Invisible Man Herbert summary. Who wrote The Invisible Man? Chapter I: The Appearance of a Stranger
In the inn "The Coachman and Horses", owned by Mrs. Hall and her henpecked husband, in early February, a mysterious stranger appears wrapped from head to toe. Getting a guest on a winter day is not easy, and the visitor pays generously.
His behavior seems more and more strange, more and more alarming to those around him. He is very irritable, avoids human society. When he eats, he covers his mouth with a napkin. His head is all wrapped in bandages. In addition, the Aiping provincials (a place in southern England) do not understand what he is doing. The smells of some chemicals are spreading around the house, the sound of broken dishes, loud curses that the tenant pours (obviously, something does not work out for him).
Griffin, whose name we will learn much later, seeks to regain his former state, to become visible, but fails and becomes more and more annoyed. In addition, he ran out of money, they stopped feeding him, and he goes, using his invisibility, to rob. Of course, suspicion first of all falls on him.
The hero is going crazy. He is by nature an irritable person, and now this is manifested most clearly. Hungry, exhausted by constant failures with experiments, he takes a crazy step - gradually, in front of everyone, he breaks his disguise, appears before the observers as a man without a head, and then completely dissolves into the air. The first pursuit of the Invisible ends happily for him. In addition, while escaping from his pursuers, Invisible Man runs into Marvel's drifter, referred to as "Mr. Marvel" - perhaps because he invariably wears a battered top hat. And he's very picky about shoes. And no wonder - nothing is so necessary for a tramp as good shoes, albeit donated ones. Here at one fine moment, trying on and evaluating new shoes, he hears a Voice resounding from the void. Among the weaknesses of Mr. Marvel is a passion for alcohol, so he does not immediately manage to believe himself, but he has to - an invisible voice explains to him that he saw in front of him the same outcast as himself, took pity on him and at the same time thought that he could help. After all, he was left naked, driven, and Mr. Marvel needed him as an assistant. First of all, you need to get clothes, then money. Mr. Marvel at first fulfills all the requirements - especially since the Invisible Man has not left his aggressive attacks and is a considerable danger. In Aiping, preparations are underway for the holiday. And before finally leaving Aiping, Invisible arranges a rout there, cuts telegraph wires, steals the vicar's clothes, takes books with his scientific records, loads poor Marvel with all this and is removed from the field of view of local inhabitants. And in the surrounding areas, people often see handfuls of coins flashing in the air, or even whole bundles of banknotes. Marvel keeps trying to escape, but every time he is stopped by an invisible Voice. And he remembers very well what tenacious hands the Invisible Man has. For the last time, he was about to reveal himself to a sailor he happened to meet, but immediately discovered that the Invisible Man was nearby, and fell silent. But only for a while. Too much accumulated in the pockets of money.
And then one day Dr. Kemp, sitting calmly in his rich house filled with servants and engaged in scientific work, for which he dreamed of being awarded the title of a member of the Royal Society, saw a rapidly running man in a shabby silk top hat. In his hands were books tied with twine, his pockets, as it turned out later, were stuffed with money. The route of this fat man was extremely accurate. At first he hid in the Merry Cricketers tavern, and then asked to be escorted to the police as soon as possible. Another minute, and he disappeared into the nearest police station, where he asked to be immediately locked in the most secure cell. And Dr. Kemp's doorbell rang. There was no one behind the door. The boys must have been having fun. But an invisible visitor appeared in the office. Kemp found a dark stain on the linoleum. It was blood. In the bedroom the sheet was torn, the bed crumpled. And then he heard a voice: “My God, it’s Kemp!” Griffin turned out to be Kemp's university friend.
After Mr. Marvel, frightened half to death, hid in the Merry Cricketers tavern, the Invisible Man, obsessed with a thirst for revenge, tried to break through there, but it ended in disaster. Invisible Man was already trumpeted in all the newspapers, people took security measures, and one of the visitors to the Merry Cricketers - a bearded man in gray, judging by the accent, an American, turned out to be a six-shooter revolver, and he began to fire fan-shaped at the door. One of the bullets hit Griffin in the arm, although there was no dangerous wound. The search for the body did not give any result, and Griffin appeared at Kemp's at the same time.
From the story that Griffin told his classmate, we learn his backstory.
