Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
PRICKLY PEARS AND
MARTIAN WEEDS
Ecological invasion narratives
in history and fiction
Christina Alt
In 1898, R. A. Gregory, the editor of Nature , published a review of H. G. Wells's
novel, The War of the Worlds , under the title 'Science in Fiction'. Gregory praised
Wells for his 'ingenuity in manipulating scientific material', noting Wells's
engagement with Percival Lowell's astronomical observations of Mars, his specu-
lation regarding the evolutionary development and technological prowess of the
Martian invaders, and the 'distinctly clever' plot twist centring around the Martians'
susceptibility to earthly germs (Gregory, 1898: 339). Both the specific points of
scientific interest identified by Gregory and the fact that Gregory regarded Wells's
novel as warranting a review in the preeminent science journal of the period suggest
the extent of Wells's engagement with contemporary science.
Subsequent scholarly analysis of Wells's engagement with science in his fiction
has tended to cluster around the same topics that Gregory identified: astronomy,
evolutionary development, technology, and bacteriology. Roslynn D. Haynes's
H. G. Wells, Discoverer of the Future: The Influence of Science on His Thought (1980)
is a key text in this regard and demonstrates the value of reading Wells's work in
relation to the science of his time. More recently, critics have begun to consider
Wells's treatment of ecological themes, but here, in contrast to early reviewers like
Gregory and critics such as Haynes, most critics have stressed Wells's anticipation
of current ecological concepts and concerns rather than his engagement with the
science of his time. David H. Evans, for example, characterises Wells's account of
the Martian red weed as an 'uncanny premonition of certain recent examples of
imperialistic flora, like the kudzu vine' (Evans, 2001: 12). 1
Wells's reputation for prescience is well deserved, and Evans's interpretation of
the Martian red weed warrants consideration, but it is also useful to examine the
extent to which Wells drew on contemporary scientific knowledge in his con-
ception of this Martian vegetation. In an article on the history of invasion ecology
and changing perceptions of the tamarisk plant, Matthew K. Chew (2009) makes
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