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Re: War of the Worlds
"War..." was in fact inspired by Lowell's explications regarding Martian
"canals" and their creation by an ancient culture.
As expressed in the (notorious) "Mars Owner's Manual": In 1877, Italian
astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli announced his discovery of 'canali' or
channels, on Mars, but there was a language problem: 'canali' was
mistakenly translated as "canals," and a world captivated at that time by
the completion of the Suez Canal started to *see* canals, on Mars. American
astronomer Percival Lowell not only saw the canals but asserted that they
were created by an ancient alien civilization. In 1895, Lowell's book
'Mars' was published, and in it he detailed the irrigation systems built by
ancient Martians. And it was in 1898 that H.G. Wells chronicled a Martian
attack on Earth--the first extraterrestrial invasion in literature.
Best-
darryl
At 01:43 AM 5/21/98 +0200, Bernd Pauli wrote:
>Martin wrote:
>
>> I've heard that H G Well's work "War of the Worlds" was loosely
>connected
>> to the "discovery" of life traces in meteorites.
>
>Interesting connection, Martin! - Does someone on the list know more
>about this?
>
>To the best of my knowledge, this 1897 novel was inspired by the ongoing
>discussions about the possible existence of artificial canals on Mars in
>those days.
>
>Best wishes to all list members,
>
>Bernd
>
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