Griffin is a talented scientist, on the verge of genius, but his career did not develop in the best way. He was engaged in medicine, chemistry and physics, but, knowing what morals reign in the scientific world, he was afraid that his discoveries would be appropriated by less gifted people. In the end, he had to leave the provincial college and settle in some slum London house, where at first no one bothered him. There was just no money. This is where Griffin's chain of crimes begins. He robs his father, taking other people's money from him, and he commits suicide. Griffin has no remorse. He is so focused on his work that he does not take into account any other considerations. Finally, the hour of the long-awaited opening arrives. But how to live on? Money is running out, neighbors and the householder suspect him of something. He is too unlike the others. And he does something strange. It is necessary to escape from the house that has become uncomfortable. But for this, first become invisible. And it's a painful process. The body burns like on fire, he loses consciousness. He is terrified at the sight of his own, becoming as if transparent body.
When the householder with his stepchildren bursts into the room, he, to his surprise, finds no one in it. And Griffin for the first time feels all the inconvenience of his position. Going out into the street, he notices that everyone who is not lazy is pushing him, cabbies almost knock him off his feet, dogs are chasing him with terrible barking. You have to get dressed first. The first attempt to rob the store ends in failure. But then he comes across a poor shop, littered with used make-up accessories. Some unfortunate hunchback is in charge of it, whom he ties in a sheet, thereby depriving him of the opportunity to escape and, most likely, dooming him to starvation. But the same person who will later appear in Aiping comes out of the shop. It remains only to cover up the traces of your stay in London. Griffin sets fire to the house, destroying all his drugs, and hides in southern England, from where, if desired, it is easy to move to France. But first you need to learn how to move from the invisible to the visible state. However, things are not going well. The money has run out. The robbery is revealed. Organized chase. Newspapers are full of sensational reports. And in this state, Griffin appears at Dr. Kemp's - hungry, hunted, wounded. He used to be an unbalanced person, and now a mania of misanthropy is ripening in him. From now on, he - the Invisible One - wants to rule over people, establishing a reign of terror for decades. He persuades Kemp to become his accomplice. Kemp realizes that before him is a dangerous fanatic. And he makes a decision - he writes a note to the head of the local police, Colonel Edlai. When he appears, Griffin is initially reluctant to touch him. “I didn’t quarrel with you,” he says. He wants the traitor Kemp. But the colonel has a pistol borrowed from Kemp, and he falls as another victim of Griffin. Then follows the completely senseless murder of Lord Burdk, who is armed with just a cane at the sight of an iron rod hanging in the air.
But they are already looking for the Invisible One - according to the plan drawn up by Kemp. The roads are covered with crushed glass, mounted police officers are galloping all over the district, the doors and windows of the houses are locked, it is impossible to get into passing trains, dogs are prowling everywhere. Griffin is like a hunted animal, and a hunted animal is always dangerous. But he still needs to take revenge on Kemp, who, after killing Adlai, turns from a hunter into a pursued one. A terrible invisible enemy is chasing him. Fortunately, already on his last breath, Kemp finds himself in a crowd of fellow countrymen, and then Griffin is waiting for the end. Kemp wants to save him, but those around him are relentless. And gradually, before everyone's eyes, a beautiful, but all wounded man reappears - Griffin is invisible as long as he is alive.
However, the last character in this novel is not Kemp, not Griffin, but Mr. Marvel. He dressed up, bought the Merry Cricketers tavern with the money stolen from Griffin, and is highly respected in the district. And every evening he locks himself away from people and tries to unravel the mystery of Griffin. Almost his last words: “Here was the head!”
retold
Chapter 1
THE APPEARANCE OF A STRANGER
The stranger appeared in early February; on that frosty day the wind and blizzard raged - the last blizzard this year; however he came with
Bramblehurst railway station on foot; in a thick-gloved hand he held a small black bag. He was wrapped from head to toe
Piat, the wide brim of the felt hat hid the whole face, only the shiny tip of the nose was visible; shoulders and chest were covered in snow, as was the bag.
He entered the coachman and horses tavern, barely moving his legs from cold and fatigue, and threw the bag on the floor.
- Fire! he shouted. - In the name of humanity! Room and fire!
Shaking off the snow, he followed Mrs. Hall into the waiting room to negotiate terms. The conversation was short. Throwing her two
Sovereign, a stranger settled in a tavern.
Mrs. Hall lit the fire and left the visitor to prepare his meal with her own hands. Get a guest in Aiping in winter, and even
One that does not trade was an unheard of fortune, and Mrs. Hall decided to show herself worthy of the lucky chance that fell on her
share.
