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February 08, 2012
John Christopher (1922 – 2012)
John Christopher, died February 3, 2012 in Bath England aged 89. He was best known as the author of the young adults Tripods trilogy, which scared the hell out of me as a young adult.
The story of The Tripods is a variation on post-apocalyptic literature. Humanity has been conquered and enslaved by "the tripods", unseen alien entities (later identified as "Masters") who travel about in gigantic three-legged walking machines. Human society is largely pastoral, with few habitations larger than villages, and what little industry exists is conducted under the watchful presence of the tripods. Lifestyle is reminiscent of the Middle Ages, but artifacts from later ages are still used, giving individuals and homes an anachronistic appearance.
Humans are controlled from the age of 14 by implants called "caps", which suppress curiosity and creativity and leave the recipient placid and docile, incapable of dissent. The caps cause them to worship the tripods. Some people, whose minds are broken (instead of successfully being controlled) under the pressure of the cap's hypnotic power become vagrants, who wander the countryside. One of the books contains a discussion among Masters that "We should cap humans sooner, to reduce the risk of precocious people getting independent-minded soon enough to try to evade being Capped, but we cannot, because we cannot Cap them until their braincases have stopped growing."
Humans are controlled from the age of 14 by implants called "caps", which suppress curiosity and creativity and leave the recipient placid and docile, incapable of dissent. The caps cause them to worship the tripods. Some people, whose minds are broken (instead of successfully being controlled) under the pressure of the cap's hypnotic power become vagrants, who wander the countryside. One of the books contains a discussion among Masters that "We should cap humans sooner, to reduce the risk of precocious people getting independent-minded soon enough to try to evade being Capped, but we cannot, because we cannot Cap them until their braincases have stopped growing."
To some it's a dystopia. To others, an election platform.
Related: The book covers of Roger Hane.
Also: The Cult of the Tripods.
"The Tripods is a mid-'80s television adaptation of Samuel Youd's (writing as John Christopher) The Tripods series of novels. It was jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia."
Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 8, 2012 08:58 AM