Name: The War of the Worlds
Author: H. G. Wells

How you explore The War of the Worlds on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 15 characters, 17 places, 13 objects and 7 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 38 passages of The War of the Worlds sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as H. G. Wells wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on H. G. Wells instead.

9:41

The Cast

The Narrator

Main

An educated witness watches England lose the scale of its own importance.

Locations

Mars

planet

A dying planet stares back at Earth and decides it wants what we have.

Passage

Humanity feels supreme, unaware colder, greater minds have already chosen it.

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The Author’s Pen

The Great Disillusionment

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.

Reading

Humanity is put under the microscope and comes out looking like pond scum. Wells opens his whole story by flipping the human sense of mastery on its head: we think we rule the earth, but something colder and smarter has been studying us the way a scientist studies the tiny things swarming in a drop of water. The insult is precise, because it uses our own confidence against us. He even lets us imagine ourselves generously, picturing Martians as backward souls waiting for our missionaries, right before revealing that they were the ones sizing us up as prey.

World Index

The Plot

The Eve of the WarThe Falling StarThe Heat-RayThe Fighting-MachinesThe Exodus and the Thunder ChildImprisonment and the ArtillerymanDead London and After

The Cast

The NarratorThe MartiansOgilvyThe Narrator’s WifeThe CurateThe ArtillerymanThe Narrator’s BrotherMrs. ElphinstoneMiss ElphinstoneThunder Child’s captain and crewCivilian crowds and refugeesHendersonStentLord HiltonThe Deputation

Locations

HallifordHorsell CommonLeatherheadLondonMarsMayburyOttershaw ObservatoryPrimrose HillPutney HillRegent’s ParkSheppertonThe Essex CoastThe Narrator’s House at MayburyThe Ruined HouseThe ThamesWeybridgeWoking

Objects of Note

Artillery gunsBlack SmokeFighting-machines / tripodsHandling-machinesMartian cylindersNewspapersRed weedTelescope / observatory apparatusThe Artilleryman’s spade and tunnel toolsThe dog cartThe Heat-RayThe white flagThunder Child

Core Concepts

Civilization as habit, not guaranteeHeroism without masteryHuman empire reversed into human vulnerabilityHuman smallness in cosmic scaleScientific knowledge as power, but not safetySeeing Earth from outsideSurvival through biology, not superiority

The Author's Pen

Humanity's Ruthless DestructionMars In the TelescopePetty Concerns Under Swift FateA Safe and Tranquil NightThe Cylinder UnscrewsThe First Falling StarBoys at the PitThe Strangeness of the ObjectThe Thing EmergingMen Turned to FireFear on the CommonThe Invisible Heat BeamExcitement Spreads in WokingWe Can’t Stay HereThe Third Cylinder Lies BetweenThe Monstrous TripodForebodings on the DriveWar Fever in My BloodDawn Over the RuinsThe Blind Colossus CollapsesSunday Confusion In WeybridgeLondon Not Yet AlarmedThe Liquefaction Of LondonThe Dawn of PanicThe Powerless Channel FleetThe Thunder Child ArrivesCuriosity at the SlitBuried Beside the CylinderThe Living MachineCourage at the SlitIncompatible DispositionsThe Fear and Empire Passed AwayMen and AntsThe Wrecked Handling MachineThe Drunken ManThe Abandoned ProphecyGhosts of the Past

Plot point 01

The Eve of the War

While humanity goes about its small affairs, intelligences vast and cool and unsympathetic study the Earth and lay their plans.

Objects of Note

Martian cylinders

A crowd gathers to gawk at a fallen meteorite, then the lid begins to turn from inside.

The Cast

The Martians

Main · Martian invaders

Cold intelligences from a dying world arrive in cylinders and make humanity the observed species.

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The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The War of the Worlds feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of The War of the Worlds

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Eve of the War
The Falling Star
The Heat-Ray
The Fighting-Machines
The Exodus and the Thunder Child
Imprisonment and the Artilleryman
Dead London and After

The author's pen in The War of the Worlds

The passages themselves, H. G. Wells's own words, as Literah maps it.

The Great Disillusionmentch. 1
Humanity's Ruthless Destructionch. 1
Mars In the Telescopech. 1
Petty Concerns Under Swift Fatech. 1
A Safe and Tranquil Nightch. 1
The Cylinder Unscrewsch. 2
The First Falling Starch. 2
Boys at the Pitch. 3
The Strangeness of the Objectch. 3
The Thing Emergingch. 4
Men Turned to Firech. 5
Fear on the Commonch. 5
The Invisible Heat Beamch. 6
Excitement Spreads in Wokingch. 6
We Can’t Stay Herech. 7
The Third Cylinder Lies Betweench. 8
The Monstrous Tripodch. 9
Forebodings on the Drivech. 10
War Fever in My Bloodch. 10
Dawn Over the Ruinsch. 11

The characters of The War of the Worlds

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

The Narratormajor
The Martiansmajor
Ogilvysupporting
The Narrator’s Wifesupporting
The Curatesupporting
The Artillerymansupporting
The Narrator’s Brothersupporting
Mrs. Elphinstonesupporting
Miss Elphinstonesupporting
Hendersonminor
Stentminor
Lord Hiltonminor
Thunder Child’s captain and crewsupporting
Civilian crowds and refugeessupporting
The Deputationminor

The locations in The War of the Worlds

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

Marsplanet
Ottershaw Observatoryobservatory
Horsell Commoncommon
Wokingtown
Mayburysuburban district
The Narrator’s House at Mayburyhouse
Leatherheadtown
Weybridgetown
Sheppertonvillage
Hallifordvillage
The Ruined Househouse
Londoncity
Regent’s Parkpark
Putney Hillhill

The core concepts in The War of the Worlds

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Human smallness in cosmic scale
Human empire reversed into human vulnerability
Scientific knowledge as power, but not safety
Civilization as habit, not guarantee
Heroism without mastery
Survival through biology, not superiority
Seeing Earth from outside

The objects of note in The War of the Worlds

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Martian cylinders
The Heat-Ray
The white flag
Fighting-machines / tripods
Handling-machines
Black Smoke
Red weed
Thunder Child
The dog cart
Telescope / observatory apparatus
Newspapers
Artillery guns
The Artilleryman’s spade and tunnel tools

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How you explore The War of the Worlds on Literah

The plot of The War of the Worlds

The author's pen in The War of the Worlds

The characters of The War of the Worlds

The locations in The War of the Worlds

The core concepts in The War of the Worlds

The objects of note in The War of the Worlds

Explore The War of the Worlds. And 127 more.

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