In the Days of the Comet

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Summary: "Comet strikes earth & kills millions" by RexCurry.net
Review: H. G. Wells "The Days of the Comet," published 1906, tells of a comet that passes earth and changes greed to altruism with predictable results: Wells predicted utopia, others predicted dystopia.

Well's also wrote "The History of the World," mixing his fiction with non-fiction as he inserts the same sad ideas there.

Like others on the globe, Wells was concerned with destroying the world and recreating it in his own image. The author is biased, and similar to all socialists, he attributes only good results to his socialism, no bad results. Wells died in 1946.

Wells' book has been rated by the journalist Rex Curry way down with Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward: 2000-1887" as some of the worst non-libertarian fiction ever written. Ideas have consequences, and those ideas had deadly real-life consequences. They stand as the most stark example of unintended consequences. The utopian visions always translated into dystopian reality. They helped inspire WWII, the Holocaust, the larger socialist Wholecaust, and every socialist cesspool on earth, including the socialist trio of the worst atrocities: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 62 million people slaughtered; the People's Republic of China, 35 million; and the National Socialist German Workers' Party, 21 million. (numbers from Professor R. J. Rummel's article in the Encyclopedia of Genocide (1999) and "Death by Government" which is also available). In retrospect these books qualify in the "Horror" genre, and are a must-read in that vein and for the horrifying historical impact. It was as if meteors had actually hit the earth in three or more locations.

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Summary: Wells' tells why the world should be socialist.
Review: H.G. Wells was a known socialist for much of his life, although his opinions seemed to have change after the rise of the Stalinist Soviet Union. This book, with the misleading title, is NOT science fiction in the classic sense. However, this 1906 Wells' work is clearly an effort by Wells to show why the world should become socialist. He constantly ridicules the capitalist world by pointing out how capitalism breeds social classes which in turn breeds an unequal lifestyle among human beings. The rich get all the benefits of life, while the poor are left in squalor. Perhaps Wells' best illustration of this comes late in the book when the mother of the main character tells how her daughter died because she couldn't afford to pay the doctors who demanded their fee up front. Wells' also tries to convince the reader that socialism will not mean an end to the family, although it apparantly will mean the end of the single family home, all of which are destroyed in several! English cities by the socialists in this book. In fact, Wells claims people will find true love as a result of socialism because people will no longer think they are better than others. If you are looking for something in the realms of WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE INVISIBLE MAN or THE TIME MACHINE, this book is not for you. If you are a die-hard Wells fan you will probably enjoy this look into Wells' socialist ideas.

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Summary: Utopia through extra-terrestial influences
Review: I first read this and saw that it was a Utopian Novel which was much more positive than others I had also read(by Orwell,for instance).However,I can see now that,although highly disguised through the science-fiction and humanity,this was Wells' own Socialist ideas of the world.Wells is an author whose works can be read as either science fiction,human interest or social commentary.

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Summary: Not just polemic, plotted polemic
Review: In the Days of the Comet may not be Wells' finest scientific romance, but it is a provocative, insightful, often humorous and finally scandalous look at how the world may be transformed into a prelapsarian wonderland. The comet of the title dusts the earth and transforms the jealous and possessive behaviors of men and women into passions for cooperation and peace.

Idyllic as it may seem, contemporary readers were aghast by the suggestion that religion, marriage, and capitalism, would (or should) be replaced by a primitivistic urge to help, share, and love. Granted, Wells was by no means a proto-hippie, but in this book we get the softer side of a writer who is elsewhere concerned with destroying the world and recreating it in his own image. This novel is the perfect antidote for the anti-social Wells we can find in his nonfiction.

Bison's edition, unfortunately, does not include Wells' original epigraph (from Shelley), but does include a fair introduction by Ben Bova.

