First serialised in 1897 and then unblished in book form, The War of the Worlds was part of a phenomenal body of work by English author H. G. Wells. Trained in science, Wells foresaw and possibly inspired the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and even something resembling the world wide web.
A SHINY OBJECT
The novel is the first-person narrative of two unnamed brothers: one in Surrey south west of London, the other a medical student in the capital itself. We begin in an observatory in Surrey where the narrator spies flashes of light through a telescope. He suggests it is Martian activity, but is dismissed by his astronomer friend. However, a large shiny cylindrical object then lands on Earth and opens to reveal its passengers.
“A big grayish, rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light it glistened like wet leather […] The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder; another swayed in the air.”
“Si alzava dall’interno, a lentezza esasperante, una forma grigia e arrotondata delle dimensioni, potrei dire, di un orso. Quando emerse abbastanza da essere illuminato dalla luce del tramonto, luccicò come cuoio bagnato. […] L’intera creatura si gonfiava e sgonfiava, e pulsava convulsamente. Un’affusolata appendice tentacolare s’aggrappò all’orlo del cilindro e un’altra scodinzolò nell’aria.”
BURNED ALIVE
Initial attempts to pacify the Martians are met with instant human incineration via lasers called ‘heat-rays’. The army is called in, but more Martians arrive. As the battle commences, the narrator and his wife run away. But the narrator realises that these beings are far superior to the best of Earth’s scientists when he encounters one of their fighting machines.
“[a] monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding over the young pine-trees, and smashing them aside in its career.”
“Un tripode mostruoso, più alto di molte case, che scavalcava i pini più giovani e li abbatteva nella sua corsa […]”
Separated from his wife, the narrator heads to London. Then he begins to describe the experience of his younger brother, who, like other Londoners, is initially relaxed about an impending alien invasion. This does not last.
THE MARTIANS ARE COMING!
Having destroyed the affluent suburbs of London, Martians attack the city with a poisonous black smoke.
“It was the dawn of the great panic. London, which had gone to bed on Sunday night oblivious and inert, was awakened in the small hours of Monday morning to a vivid sense of danger [...] “Black Smoke!” he heard people crying, and again “Black Smoke!”
“Era l’alba del grande panico. Londra, che domenica sera si era coricata ignara e distratta, veniva svegliata nelle prime ore di lunedì da un vivo senso di pericolo. […]
«Fumo nero!», sentì gridare e poi di nuovo «Fumo nero!»”
The narrator’s brother decides that even Belgium seems preferable to England, and he secures passage on a steamer ship.
an alien tentacle
Meanwhile, his elder brother has taken refuge in the ruins of a house with a priest. But the priest begins to panic. The narrator is forced to knock him out, but then is horrified to discover that an alien tentacle is exploring the room, searching for prey.
“In the darkness I could just see the thing – like an elephant’s trunk more than anything else – waving towards me and touching and examining the wall, coals, wood, and ceiling. It was like a black worm swaying its blind head to and fro.”
“Nell’oscurità, lo vedevo appena, una specie di proboscide d’elefante, allungarsi oscillando verso di me e toccare ed esaminare il muro, il carbone, la legna e il soffitto. Era come un verme nero che dondola la testa priva di occhi.”
FLYING MACHINES
When the narrator finally ventures out, he finds London completely destroyed. By chance, he comes across a familiar artilleryman. But the man has bad news: the Martians have built a flying machine.
“It is all over with humanity,” I said. “If they can do that they will simply go round the world.”
He nodded.”
“«Per l’umanità è finita», dissi. «Se sono in grado di volare, potranno fare il giro del mondo intero».
Lui annuì.”
DEADLY PATHOGENS
As he wanders around amidst piles of bodies and destruction, the narrator decides it is better to die now rather than wait. He rushes up a hill where various alien war machines stand, but once there, is stunned by what he finds.
“A mighty space it was, with gigantic machines here and there [...] And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians –dead!– slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared.”
“Era uno spazio enorme, con gigantesche macchine sparse qua e là, montagne di materiali e strani ricoveri. E disseminati dappertutto, alcuni dentro le loro macchine da guerra abbattute, altri in macchine operai ora immobilizzate, e una decina disposti tutti in fila, muti e nudi sul terreno, c’erano i marziani… morti! Li avevano uccisi i batteri di malattie e putrefazione contro cui il loro sistema non era preparato.”
ADAPTATIONS
There have been numerous adaptations of The War of the Worlds, the majority given contemporary settings; the most notorious, an abridged 1938 US radio version narrated by Orson Welles, was allegedly so convincing that it caused listeners to panic. This, however, was nothing to the 1949 version in Quito, Ecuador that ended in the radio station that was broadcasting it being burnt to the ground by a mob. Of the films, the 1953 film is the most famous, while other adaptations include a musical opera from 1978, and an on-going series starring Gabriel Byrne.