Transcribe
Translate
Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 4, December 1944
Page 58
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
FANTASY COMMENTATOR GRAVES, Charles Larcom, and LUCAS, Edward Verrall The War of the Wenuses: translated from the Artesian of H. G. Pozzuoli author of "The Treadmill," "The Isthmus of Dr. Day," "The Vanishing Lady," etc., etc. Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, no date (1898), 140pp. 16 1/2cm. 1/6. Furthur information: A paper-covered edition was published simultaneously at 1/-. The frontispiece consists of a "portrait of the invisible author (from a negative by the Spectroscopic Co.)" The volume is number 78 of Arrowsmith's "Bristol Library". The War of the Wenuses is a satire on H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, and is, indeed, dedicated to the latter author. Book- and chapter-headings throughout are either the same as or bathetically distorted context of Wells'. Besides this, Graves and Lucas choose various incidents from the Wells novel for satirical presentation, and also burlesque specific characteristics of his style---for instance: the frequent use of scientific terminology is made bogusly rediculous; Wells' introduction of lower-class characters is numerically exaggerated; peculiarities of speech by Wellsian characters is over-accentuated to the point of travesty; Wells' frequent use of specific street names in mocked by the introduction of it at incongruous points in the narration; and others, too numerous to mention. There is a general satire present, too, mainly directed at women and their dress; the authors are not above the occasional use of puns; and words beginning with a y are spelt with a w because of the writers' "inordinate affection for that letter." Synopsis: Because the diminishing orbit of the planet Wenus has made its climate too hot, the inhabitants decide to migrate. They dispatch an expedition of five spaceships---"crinolines"---of Wenusian females to Earth. The narrator tells of the opening of the first crinoline, and how the Wenusians annhilated nearly all the men present by flashing their deadly "mash glances" about. Soon constant streams of infatuated men, unable to resist the lure of the mash glance, hasten to the crinoline from all over London. Women are immune to the weapon, and marshal forces to defeat the Wenuses. They are commanded by the narrator's wife and lay siege to the invaders, who are occupying a department store in Westbourne Grove. But the Wenuses defeat their opponents by the simple stratagem of offering them tea; while the women are engaged in this irresistible repast they succumb to the fumes of the Wensus' "red weed". More crinolines land, and the invaders descend upon one emporium after another, trying on the various stylish costumes found in each. Then, after a few weeks' occupation, the Wenuses seize a soap factory, and depart for their native planet in soap-bubbles they have blown. Review: As a novel, The War of the Wenuses does not contain a sufficient amount of coherent and independant material to stand alone, and the authors neither integrate nor compress the satire sufficiently for their volume to be memorable as a parody of Wells' earlier novel. Totally irrelevant material is frequently included, the authors occasionally losing the thread of their discourse while searching for more and more imitation pearls to string upon it. Furthur, the inclusion of various slang expressions throughout has the effect of dating the work considerably. Mssrs. Graves and Lucas may have intended their brief satire to be amusing, but they seldom succeed in this aim, and the discriminating reader, whatever his potential interest, must label The War of the Wenuses as little short of pathetically ridiculous. ---A. Langley Searles, in Fantasy Commentator #4.
Saving...
prev
next
FANTASY COMMENTATOR GRAVES, Charles Larcom, and LUCAS, Edward Verrall The War of the Wenuses: translated from the Artesian of H. G. Pozzuoli author of "The Treadmill," "The Isthmus of Dr. Day," "The Vanishing Lady," etc., etc. Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, no date (1898), 140pp. 16 1/2cm. 1/6. Furthur information: A paper-covered edition was published simultaneously at 1/-. The frontispiece consists of a "portrait of the invisible author (from a negative by the Spectroscopic Co.)" The volume is number 78 of Arrowsmith's "Bristol Library". The War of the Wenuses is a satire on H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, and is, indeed, dedicated to the latter author. Book- and chapter-headings throughout are either the same as or bathetically distorted context of Wells'. Besides this, Graves and Lucas choose various incidents from the Wells novel for satirical presentation, and also burlesque specific characteristics of his style---for instance: the frequent use of scientific terminology is made bogusly rediculous; Wells' introduction of lower-class characters is numerically exaggerated; peculiarities of speech by Wellsian characters is over-accentuated to the point of travesty; Wells' frequent use of specific street names in mocked by the introduction of it at incongruous points in the narration; and others, too numerous to mention. There is a general satire present, too, mainly directed at women and their dress; the authors are not above the occasional use of puns; and words beginning with a y are spelt with a w because of the writers' "inordinate affection for that letter." Synopsis: Because the diminishing orbit of the planet Wenus has made its climate too hot, the inhabitants decide to migrate. They dispatch an expedition of five spaceships---"crinolines"---of Wenusian females to Earth. The narrator tells of the opening of the first crinoline, and how the Wenusians annhilated nearly all the men present by flashing their deadly "mash glances" about. Soon constant streams of infatuated men, unable to resist the lure of the mash glance, hasten to the crinoline from all over London. Women are immune to the weapon, and marshal forces to defeat the Wenuses. They are commanded by the narrator's wife and lay siege to the invaders, who are occupying a department store in Westbourne Grove. But the Wenuses defeat their opponents by the simple stratagem of offering them tea; while the women are engaged in this irresistible repast they succumb to the fumes of the Wensus' "red weed". More crinolines land, and the invaders descend upon one emporium after another, trying on the various stylish costumes found in each. Then, after a few weeks' occupation, the Wenuses seize a soap factory, and depart for their native planet in soap-bubbles they have blown. Review: As a novel, The War of the Wenuses does not contain a sufficient amount of coherent and independant material to stand alone, and the authors neither integrate nor compress the satire sufficiently for their volume to be memorable as a parody of Wells' earlier novel. Totally irrelevant material is frequently included, the authors occasionally losing the thread of their discourse while searching for more and more imitation pearls to string upon it. Furthur, the inclusion of various slang expressions throughout has the effect of dating the work considerably. Mssrs. Graves and Lucas may have intended their brief satire to be amusing, but they seldom succeed in this aim, and the discriminating reader, whatever his potential interest, must label The War of the Wenuses as little short of pathetically ridiculous. ---A. Langley Searles, in Fantasy Commentator #4.
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
