
The Good Soldier
The saddest story’? Sally Minogue examines the claims of Ford Madox Ford’s modernist masterpiece
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Yet across the gulf of space,
minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish,
intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious
eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
— H. G. Wells (1898), The War of the Worlds
It was in the nineteenth century that
writers very gradually began to construct what we regard today as ‘science
fiction.’ This was partly due, of course, to the great leaps that science made
in all fields from medicine to industry during this remarkable century. The
nineteenth century began with horse drawn carriages, gas-lamps and musical
boxes and ended with motor cars, electric lighting, phonographs and numerous other
inventions which would have been deemed incredible in an earlier age. The
further and faster science and technology advances, the more it makes it
possible for the writer to stretch their and our imaginations.
Jules Verne (1828 – 1905) was the pioneer
in this field of fiction. Indeed he is regarded as the ‘Father of Science
Fiction’, a nomenclature coined in the early part of the twentieth century and
one that has in recent years been attributed to H. G. Wells. Indeed the
connection between the two men is strong, sharing as they did an imagination
which pushed beyond the boundaries of the commonplace. Verne referred to his
works as ‘scientific romances’, as did Wells.
Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946) became an overnight literary
sensation with the publication of his first novel, The Time Machine (1895). His success triggered an incredible
industrious and creative period of about six years when the author wrote his
most memorable and brilliantly conceived ‘scientific romances’. In quick
succession, he published The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The
Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898) and The First Men in the Moon (1901).
The War of the Worlds is in many ways the most interesting of these works. At the time the
majority of science fiction writers were creating narratives in which earthmen
attempted to explore space, to visit other planets and to study creatures from
these strange worlds. What Wells did in this novel was to have the aliens visit
us – and not in a friendly fashion.
In this way Wells thrusts the
nightmare scenario into the living rooms of his contemporary readers. The main
action takes place in the small English town of Woking and the author enhances the
immediacy of the drama by the use of a first person narrative. The opening
statement, startling and chillingly intriguing, draws the reader in
immediately:
‘No one would have believed in the last
years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and
closely by intelligences greater than man’s.’
The Martians arrive in huge cylinders. The first falls on the outskirts of
the town and is regarded as a curiosity rather than a danger until the Martians
emerge and kill many of the gaping crowd with a Heat-Ray. These alien creatures
have heads four feet in diameter, colossal round bodies and by manipulating two
terrifying machines – the Handling Machine and the Fighting Machine – they are
as versatile as humans and at the same time insuperable. They cause boundless
destruction. The inhabitants of Earth are powerless against them, and it looks
as if the end of the world as we know it has come. But there is one factor
which the Martians, in spite of their superior intelligence, have not reckoned
on. It is this which brings about a miraculous conclusion to this
ground-breaking novel.
The War of the Worlds has been variously
interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and a
range of Victorian superstitions, fears, and prejudices. Wells said that the
plot arose from a discussion with his brother Frank about the catastrophic
impact of the British colonisation of Tasmania and the destructive effect this
had on the indigenous
natives. What would happen, he wondered, if Martians did to
Britain what the British had done to the Tasmanians?
To Wells, the plot
of the novel is paramount. The human characters are merely pieces to be moved
around the storyboard. The narrator is a middle-class writer of philosophical
papers but the reader learns very little about him or indeed anyone else in the
novel; characterisation is unimportant. In fact none of the principal
characters are named, aside from the astronomer Ogilvy.
In the novel, humans become a subordinate
species. This change in position gives the narrator a new perspective on the
natural world. He begins to draw parallels between the Martian relationship
with humans and the relationship we have with animals. Wells predicts that
people who are not ‘made for wild beasts’ will end up in ‘nice roomy cages,’
subject to ‘careful breeding’ and being farmed for food. This prospect comes
with the observation that we must not take the natural order for granted. He
asks his readers to reconsider their relationship with the animal world. We
must show compassion for animals. At the end of the novel, Wells observes
through the narrator that,: ‘Surely, if we have learned nothing else, this war
has taught us pity—pity for those witless souls that suffer our dominion’.
On publication, The War of the Worlds was well received and has never been out of
print. There have been many dramatised versions of the book in a variety of
formats. One of the most notable is the famous, or
infamous radio adaptation in 1938 which was narrated and directed by Orson Welles. The first two-thirds of the hour long broadcast were presented as a real
news bulletin. The legend goes that this led to listeners reacting in panic,
believing that the events described in the programme were actually happening.
Some doubt is now expressed regarding the extent of the supposed distress.
There have been two mainstream movies from
Hollywood in 1953 and 2005, the latter, directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring
Tom Cruise. Both movies were set in America and featured a contemporary setting.
A very interesting take n Wells’ novel was the best-selling musical concept album
by Jeff Wayne (1978) which featured the voices of Richard Burton and David Essex.
In the spring of 2017, the BBC announced that in
2018 it would be producing an Edwardian period, three-episode
mini-series adaptation. As we move towards the end of 2019, we are at
last able to view this version. Whatever its reception, that fact that it will
be shown on prime time television underlines the continuing fascination with
this engrossing classic science fiction saga.
Image: 'The Martian', Woking. Credit: ZRyzner / Shutterstock.com