Works by Philip Wylie and Richard Matheson Review

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

The present work is devoted to the comparative analysis of two science fiction works written in different periods of time but being unified with common ideas and topics. The first text to be considered is the science fiction novel “When Worlds Collide” written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer that was published in 1933. The second work is also a science fiction one, but it is more of a horror novel that also introduced a new science fiction subgenre – a vampire novel. It is the work “I am Legend” by Richard Matheson that was published in 1954.

Main body

The first thing necessary to be done concerning the comparison of these two works is to understand their background, the period of time in which they were written. Judging by the year of publication, “When Worlds Collide” was written in the period between the two World Wars that was called the Great Depression. It influenced the world perception and the motives of creative activity in many spheres – the moods were pessimistic, gloomy and fate-oriented; people were considered doomed to failure and extinction. In general the epoch was too frustrating and hopeless for people, so that all these motives were revealed in literature and cinema (the emergence of black noir in the cinema art, the science fiction motives of destruction of the Earth and a global catastrophe awaiting our planet).

The second book, “I am Legend”, was written later, in 1954 – the period of steady and firm development of Modernism in its middle up to the late stage. This movement also could not help producing certain influence on the creative activity of the author – the topic of destruction and global catastrophe is also present, but it is presented from another angle. The human being is put to the fore in the author’s considerations, so the nature of the catastrophe is also human-oriented, deeper and personalized.

It goes without saying that the main topic to be explored in the course of comparison is the impact of science on human life and its part in the overall course of events described. Both authors build up their plot on the achievements of science, be it the spacecraft people use to escape from the doomed planet or the laboratory in which Neville is exploring the possible causes of the disease. However, they both treat science in a different way – it is either a distanced, grand assistant of humans desperate to escape to another planet, or the tool to find the truth that will become a clue to curing the planet. In the first book science is detached from the course of events – it is glorified at the same time decreasing the value of human lives. In the second book science is livelier and is actively incorporated in the plot – it is all Neville has, thus becoming his friend and savior.

Taking a closer look at the novel “When Worlds Collide” it becomes possible to understand the mood of the book concerning the whole humanity – the period of the Great Depression produced works based on ‘fatum’ – the feeling of the inevitably approaching catastrophe, a deadly event that will disastrously change the lives of all human beings and will reshape the world. In the context of this book fatum was expressed by two planets approaching the Earth and being projected to produce horrible damage that will put into question the whole existence of the planet. The origin of the catastrophe is attributed nearly mystical meaning – in the dialogue with Eve Tony clearly expresses his opinion about the approaching disaster as a destiny for the whole humanity prepared by super-power of God:

Remember how the Old Testament showed God to us, stern and merciless. ‘God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth!’ it said. ‘And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the Earth. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man, and beast and creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Wylie and Balmer 44).

The main challenge to be overcome is the neglect and underestimation of the threat by the governments of the countries. Finally the scale of the disaster is realized and quick, large-scale action is being taken by humanity guided the main hero, Cole Hendron – their main purpose is to build huge spaceships to escape from the Earth obsessed by the huge, indescribable apocalyptic storm that destroys everything alive on the planet. They finally manage to leave the Earth for Bronson Beta where they find adequate conditions for continuing their life there.

The second book is about the only person who survived on the Earth after the attack of an extremely dangerous virus that made all people vampires. The main character, Robert Neville, is the man who fights vampires arranging attacks at them and at the same time trying to protect himself, not get mad and find the cure for the humanity. In the course of his actions he meets a woman who proves to him that there are adequate vampires, people who started to adapt to the virus and try to overcome its awful effect. Nevertheless, Neville’s cautiousness does not disappear; he remains too aggressive and hateful concerning the vampires, even the peaceful groups of them. As a result he becomes to dangerous for the newly built society of vampires and they decide to annihilate the threat, catching and executing Neville. At the end of the story the dramatic understanding of the shift of normal and paranormal comes to Neville’s mind – he realizes that he, being a unique normal, uninfected person in the world becomes a legend, as vampires used to be in scary tales before the epidemics. He feels bitter about the fact that the world will be left for the disposal of these half-humans who he did not consider human at all (Matheson).

The author represents Neville as a half-mad, paranoid person who tries to find his way in the new world and to put up with the horror he became the lively witness of. He desperately tries to change the world, find the cure and at the same time speculates over the destiny that reached people on the Earth:

To die, he thought, never knowing the fierce joy and attendant comfort of a loved one’s embrace. To sink into that hideous coma, to sink then into death and, perhaps, return to sterile, awful wanderings. All without knowing what it was to love and be loved. That was a tragedy more terrible than becoming a vampire (Matheson 72).

Summing up everything that has been said about the two books being discussed, it becomes clear that they are very similar in the topic of the end of the world, the Earth being doomed to destruction or some global catastrophe destroying everything on the planet. In the first case the catastrophe takes place with the planet itself making people look for the refuge at other planets (which is the realization of depressive moods and ways to escape from the coming war). The second book is more concerned with the inner disaster – the humanity being kept but undergoing monstrous changes that deprive them from anything humane (the biological basis of the catastrophe adds horror and realization of inevitability of some disaster of the type along with the development of science and the catastrophe that may be the side effect of some experiment).

Conclusion

Both authors are concerned with the destiny of their planet but they treat the potential causes of the disasters in a different way – one author chooses the space theme while the other is getting deeper into the readers’ brains, their secret fears o biological weapons or secret experiments, which in both cases produces a very credible and frightening apocalyptical picture.

Bibliography

Matheson, Richard. I am Legend. Fawcett Publications, 1954.

Wylie, Philip and Balmer, Edwin. When Worlds Collide. Frederick A. Stokes, 1933.

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Works by Philip Wylie and Richard Matheson Review

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