Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Invisible Man


From time immemorial, especially in infancy, people have longed to be invisible, roaming among the unsuspecting populace, living out their fantasies of power and freedom.

One difficulty in living it, living a life invisibly, was relating to the rest of the world. H. G. Wells found a solution, which was to dress the supposed invisible form in bandages, clothing, or some material, which would enable him to interact in society when required.

In 1897 H.G. Wells published his novel, The Invisible Man, in which he finally crystallized this fantasy, conjured it into words, gave it form, and immortalized it. To this day it remains a classic.

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Update:

Edgar W Hopper wrote:

For me, Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man" 1957 is the definitive work on this topic. 


My reply:



I respect your feelings about Ellison's The Invisible Man, and the esteem and complexity of feelings it must have left on your psyche.

My Invisible Man, with allusion to H. G. Wells' pioneering scientific speculations, curiosities and tales, is entirely a different matter. Also, most importantly in the context of my picture posting, the allusion can by no stretch of the imagination be anything but to Wells' solving the problem of a human child's psychological, fascination and curiosity about the implications of becoming invisible, and then leading on to acquiring physical presence by bandage or equivalent clothing material. That was most paramount.


Please allow me to insist that, to the extent and in the direction I was headed, the first known work, to me, and therefore the establishing, authentic writing was H.G. Wells' Invisible Man. Ralph Ellison took the name inspirationally from the original, and altered the context. The question here is not the better or the best, or the most informed and influential work, but the one which speculated and roused curiosity in me for the first time by written language. That was Wells.


I hope you will accept my humble offering.



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