Wells H. G. – The War of the Worlds (Second Book)

$8.99

Wells H. G. – The War of the Worlds (Second Book): The War of the Worlds! The invasion of England by the famous Martians on their tripods, domineering, invincible, and yet vanquished by organisms stronger than humans. The War of the Worlds, archetype of the extraterrestrial invasion which will be taken up again in the literature of SF and the cinema (thus “Independance Day”)! War of the Worlds, adapted for radio by Orson Wells in 1938: the show created panic and CBS had to pay for repair no less than one million dollars. Many Americans continued to believe, despite denials, the coming of the Martians, first demonstration, by the absurd, the strength of the media. The War of the Worlds, finally, was the subject of several cinematographic adaptations including that of Spielberg in 2005.

But the War of the Worlds is better than that. It’s a breathtaking narrative, conducted as a wartime report, that portrays the desperate struggle of humans against inhuman invaders coming out of our worst nightmares. There is no shortage of spectacular catastrophes or action. More than a hundred years after being written, he did not take a ride!

The War of the World is also an anti-imperialist and premonitory novel. Anti-imperialist because it is touched by the destiny of the natives of Tasmania decimated by the British empire that H-G. Wells is going to imagine colonial invaders and humans who are “on the wrong side” facing a civilization more advanced than them. Premonitory because how not to be struck by these military deluges, Black smoke and gas, rays, destruction and deaths of civilians, written some fifteen years before the First World War? “All scenes of exodus, panic, or even heroic acts (more rare) are undeniably universal. Wells, not only wrote a novel of “scientific romance”, he mostly transcribed a timeless testimony about the horrors of war “(Erwelyn, September 30, 2013, Martian Culture 2007-2014.)

This digital publication includes the luxury edition of 1906 (Brussels, L. Vandamme) printed in 500 copies. Henrique Alvim CorrĂȘa, a Brazilian cartoonist based in Brussels, produced more than 130 illustrations for this one, which were approved by H.-G. Wells. His work is little known because it was almost completely destroyed during the German invasion and then on the occasion of a shipwreck but it remains remarkable and deserves to be rediscovered.

Given the large number of illustrations, we publish the two books that make up “The War of the Worlds” separately. This second book describes the Earth at the Power of the Martians.

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