When the ham was toasted, and Millie, the ever-drowsy maid, listened to a few scathing remarks that seemed to spur
Her energy, Mrs. Hall took the tablecloth, dishes and glasses to the visitor's room, after which she began to lay the table with special chic. fire fun
It crackled in the fireplace, but the visitor, to her great surprise, still did not take off his hat and coat; he stood with his back to her, looking out the window at the falling
Snow.
His hands, still gloved, were clasped behind his back, and he seemed to be deep in thought about something. The hostess noticed that he had snow on
The shoulders are melted and water is dripping onto the carpet.
“Let me, mister, your coat and hat,” she turned to him, “I will take them to the kitchen and hang them up to dry.
"Don't," he replied without turning around.
She decided that she had misheard, and was ready to repeat her request.
But then the stranger turned his head and looked at the Ness over his shoulder.
“I prefer not to take them off,” he said.
At the same time, the hostess noticed that he was wearing large blue canned glasses and that he had thick sideburns hiding his face.
"All right, mister," she said, "as you please." The room is now warming up.
The stranger made no answer and turned his back on her again. Seeing that the conversation was not going well, Mrs. Hall hurriedly set the table and went out.
From the room. When she returned, he was still standing at the window, like a stone statue, hunched over, with his collar up and low
The brim of a hat that hid the face and ears. Putting the ham and eggs on the table, she almost shouted:
- Breakfast is served, mister!
"Thank you," he replied at once, but did not move until she had closed the door behind her. Then he turned abruptly and approached
Table.
- Oh, this girl! Mrs Hall said. - And I forgot about her!
Here is the swindler! She began to rub the mustard herself, and made a few taunts at Milly for her unusual slowness.
She herself managed to fry ham and eggs, set the table, do everything that is needed, and Millie is a good helper! - left the guest without mustard.
3.053. Herbert George Wells, The Invisible Man
Herbert George Wells
(1866-1946)
The English writer and public figure, Doctor of Biology Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) entered the history of world literature as the author of science fiction novels (The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds, etc.).
He is no less famous as a master of social satire in a number of social and utopian novels (“Tone-Benge”, “People are like gods”, etc.).
Having left to humanity one hundred volumes of prose, philosophical, historical and sociological works, socio-political forecasts, articles on armaments and nationalism, children's books and a memorable book for us - "Russia in the Dark", Wells for millions of readers around the world is, first of all, the author of the masterpiece - the novel "The Invisible Man" - "The Invisible Man" (1897).
"Invisible Man"
(1897)
It was his passion for journalism that led the young biology teacher to write this novel. The editor of the weekly "Pall Mall Gazette" L. Hind asked him to write a series of stories about modern science. Wells wrote the story "Stolen Bacillus" and an article about time travel, and, repeating the fate of J. Verne, he entered literature. Then the story “The Argonauts of Chronos” was written by itself, a novel began to be written, which included everything that worried the writer. After discarding several storylines, Wells created his first science fiction novel, The Time Machine. He used the discarded pieces in The Invisible Man.
The "grotesque" novel saw the light in 1897. It did not arise from scratch. At the end of the XIX century. Europe has gone mad from the ideas of F. Nietzsche and the “supermoral” “superman” drawn from his Zarathustra. Those in power, and under this power, the intellectuals-"creators" who drank to their heart's content, were in the hands of the idea of a superman who has the right to command and destroy the "trembling creature."
It was this idea that Wells exposed in the image of the invisible, which after his death became visible, i.e. exactly like everyone else. Invisible was originally doomed by the author to death. Wells, very sensitive to scientific research and technological progress in general, was the first of the writers to catch the threat to humanity emanating from them and pointed out retribution against the "inventors" even during their lifetime. His main message was: in the present, the most important thing is what future it prepares. At the same time, he himself put a grim diagnosis on modern society.
“The stranger showed up in early February. On that frosty day, the wind and blizzard raged - the last blizzard this year; however, he came from Bramblehurst railway station on foot." So in the provincial Aiping, which is not on the world map, someone like a scarecrow came, and the “invisible man” Griffin entered the world of world literature.
This unique hero, whom the other characters in the novel saw for the first time only after his death, helped readers to see the ulcers of the society in which they live. Invisible entered Aiping to complete scientific research and hide from society his “tears invisible to the world” (sic!). At the ideological level, his appearance brought with it the question: is there a place for the superman in life?
