“I told you so. You damned fools.”
October 13, 2017 1:44 PM Subscribe
As part of writing a literary biography of H.G. Wells, SF author and critic Adam Roberts is reading and blogging about everything Wells wrote.
Yeah, I find the different strands of Wells - SF and politics - interesting.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:03 PM on October 13, 2017
posted by Chrysostom at 3:03 PM on October 13, 2017
"Wells At The World's End" is a great title.
posted by doctornemo at 4:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 4:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
No Story of Days to Come? Or is that bundled with something else in this list? (Note that I'm not actually a complete lunatic who would notice a single missing title from Wells' fiction. But, I remember it being among my favorites and searched for it, hoping to read the article.)
I fell in love with Wells' science fiction in high school. And his politics, as I understood them based on summaries in paperback introductions and the very early internet. Then I read more of his work and learned more about his politics. . . and felt pretty embarrassed about having been such a fan. (Fortunately, all my Wells' inspired usernames were obscure enough they weren't worth changing.) Revisiting his work now, a couple decades later, seems like it could be interesting.
The few of these articles I've skimmed look quite thoughtful. I look forward to spending some time with them. Neat!
posted by eotvos at 4:06 PM on October 13, 2017
I fell in love with Wells' science fiction in high school. And his politics, as I understood them based on summaries in paperback introductions and the very early internet. Then I read more of his work and learned more about his politics. . . and felt pretty embarrassed about having been such a fan. (Fortunately, all my Wells' inspired usernames were obscure enough they weren't worth changing.) Revisiting his work now, a couple decades later, seems like it could be interesting.
The few of these articles I've skimmed look quite thoughtful. I look forward to spending some time with them. Neat!
posted by eotvos at 4:06 PM on October 13, 2017
"A Story of Day to Come" was a novella, published in the volume Tales of Space and Time, which Roberts discusses here.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 4:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
> A very interesting discussion of the Fabians.
I had known Wells had been friends with Shaw and a member of the Fabian Society, but somehow I had never latched onto his status as an outsider which the insiders saw as far too disruptive. It makes sense, but the degree to which he was shaking their boat by trying to make their putative mission have material consequences is eye-opening and actually kind of hilarious.
posted by ardgedee at 5:57 PM on October 13, 2017
I had known Wells had been friends with Shaw and a member of the Fabian Society, but somehow I had never latched onto his status as an outsider which the insiders saw as far too disruptive. It makes sense, but the degree to which he was shaking their boat by trying to make their putative mission have material consequences is eye-opening and actually kind of hilarious.
posted by ardgedee at 5:57 PM on October 13, 2017
I re-read The War of the Worlds recently. A character stood out who I had forgotten: The Artilleryman. After the Martian conquest, the narrator meets up with this former soldier, who is hunkered down in a ruined manor house. He's digging a tunnel for hiding and escape, with the intention of creating a network of tunnels for humanity's resistance.
At first, the protagonist is overjoyed to find this steely-eyed well-prepared military man with a plan. But as the weeks pass, the Artilleryman lays out his opinions: To survive and resist the Martian occupation, humanity must move underground and return to a tribal way of life. The notion of "rights" is a luxury of civilization, he says -- men must be obedient to authority, and women are to be managed as breeding stock, ruled by the strong. As the theories grow grander, the narrator notices that the tunnel is going nowhere, because all the Artilleryman does is talk and drink from the dwindling supply of wine in the cellar.
Anyone in the modern day would recognize this character immediately: the right-wing survivalist, loudmouth member of the 110th Fighting Chairborne, uncomfortable with modernity, grimly anticipating Apocalypse as an opportunity to impose fascism. I'm sure he has a blog these days.
Although microbes defeat the Martians, it's worth noticing how humanity rebuilds in the days after. Civilization is re-established because that's what the ordinary person prefers, not tribal warfare. I think HGW's worldview was basically pro-civilization as an improving force. When you read his arguments for Socialism, it's like: the nationalization of the economic sphere under civilized principles is just good sense, just like the State has already nationalized letter-carrying and dispute resolution. Unlike the Artilleryman, Wells believes that even in times of suffering, civilization beats force as a way to solve problems.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:38 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]
At first, the protagonist is overjoyed to find this steely-eyed well-prepared military man with a plan. But as the weeks pass, the Artilleryman lays out his opinions: To survive and resist the Martian occupation, humanity must move underground and return to a tribal way of life. The notion of "rights" is a luxury of civilization, he says -- men must be obedient to authority, and women are to be managed as breeding stock, ruled by the strong. As the theories grow grander, the narrator notices that the tunnel is going nowhere, because all the Artilleryman does is talk and drink from the dwindling supply of wine in the cellar.
Anyone in the modern day would recognize this character immediately: the right-wing survivalist, loudmouth member of the 110th Fighting Chairborne, uncomfortable with modernity, grimly anticipating Apocalypse as an opportunity to impose fascism. I'm sure he has a blog these days.
Although microbes defeat the Martians, it's worth noticing how humanity rebuilds in the days after. Civilization is re-established because that's what the ordinary person prefers, not tribal warfare. I think HGW's worldview was basically pro-civilization as an improving force. When you read his arguments for Socialism, it's like: the nationalization of the economic sphere under civilized principles is just good sense, just like the State has already nationalized letter-carrying and dispute resolution. Unlike the Artilleryman, Wells believes that even in times of suffering, civilization beats force as a way to solve problems.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:38 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]
Ha! I'd been planning on FPP-ing this, but was waiting until Roberts had got to Mr Britling Sees It Through. The contextual discussion (both personal and political) that Roberts provides is excellent. I'm sure the full-scale biography of Wells he's working towards will be top-notch.
posted by Sonny Jim at 11:53 PM on October 13, 2017
posted by Sonny Jim at 11:53 PM on October 13, 2017
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