In The Days Of The Comet

I thought that I was familiar with most of Well's body of work, until I stumbled over this unique novel. First of all, do not be put off by the first part of this book- it is intended to be depressing. It is meant to paint the pettiness, ugliness, and just plain bloody-mindedness of human society in 1906. It does this quite well for I almost set the book aside several times in disgust. It is all unpleasantness after unpleasantness in the life of a working class young man (obviously modeled largely after the author's youth.) Even the fact of the approach of the great comet is almost mentioned only in passing as a minor occurrence. Then everything changes when the comet hits. Mankind is transformed. That is to say that all of mankind is suddenly mentally and spiritually enlightened and awakened. I've read nothing quite like it in literature. The first part of the book makes it jump out at you all the more. All the meanness, pettiness, guile, and evil evaporate in the human species. The story of how these enlightened men put an end to want, injustice, and war around the world is breathtaking and inspirational. Wells attributes this to a chemical change in earth's atmosphere, but there is a surprising amount of spirituality also incorporated (surprising for Wells.) All of this reminded me of the change that is said to occur when a human soul leaves the material world and enters the astral. All of the old heaviness and stupidity drop away. Only the highest of what it means to be human remains- the old ego dies. Even in the story everyone speculated if perhaps they were not dead and transported to a different world. Some even declared that this great Change was the Second Advent. There is one thing about this novel that leaves a lingering element of disappointment. This is the fact that the core causes of all the economic, social, and political injustices and stupidities described in the first part of the book in 1906 are still with us. After 101 years these same problems are still with us. I'm sure that this would have also disappointed Mr. Wells.

As a kid, I must have read "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine" two dozen times apiece. H.G. Wells appealed to the most fantastic parts of my imagination, and he still does. As a kid, I also read this book once, "In the Days of the Comet," but I don't remember being quite as impressed. As an adult however, I have re-read "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine," and while I still enjoyed them, found them to be more along the lines of paperback thrillers. When I re-read this book, however, I found a treasure. This book tells the story of a world changed by a comet--a comet that passes by the earth and allows everyone to see themselves and one another as they truly are. It affects everything from relationships, to the structures of towns, to how people look at one another. It allows the world to become truly socialist in a non-political way. It shows the world as what it could be if only everyone viewed one another as equally important as one's self. It is not a political manifesto, because by its very premise it suggests the impossibility of such a wondrous happening and of such a change. It is not a violent, dynamic book that hurtles itself forward the way "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine" do--it is a gentle, thoughtful look at people, at people's motivations, at the problems of the world, and at a wish to be better than we have been. It is also astoundingly well written. That's what hit me the most about it. It is full of powerful phrases, poetic sentences, and clearly expressed ideas and metaphors. As an adult, I recommend this book as one of Wells's very best. It's a treat that I plan to re-read yet again.

Next to War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, this book isn't nearly as well known. I enjoyed the book, but can see why it doesn't have the popularity of the other two, as much of the book is an extended discussion on the politics of the day, and especially the socialist views of one of the main characters, who is basically Wells's mouthpiece. Much of the time is spent with the two main characters, one of whom is an astronomy buff who is tracking the comet, and the other his politically fevered friend, who spends much of the time ranting to his geek buddy about politics while his friend painstakingly goes about his comet-tracking work and patiently listens. I also have to admit I found all the discussion and detail about Leadford (the socialist friend) and his relationship with his beloved Nettie pretty dull stuff also. While this does serve as the romantic interest in the book (and there is some discussion of sex, too) I still found these passages pretty dull sledding. After all, this is still Victorian England, and so you're not exactly getting Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer here. :-) The book does have a dramatic backdrop and setting, taking place during a global war and a worker's uprising, although most of the action doesn't have anything to do with that. With the war already on, the appearance of the comet is like another dreaded omen, creating further apprehension about the possible fate of the world and humanity. When this book was written almost 100 years ago, WWI was still in the distant future. But the universal conflagration in the book is reminsicent of what was to transpire only a decade later. But if you're looking for the sort of action one finds in War of the Worlds or the wonder of the time machine and the drama and tension of the class struggle between the Eloi and the Morlocks in that book, this isn't it. The book has a positive ending though, as the earth passes through the comet and the entire population of the earth becomes briefly comatose. When they awake, humans are transformed; they are peaceful and no longer aggressive and warlike (truly a forlorn fantasy if there ever was one, but oh well, one can hope), the war is ended, and even the crime rate almost drops to zero. (I want to know if we can bring such a comet over here right now). Overall, still a good Wells read, but if you haven't read the other two more popular books, I'd read those first, or even The Food of the Gods. Then you could pick this one up after that if you wanted.

William Leadford is a young London Socialist, leading a life of quiet desperation. Around him, the whole world seems to be unraveling, as capitalists wage war on their own workers, and nation rises up against nation. And through it all, a comet has entered the Solar System, and may indeed be aimed straight at Earth. Can the system that dominates men's lives survive its seeming inevitable destruction? And if the comet should strike the planet, what will be the result? This now largely forgotten work was written by H.G. Wells (1866-1946) in 1906, during his brief sojourn with the Fabian Society. This book is less science fiction than his earlier works, such as the Invisible Man and the War of the Worlds, and is more of a political polemic. In it, we get to see the inevitable destruction of the capitalist system that the antediluvian Socialists predicted. But more, Wells uses the comet as a vehicle to posit a new utopia, where man has awakened from his childhood as a species and puts behind him such things as private ownership of land, nationalism, religion, and so much more. Indeed, this book marks Wells' open advocation of free love, which eroded his popularity among the reading public. Now, as for the book itself, I am of two minds. The book starts out rather slowly, and I found myself rather bored with it. But, as it continued, it began to pick up steam, and became quite an interesting read. This is one of Wells' better works of fiction, being much better (in my opinion) than Tono-Bungay and the Food of the Gods. So, if you are a fan of Edwardian literature, or just like a good story, then you will definitely like this book. I highly recommend it.

This was my first HG Wells book and it was very good. I actually reminded me of what the second coming of Christ would be like. Quite interesting.