Settling in the coachman and horses tavern, Griffin filled his room with bottles of chemicals, test tubes, instruments and took up chemical experiments. All this aroused displeasure and suspicion among the owners and visitors of the tavern.
The appearance, unsociableness and irritability of the guest only added fuel to the fire. Everyone wondered if he was a criminal, an anarchist making explosives, or just crazy. In addition, Griffin ran out of money, and with them all respect for him.
When a theft happened in a neighboring house at night, and the next morning the guest found money, the townsfolk wondered where he got it from. Cornered, Griffin furiously tore off his bandages, stripped off his clothes, and naturally disappeared. In the general dump he managed to escape.
Having met the tramp Marvel, the Invisible Man forced him to serve himself: he gave him his diaries and money stolen from the tavern for safekeeping. However, the tramp, frightened to death, decided to hide from the owner; he began to pursue him, was wounded and was forced to seek shelter himself in the mansion, where he met Dr. Kemp, who studied with him at the same university.
Kemp sheltered an intruder, and he told him about the essence of his invention and about his misadventures. Having spent all the money on experiments, Griffin robbed his own father. The money was someone else's, and the father shot himself.
Becoming invisible, Griffin left behind a chain of misfortunes and crimes: he burned the house where he conducted experiments, robbed a shopkeeper and doomed him, bound, to starvation ...
Enraged by his failures and clashes with the townsfolk, Invisible set out to establish a reign of terror, first within the boundaries of one city, and then "on a global scale."
Griffin failed to make Kemp his assistant, although he dropped the phrase that with a million assistants it was not difficult to establish a reign of terror. (It was not for nothing that later he undertook a search for Griffin's diaries.) The doctor managed to report his guest to the police, but he could not be captured.
The Invisible Man was hunted like a wild animal. The hunted fugitive responded immediately and brutally. His first victim was a peaceful passerby. A mad scientist would have done many more troubles, but during an attempt to punish Kemp, he was killed by diggers.
“The body was covered with a sheet… and taken into the house. There, on a miserable bed, in a wretched, dim room, among an ignorant, excited crowd, beaten and wounded, betrayed and mercilessly hunted down, Griffin ended his strange and terrible life, the first of the people who managed to become invisible. Griffin is a brilliant physicist, the equal of which has not yet seen the light.
Many years later, the owner of the "Invisible Man" tavern, the former tramp Marvel, spent all his free time studying Griffin's records, trying in vain to comprehend the secret of the failed "superman".
At first, critics of The Invisible Man were not accepted. After Wells' previous novel, The Time Machine, where the writer told people about the relativity of time, for which he was called a genius, they did not see any new ideas or artistic merit in the everyday plot.
The idea itself seemed banal. The mythology and folklore of any country is full of invisible people: as soon as they eat or drink something, or put on a hat, cloak, sandals, they immediately become invisible. True, they have more comfortable living conditions: they do not need, like the hero of Wells, to hide from the townsfolk and roam the winter streets naked, suffering from cold and hunger, from bitterness and colds.
Physicist critics argued that the invisible man was doomed to blindness, dead cells of the body, acids, slags, electrical flashes in the brain, etc., would be visible in it.
Critics-philologists drew parallels with fairy-tale characters; noted that Wells developed in his novel the theme of metamorphoses described by R. Stevenson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; recalled a 40-year-old story by the American writer F.-J. O "Bryan "Who was it?" about some invisible being.
For critics, the theme of borrowing is as old as the world. But if we take into account that “Romeo and Juliet” was written before Shakespeare, and “Faust” before Goethe, but they were still written by W. Shakespeare and I.V. Goethe, then the "Invisible Man", unique in its originality, was created not by its predecessors, but by G. Wells.
However, critics are critics, and readers are readers. Less than a year later, critics were forced to listen to the enthusiastic opinion of the public and Wells' colleagues (J. Conrad, for example, called him a "realist of fiction", and G. James admired the fact that he possessed "charms" - the gift of bewitching readers ) and begin to admire like an inexperienced public in discourse.
“In HG Wells, to see is to believe, but here we believe even in the invisible,” one of them remarked. Since that time, Wells has won the title of "writer who knows how to think."
At the age of 29, he became a classic - and first of all, it was for The Invisible Man. The writer, like no one else who knew how to combine impeccable logic and vivid imagination in his work, was liked by everyone - both "physicists" and "lyricists". According to the author of the famous anti-utopia "We" E. Zamyatin, "Wells' myths are logical, like mathematical equations."
