. The main character visits the observatory and observes celestial bodies approaching from Mars. After some time, a meteorite sweeps over England and falls somewhere in the suburbs of London. At the site of the meteorite fall, a cylinder of the correct shape is found lying in the middle of a giant funnel. After cooling the projectile, intelligent beings - aliens from Mars - are selected from it. Several hundred gathered earthlings run away in fear. The Martians, having barely got out of the aircraft, begin assembling certain devices. Further events show the hostile intentions of the aliens. The nearest spectators, standing around the funnel and watching the actions of the Martians, are destroyed by a weapon unknown to earthlings - a kind of incinerating human bodies with a heat ray. The military begins to cordon off the landing site, but the Martians manage to assemble their vehicles in the form of tripods.
During the time during which the events described above occur, 9 more cylinders fall on England.
The main character flees. The weapons of the military are useless against the Martians, and they easily manage to capture the surroundings of the crash site. After that, the aliens, moving on tripods, using heat rays and black smoke (apparently, some kind of chemical weapons), put to flight and destroy government troops and capture London.
The narrator makes his way through the occupied country. A Martian flying projectile falls near the house where he stopped for the night, and he has to hide in the cellar for two weeks with a priest who has lost his mind, suffering from hunger and thirst. From there, he observes the life of the Martians up close. The hero escapes from hiding after the aliens leave this place. On the way, he meets an artilleryman planning to capture the Martians, but realizes the imperfection of his idea and continues on his way. That's how he gets to London.
In an empty city full of corpses, the protagonist discovers that the Martians have stopped the seizure of the country and the whole world. As further studies have shown, the alien invaders were struck by terrestrial pathogens, against which the Martians had no immunity. The war is over, England is beginning to gradually recover from the disaster, the main character discovers his wife alive and unharmed.
Phenomena in artwork: UFO
UFO to mean "alien spacecraft" presented in the piece as a cylinder with a diameter of about 30 yards (27.4 meters). Upon landing it was like a shooting star, shimmering with green light. The Martians could not leave him immediately, because he had to first cool down. They then slowly Unscrew the top cover, opening the way out.
In the book he is described like this:
Speaking out part was the charred form of a huge cylinder; its shape was hidden in a thick scaly layer of dark soot. The cylinder was about thirty yards in diameter.
[...]
Only by coming very close to the cylinder, I drew attention to his unusual look. At first glance it seemed no more strange than the overturned carriage or a tree that fell on the road. Perhaps, even less. He was most similar to the rusty gas tank sunk into the ground. Only a person with knowledge, could see that the gray deposits on the cylinder was not a simple oxide, that the yellowish-white metal, flashing under the lid was an unusual color.
[...]
The upper part of the cylinder loosen from the inside. It was visible for about two feet of shiny screw cutting.
Thus, the alien ship was more like a giant bullet or kernel, than a controlled mechanism.
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
Phenomena in artwork: The Alien
The aliens described by wells arrived from Mars. Their goal is to conquer the planet and the destruction of the Earth's population.
The appearance of the alien from the point of view of a person quite unpleasant. In the book they describe as:
All probably expected that the hole will seem to people; maybe not quite like us, earthly people, but still like us. At least, I've been waiting for this. But, looking, I saw something crawling in the dark - grey, wavy, moving; flashed two discs, like the eyes. Then something like a gray snake, thick as a cane, began to crawl out rings from the hole and move slithering in my direction - one thing, then another.
[...]
A large greyish round the carcass, the size perhaps of a bear, slowly and with difficulty climbed out of the cylinder. Leaning out into the light, she salonius, just a wet belt. Two large dark eyes staring at me. The monster was round head and, if I may say so, face. Under the eyes was the mouth, the edges of which moved and shook, releasing saliva. The beast was breathing heavily, and his whole body was pulsing frantically. One thin tentacle rested on the edge of the cylinder is waved in the air. Anyone who has not seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine his dreadful, hideous appearance. Triangular mouth with protruding upper lip, the total lack of forehead, no signs of the chin under the lower lip wedge-shaped, continuous twitching of the mouth, the tentacles, like the Gorgon, noisy breathing in an unusual atmosphere, the slowness and difficulty of movement - the result of the greater gravity of the Earth, - especially the huge close my eyes - all it was fucking sick. Oily dark skin resembled a slippery surface mushroom, clumsy, slow movements inspired unspeakable horror. Even if your first impression at a cursory glance I felt mortal fear and disgust.
The narrator mentions that the Martians have been hard to move on the earth's surface, because, in his opinion, that the attraction of the Earth much more than Mars. However, the aliens built a special device ("tripods"), which are easy to move around, killing people. These war machines, the narrator describes thus:
Huge above the houses, the tripod was walking on young pine seedlings and breaking on its way pine; the car of shiny metal, trampled the Heather; steel, coming down with her ropes; it produced a roar, merging with the thunder. Lightning flashed, and the tripod stood out from the darkness; he stood on one leg, the other two hung in the air. He would disappear and then appear again when a new flash of lightning was already a hundred yards closer. Can you imagine a folding chair that is swaying crosses on the ground? That was the vision for fleeting flashes of lightning. But instead of a chair, imagine a huge machine that was installed on the tripod.
In addition to the tripods and heat rays, incinerating people, the aliens are black smoke (apparently, chemical weapons), which is then "washed" with steam.
In the book it is indicated that the Martians do not have their own digestive system and feed on blood, which is pumped out of people and poured into your blood system. (After the extinction of the Martians, their base was discovered humanoid beings, from which the author concludes that they are grown for food and brought in shells and fly to the Ground).
It is also stated that the Martians are asexual creatures and reproduce by budding (the narrator witnessed the birth of one of them).
The aliens were very sensitive to the earth's bacteria and viruses (the narrator suggests that on Mars they do not), which as a result was the cause of their death.
People's attitude to strangers, at first, very quiet. Nobody was afraid, because it was believed that the Martians will not be able to move because of the strong terrestrial gravity. Later, after realizing the technical relics of the Martians, there is a strong fear.
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
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