The "Marshies" of his The War Of Two Worlds (New York, 1959) sound like cartoon Martians:
seven feet tall;
long straight legs;
lean waist and arms;
large chest and shoulders;
hairless brown skin;
high cheekbones;
domed forehead;
narrow chin;
long pointed ears;
small flat nose;
mobile mouth;
large slanted golden eyes, protected by additional transparent eyelids from Terrestrial sunlight;
small antennae;
black uniforms;
able to live, uncomfortably, in Terrestrial atmosphere and gravity, unlike men on Mars;
huge spongy lungs drawing oxygen from food as well as from air by "...symbiosis with anaerobic bacteria." (p. 26)
This description has three features:
some logical extrapolations about what bipedal life should look like on Mars;
a few cartoonish elements;
recognizably characteristic Andersonian speculation about alternative life forms.
The Martian conquerors are polite like the Chinese. Thus, life on occupied Earth is not very different from being ruled by human beings of a different nationality. There is nothing really alien or unEarthly, as there was under Wells' very different Martians.
9 comments:
Hi, Paul!
But the Martians we saw in HG Wells THE WAR OF THE WORLDS were vastly different from the Martians in Poul Anderson's THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS (hmmm, was Anderson subtly trying to have these books compared with each other by creating a title similar to that of Wells book?). Wells Martians treated the men of Earth like vermin to be exterminated--while Anderson's Martians treated the defeated inhabitants of Earth like PEOPLE, enemies maybe, but still people.
Sean
Sean,
Wellsian Martians treat Martian humanoids and Terrestrial human beings mainly as food. They extract blood and inject it into themselves. If not bred as food, our only other role would have been as slaves.
Paul.
Someone spotted my Ace Double and said, "Are both novels by Wells?" because of that title.
Hi, Paul!
Replying to both your notes here. Hmmm, it's been a fairly long time since I read Wells WAR OF THE WORLDS, so I've forgotten the dominant Martian race had humanoid slaves/food animals. So, yes, if Wells had the Martian invaders not being wiped out by a terrestrial bug, humans would have ended up as slaves and food animals.
Truth to say, I thought Anderson's THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS better than Wells book. More convincing plot and far better character development.
So I was not the only one to notice the similiarity of the titles of Wells and Anderson's books! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
Anderson's book better than Wells'? And, earlier, you didn't rate Anderson's book very highly?
I think Wells' book is a classic.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
I only said THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS was one of Anderson's MINOR works. I did not intend that to mean mean it was shoddily written or a bore to read. I ENJOYED reading the book and thought it was well written with a good of food for thought included in it. My idea was that it was not on the same level of fame and importance as, say, THE BROKEN SWORD or TAU ZERO.
And, yes, Wells THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is a classic. Wells (and Jules Verne) were the two fathers of modern SF. I agree Wells broke ground in themes like time travel and alien conquest stories. And THE WAR OF THE WORLDS was better than some of his other works, such as THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Maybe it was just the WAY Wells wrote that did not quite appeal to me.
Hope this helps!
Sean
Hi, Paul!
I had another thought. Maybe it was the influence of Ernest Hemingway on writing which made me find Wells a bit off putting. That is, Hemingway advocated a sparer, more clipped and terse mode of wriritng. While Wells wrote when people preferred writing to be more leisurely or discursive. Does this make sense?
Sean
Sean,
A well written minor work. Clear.
Yes, writing styles have changed since Wells' day. Mind you, I think his style in THE TIME MACHINE is superb, almost poetic.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Good! Glad I cleared up any misunderstanding of how I regard Anderson's THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS. In fact, I may well reread that book after I finish IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS?
And I CAN enjoy reading a book written in a leisurely, discursive style. Kipling's THE LIGHT THAT FAILED or Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY being two examples which came to mind. And they were contemporaries of Wells, after all.
Sean
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