After Wells, the theme of invisibility turned into a cash cow for science fiction writers, even the great ones (J. Chesterton, the aged J. Verne, H. Gernsbeck, R. Bradbury). However, say today: - Invisible ... - and then they will add: - Wells.
The novel was translated into Russian by D. Weiss.
"The Invisible Man" has been repeatedly filmed abroad. In the USSR, the film of the same name was shot in 1984 by director A. Zakharov.
Reviews
And "The Invisible Man", and "War of the Worlds", and something else - brilliance, brilliance, brilliance. But still, I was impressed more than all these masterpieces at the time by "Acute Doctor Moreau". You, as always. hello and respect for your colossal educational work. For millions of fellow citizens, at least to some extent (if they find themselves here, on Prose), will learn something truly useful for themselves. And the enlightened, who have forgotten much of what they used to know and what they were fond of, will remember with gratitude and glorify the enlightener.
THE INVISIBLE MAN
Reprinted with permission from The Literary Executors of the Estate of H G Wells and AP Watt Limited and Synopsis Literary Agencies
© The Literary Executors of the Estate of H G Wells
© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2010
Appearance of a stranger
The stranger appeared in early February; on that frosty day, the wind and blizzard raged - the last blizzard this year; however, he came from Bramblehurst railway station on foot; in a thick-gloved hand he held a small black bag. He was muffled from head to toe, the wide brim of a felt hat hid his entire face, only the shiny tip of his nose was visible; shoulders and chest were covered in snow, as was the bag. He entered the coachman and horses tavern, barely moving his legs from cold and fatigue, and threw the bag on the floor.
- Fire! he shouted. - In the name of humanity! Room and fire!
Shaking off the snow, he followed Mrs. Hall into the waiting room to negotiate terms. The conversation was short. Throwing her two sovereigns, the stranger settled in a tavern.
Mrs. Hall lit the fire and left the visitor to prepare his meal with her own hands. It was an unheard-of stroke of fortune to get a guest at Aiping in the winter, and one that did not bargain, and Mrs. Hall decided to show herself worthy of the lucky chance that fell to her lot.
When the ham was toasted, and Millie, the sleepy maid, had heard a few scathing remarks that seemed to spur her energy, Mrs. Hall carried the tablecloth, crockery, and glasses into the visitor's room, after which she began setting the table with particular pomp. The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, but the visitor, to her great surprise, still did not take off his hat and coat; he stood with his back to her, looking out the window at the falling snow. His hands, still gloved, were clasped behind his back, and he seemed to be deep in thought about something. The hostess noticed that the snow on his shoulders had melted and water was dripping onto the carpet.
“Let me, mister, your coat and hat,” she turned to him, “I will take them to the kitchen and hang them up to dry.
"Don't," he replied without turning around.
She decided that she had misheard, and was ready to repeat her request.
But then the stranger turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder.
“I prefer not to take them off,” he said.
At the same time, the hostess noticed that he was wearing large blue canned glasses and that he had thick sideburns hiding his face.
“All right, mister,” she said, “as you please.” The room is now warming up.
The stranger made no answer and turned his back on her again. Seeing that the conversation was not going well, Mrs. Hall hastily set the table and left the room. When she returned, he was still standing at the window, like a stone statue, hunched over, with his collar turned up and his hat pulled low, hiding his face and ears. Putting the ham and eggs on the table, she almost shouted:
“Breakfast is served, mister!”
“Thank you,” he replied immediately, but did not move until she closed the door behind her. Then he turned abruptly and walked over to the table.
- Oh, that girl! Mrs Hall said. “And I forgot about her!” Here is the swindler! Taking over the mustard herself, she snarled at Millie for her unusual slowness. She herself managed to fry ham and eggs, set the table, do everything that is needed, and Millie is a good helper! - left the guest without mustard. But he just arrived and apparently wants to live here. With a grunt, Mrs. Hall refilled the mustard pot and, placing it not without solemnity on a black and gold tea tray, carried it to the guest.
She knocked and immediately entered. The stranger made a quick movement, and she barely had time to see something white flicker under the table. He was obviously picking something off the floor. She set the mustard down on the table, and as she did so she noticed that the guest's coat and hat were lying on a chair by the fireplace, and a pair of wet boots resting on a steel grate. The grate will rust, of course. Mrs. Hall advanced resolutely to the fireplace, and said in a tone that brooked no objection:
- Now, I think, you can take your things and dry.