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Summary: A fantasy of a Socialist utopia
Review: This book is not science fiction but actually a fantasy. Wells sets up the scene by depicting human strife in both love and war - the latter when Germany and Britain start shooting at each other. Suddenly a comet strikes earth and instead of killing everyone releases this gas that brings enlightenment to all human beings. This is one of Wells's attempts to mix social propaganda with literature and he is fairly successful in this instance. It is too bad that after about 1920 he forgot about literature and began writing his novels as pure propaganda creating some really bad novels.

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Summary: Beautiful!
Review: 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.

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Summary: A great introduction to Well's literature.
Review: While not his earliest or most typical work, In The Days of The Comet is a great introduction to Well's literature for those interested but uninitiated into the mind and writings of this great author. Dramatic, full of suspense and intrigue, with a dose of romance to boot, this story has something for everyone... including a great social lesson. The story is set in Edwardian England and has some of the flavor of Dickens' stories. However, whereas it required the visitation of all three spirits of Christmas to reform Ebeneezer Scrooge, the entire human race gets reformed by the visitation of a single comet in this masterful story by H.G. Wells. Once you've read it, check out "Mr. Britling Sees It Through" for a superb examination of WWI and war in general. Wells was one of the great thinkers of all time and we owe it to ourselves to familiarize ourselves with his works. Many of his ponderings on human nature and problems are applicable even today. His science fiction works are far from being his best, though they are the best-known.

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Summary: Read Between the Lines
Review: While some reviews for this work mention the craft with which it is written (Wells' delightfully labyrinthian sentences, etc.) and the fairly engaging romance of the plot, most spend their time disparaging the apparent overt Socialism. It's true that the narrative is about Socialism evolving after a comet strikes the earth and people become enlightened, but then again, one might easily read that as anti-Socialism... Socialism is only going to work if the fundamental reality of "what people are" were to change. In that sense, the book is equally a "Capitalist" work. It's worth noting that the main character is a Socialist, but Wells spends the first 50 pages of the book with that same narrator explaining how delusional and wrong-headed he was when he held those beliefs.
The book was written when Wells was in top form as a novelist and thinker, and while the Joseph McCarthy's of the world might be scared off by the ostensible politics, or the apparent liberal attitude towards sexuality, anyone who is a real reader will take joy at the wordplay and writing skill, and will see that Wells' attitudes are much more sophisticated and ambiguous than all that. The book is certainly worth anyone's time.

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Summary: ESSENTIAL H G WELLS
Review: Why single out and commend a 90 year old novel? Well, In the Days of the Comet is exactly the kind of book that gets unkindly overlooked and lost in the dusty classics section of the modern bookstore - and we are much the worse for it. This recommendation is not so much for this specific title - wonderful though it is - but for a reevaluation of Wells himself, and a readdressing of the often misrepresented political slant of his later, and best, "romances'. The Time Machine has frequently been described as the best novella ever written (I believe it is) - for its seamless blend of humanist philosophy and visionary science. In the Days of the Comet might be described as a fuller working of the same themes, expanded in a memorably liberal love story. Wells' genius for story structure is always overlooked. This book is a perfect example for aspirant writers of how to compose storylines. It begins with the reader-figure encountering the narrator, writing his memoirs of an extraordinary comet strike and the Great Change that has befallen humanity since, a godly change that has brought about an enviably gentle new world order. Wells argues his pet socialism en route but the overstory of lowly Willie and his beloved whimsical Nettie is deft and engages the emotions in the way all great novels must. Reviewers are often sidetracked by Wells' apparent obsession with socialism. But Wells' concept of socialism-the-great-redeemer was always a fluxing issue. More vital here is his (and the novel's) concept of human sexualiy. Ever the sexual adventurer, Wells embraces an enlightened future of polygamous renewal, where love, not sex, abides and the heart of the beast is quietened. Autobiographical reflection is evident, and makes fascinating subtext analysis for Wells students. But, overall, the novel works in the way all great novels work, and endure. It is eloquent (re-read those luscious, labyrithine sentences!); its characters ring true; its universe (bizarre as it appears) feels real; and, best of all, it projects an optimistic future for a world open to the alchemy of the spirit.

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Summary: One of Wells' better works of fiction
Review: 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.