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George Tomkyns Chesney (1830–1895)

Auteur de The Battle of Dorking

8+ oeuvres 79 utilisateurs 4 critiques

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Alien Invasion Short Stories (2018) — Contributeur — 34 exemplaires

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This novella written in 1871 is on most lists of must read proto-science fiction, because it was one of the first books that had a theme of an alternative reality. In this case it imagined a successful German Invasion of England. This description is a little misleading because there is very little about what life would have been like in England under an occupation: nine tenths of the book is about a significant battle between two armies on the North Downs of England; after all Chesney called his book The Battle of Dorking and so this should not come as any surprise.

Sir George Tomkyns Chesney was a British Army General, politician, and writer of fiction, (there are no other works of his still in print although they can be found online) and I am sure he would have been surprised by the relative success of this novella (60 pages). Sir George writes well about what he knows and this is a land battle in the late nineteenth century. He imagines the British army being ill prepared and suffering because of a better equipped and better trained enemy. The book does serve as a warning to Britain as Chesney sketches the political situation as he saw it in 1870's England: an economy dependent on trade and raw materials supplied by its commonwealth, with an army that was being scaled down in deference to a more powerful navy. He imagines a situation where troubles in Ireland and in India have stretched the army to a point where it is not able to defend its homeland. Although the invading country is not named it is obviously Germany. The alternate history serves as an introduction to the real meat of the book which a disastrous defensive action against the invasion.

Chesney writes from the point of view of a reservist called up with a couple of days notice to fight for his country. The description of the logistics of an overstretched transport system and the battle itself seems quite realistic. It was particularly relevant for me because I know the countryside around Dorking very well and could easily relate to the protagonist who does his best to do his bit in a situation that is confused and difficult. The battle scene itself is vividly described both from the point of view of the soldiers and the civilians inevitably caught up in the conflict. It is not an anti-war book, nor a book of heroic action it is rather a blow by blow account of a few days of military action and its consequences.

A political and strategic battle story whose realistic well written style holds the attention, the later addition of its significance to a genre still over 40 years away from its creation makes this well worth a look. I would not be averse to reading one of Chesney's other works of fiction if I came across them in a second hand bookshop. 3.5 stars.
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baswood | 2 autres critiques | Dec 14, 2019 |
I am not sure what to think. This was published in 1800's. Which after you read this and realize when and what the story is about one just might be gob-smacked. It was only 47 pages, but a bit of a challenge to read. It just ran together. But again, lets look at when it was published. I don't want to say what this is about, that will take away from everything. But its short and won't take to much of your time.

But having said what I said I must spoil the book. I mean the author talks about a German invasion into the UK. They actually set foot on British soil. I shall make mention again that this was published in something like 1847. I am still gob-smacked by this 47 page story.… (plus d'informations)
 
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jaddington | 2 autres critiques | Feb 16, 2015 |
The first novel in this slim volume is the probably-not-actually-a-novel The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer, which tells the invasion of England by the Germans from the perspective of a random volunteer.  The English response is pretty pitiful and England is conquered, because Lieutenant Colonel Chesney (an Army engineer) feared that the English really were unprepared for a potential invasion.  The book proved massively popular, spawning an entire genre, which was eventually merged with stories of fantastic inventions by those such as George Griffith in Angel of the Revolution, deconstructed by H. G. Wells in The War of the Worlds, parodied by P. G. Wodehouse in The Swoop!, and killed outright by World War I, which showed that war was perhaps not as jolly as everyone thought.  You see, the problem was that people didn't really take The Battle of Dorking as a warning, or at least not entirely, since there's a certain visceral thrill in seeing your homeland invaded (as evidenced by any number of alien invasion films these days), and that was what interested everyone else.

All this is a very long way of saying that The Battle of Dorking is a very important book... but it's also an incredibly dull one.

What surprised me about this volume was Hector Hugh "Saki" Monro's When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns, which isn't a very important book, but is a very enjoyable one, which I suppose is why it was picked to pad out this volume.  I wouldn't've read it had it not been included here, and that would have been a shame.

If you squinted, When William Came could be a sequel to The Battle of Dorking. It tells the tale of a Arctic explorer kept away from his home in Britain by an injury, who when he finally returns discovers that the country has lost a war with Germany-- and rather than extract concessions, the Germans have just decided to incorporate Britain into their empire.  He can't stand it, of course, but lots of people tell him he really ought to just make the best of it, including his own wife.  It's a fascinating and very real look at the ways people react to occupation.  You might hate the Germans... but what if you still want to go to the theatre and throw dinner parties?  You might think it's wrong to serve in a German-run police force... but you have kids to feed, and if you don't take that job, a German will.  There are a lot of cutting little compromises-- not to mention big ones-- made throughout, and it convinces me, at least.  Also, Saki writes very good sub-Wildean witty dialogue.
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Signalé
Stevil2001 | Jun 27, 2011 |
"The Battle of Dorking" is a short story that first appeared in an influential English political magazine in 1871 that describes a hypothetical invasion of England by Germany/Prussia from the viewpoint of a common citizen, not unlike "Red Dawn" (1984) as a more recent example. It is notable because it was the spark that set off the fuse of the "Invasion literature" genre (see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_literature ), from which eventually came the likes of "War of the Worlds" and James Bond from the "spy mania" leading up to WWI. Invasion literature was also highly influential in the years leading up to the First World War in helping set popular mood and national policies. The genre continues to this day, post-911, with an "invasion" of "alien invasion" themed movies, books etc..

The book is available online at Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/battleofdorking00chesrich
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Stbalbach | 2 autres critiques | Jul 3, 2006 |

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