“Leave your hat,” said the newcomer in a strangled voice. Turning around, she saw that he was sitting upright and looking at her.
For a minute she stood, wide-eyed, speechless with astonishment.
He covered the lower part of his face with something white, apparently a napkin that he had brought with him, so that neither his mouth nor his chin could be seen. That's why the voice sounded so muffled. But that was not what struck Mrs. Hall. A white bandage was wrapped around the stranger's forehead from the very edge of his blue glasses, and another bandage covered his ears, so that only a pink, pointed nose remained uncovered. The nose was as pink and shiny as the minute the stranger had first appeared. He was dressed in a brown velvet jacket; a high dark collar lined with white linen was turned up. Thick black hair, escaping in a mess from under the crossed bandages, stuck out in tufts and gave the stranger an extremely strange look. Mrs. Hall was so startled by his wrapped and bandaged head that she was dumbfounded by surprise.
He did not remove the napkin from his face and, still holding it with his brown gloved hand, looked at the hostess through the impenetrable blue glasses.
"Leave your hat," he said indistinctly through the napkin again.
Mrs. Hall, recovering from her fright, put her hat back on the chair.
“I didn’t know, sir,” she began, “that you … – And she was embarrassed.
“Thank you,” he said dryly, glancing meaningfully at the door.
“I’ll dry everything now,” she said and went out, taking her dress with her. At the door she looked again at his bandaged head and blue glasses; he was still covering his mouth with a napkin. Closing the door behind her, she trembled all over, and confusion was written on her face. “In my life…” she whispered. - Well well! She quietly returned to the kitchen and did not even ask Millie what she was doing there.
The stranger, meanwhile, listened attentively to the retreating footsteps of the hostess. Before putting down his napkin and eating again, he looked at the window searchingly. Having swallowed a piece, he again, already with suspicion, looked at the window, then stood up and, holding a napkin in his hand, lowered the curtain to the white curtain that covered the lower part of the window. The room plunged into darkness. Somewhat reassured, he returned to the table and resumed his breakfast.
“Poor fellow, he hurt himself or had an operation or something,” said Mrs. Hall. - All bandaged, it's even scary to look at.
She threw coal into the stove, pulled up a rack for drying clothes, and laid out the visitor's coat on it.
- And glasses! What can I say, some kind of diver, not a person. She hung her scarf on the stand. - And cover your face with a rag! And he speaks through it! .. Maybe his mouth hurts too? She turned around, as if suddenly remembering something. - Good God! - she exclaimed. - Millie! Aren't the pancakes ready yet?
When Mrs. Hall came into the drawing-room to clear the table, she found further confirmation of her suspicion that the stranger's mouth had been mutilated or mutilated by an accident: the stranger smoked his pipe, and all the time she was in the room he never lifted the silk handkerchief that was bandaged the lower part of his face, and did not take the mouthpiece into his mouth. But he had not forgotten his pipe at all: Mrs. Hall noticed that he was looking at the smoldering tobacco in vain. He was sitting in a corner, with his back to the lowered curtain; refreshed and warmed up, he obviously felt better and spoke less abruptly and irritably. In the reddish glow of the fire, his huge glasses seemed to come to life.
“At Bramblehurst station,” he said, “I have some luggage left. Could you send for him? After listening to the answer, he politely bowed his bandaged head. “So, only tomorrow?” - he said. "Can't you do it sooner?" - And he was very upset when she answered that it was impossible. - No way? he asked. - Perhaps, after all, there will be someone who would go with a wagon to the station?
The Invisible Man is one of H. G. Wells' most famous works. The novel is rightly considered a classic of fantasy literature. It was written more than a hundred years ago (in 1897), but even today it has not lost its relevance and is read with great interest. Based on The Invisible Man, new films and series are constantly being shot, books are being written. The theme of the novel constantly worries readers, it has become one of the most important in our time. This is the theme of a scientist's responsibility for his inventions. Is the scientist to blame if he creates a terrible weapon, or is it not the inventor who is to blame, but the people who use these weapons? The question is complex, one might say eternal. The hero of the ancient Greek myth Prometheus brought fire to Earth to warm people, but people quickly learned to burn each other with this fire. The hero of Mary Shelley's novel, Dr. Frankenstein, wanted to conquer death, to make a person immortal, but he created a monster that brings death and destruction. The problem of the scientist's responsibility became especially urgent in the 20th century, after the invention of atomic energy and the atomic bomb. Then mankind was really able to see how, with the help of new scientific inventions and discoveries, it can completely destroy itself. Some scientists figure out how to heat houses with gas, while others come up with gas chambers in death camps. Where is the line after which a scientific discovery becomes criminal? Why does the desire of man to remake nature, to take on the role of God always leads to disaster? H. G. Wells attempts to answer these questions in The Invisible Man.
At the beginning of the novel, we meet a strange man in a deserted hotel. This man came from nowhere, he is afraid of the light, hides while eating, he is all wrapped up in bandages, only the tip of his nose sticks out of the bandages. What is this strange person? Why does he act like this and look so weird? Maybe he was mutilated by some terrible catastrophe, so he hides his face from everyone? The novel begins almost in the tradition of a detective story. However, the intrigue does not last long. It soon turns out that the mysterious man is the physicist Griffin, who discovered the process that allows you to make a person invisible. First, Griffin makes the cat invisible, and then conducts an experiment on himself and becomes an invisible man. The scientist cannot yet reverse the process and become visible again. Invisibility brings him problems: in order to remain invisible, he must walk naked, because clothes are visible, he needs to hide while eating, because food, while being chewed and digested, is visible through him. But gradually Griffin comes to the conclusion that, thanks to invisibility, he can acquire absolute power over humanity. True, to implement the seizure of power, he needs a visible assistant and Griffin turns to his friend Dr. Kemp for help. What the scientist's crazy plans will turn into, the reader will find out in the finale of the novel.
In The Invisible Man, the image of Griffin is especially important. This is a fanatic obsessed with science, except for science, he has no other interests. But why does he need science? To help humanity? No, Griffin is not naive, he needs power equal to the power of God. He feels like God, changing nature at will. What cannot be changed must be destroyed. What is morality for God? He is above all morality, God invents morality for his subjects in order to keep them in obedience. Griffin did not immediately develop a God complex. The reader follows how this man gradually changes, how, for the sake of scientific experiments, for which there is always not enough money, he commits his first crime: he steals money from his father, and his father commits suicide. Gradually, theft and murder become commonplace for Griffin, because he is a great scientist, God, Superman, and people for him become just guinea pigs.
The novel "The Invisible Man" is written in simple language, and Griffin's adventures are very interesting to follow. The transformation of the hero from a brilliant scientist to a ruthless villain is amazing and makes you think. Wells' novel is a necessary and useful book for all time. As befits a classic.
The book includes 5 more stories by H.G. Wells: "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes", "The Crystal Egg", "The Miracle Worker", "The Newest Accelerator" and "The Magic Shop". The stories are different: there are fairy tale stories (“The Magic Shop”), there are almost mystical stories (“The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes”), there is even a kind of prehistory of Wells' novel “The War of the Worlds” (“The Crystal Egg”). The most striking of the stories is "The Miracle Worker", it repeats the problem of "The Invisible Man", but from a different angle. In The Miracle Worker, the protagonist, a simple clerk with no particular ambition, suddenly becomes endowed with the power of God. He can do anything with just the power of his mind. Harmless experiments at first, such as creating Burgundy wines from water, turn into a desire to help people (for example, make all alcoholics feel disgusted with alcohol), and then to insane acts that can destroy all of humanity. As a result, the attempt of the new Wonderworker to stop the rotation of the Earth in order to repeat the feat of the biblical hero, who stopped the Sun in the sky, leads to a catastrophe and the death of all life.
H. G. Wells' novel "The Invisible Man" was published by the Nigma publishing house in the "Adventureland" series. Like all other books in the series, the novel was published with high quality: beautiful presentation of the book, hard color cover, white coated paper, offset printing. Particularly carefully in the series "Adventureland" refer to illustrations in books and "The Invisible Man" was no exception. The publication includes illustrations by the famous artist Anatoly Itkin. Itkin's drawings have already been repeatedly published in the books of the series (Ivanhoe, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, Three Musketeers and others). Anatoly Itkin remained true to his method: the illustrations are bright, colorful, every detail of the drawing is drawn carefully. You want to look at the drawings for a long time, they delight the eye and awaken the imagination. I think that children will especially enjoy looking at the illustrations.
Dmitry Matsyuk
Herbert George Wells: The Invisible Man. Artist: Anatoly Itkin. Publisher: Nigma, 2017
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