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A review by jp_priestley
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
4.0
In 1957, Humphrey Bogart, actor and heavy smoker, died at the age of 57 from cancer of the oesophagus, Chuck Berry was playing music that white teenagers enjoyed so much that his popularity propelled him to the top of the Rhythm & Blues chart, the Soviet Union launched the world's first orbiting satellite, Sputnik, then launched Sputnik 2, which had the dog named Laika aboard, the United States tried to launch its first satellite, which blew up on the launchpad, and John Wyndham published The Midwich Cuckoos, in which a mysterious extraterrestrial silver object appeared in the English village of Midwich, so planting the seeds of change.
Sixty-three years ago, English life was (understandably) notably different to that experienced today in 2020. Fourteen years of food rationing had only recently ended in 1954 following World War Two, we still had pounds, shillings and pence as our currency (£100 in 1957 is worth £2,056.01 in 2020 - an inflation rate of 1,956.01%), and customs were fast-changing — such as the abolishing of the “Toddlers’ Truce”, an arrangement whereby there were no television broadcasts between 18:00-19:00 to allow parents to put their children to bed. At least the English retained their sense of humour — on 1st April (All Fools’ Day) The BBC’s Panorama current affairs television programme presented by Richard Dimbleby broadcast a spaghetti tree hoax report purporting to show spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fools’ Day joke on television.
Into this post-war society, John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (John Wyndham to you and me) the English science fiction writer gave us his gem The Midwich Cuckoos, later filmed as the Village of the Damned in 1960, and again as the 1995 Village of the Damned remake, featuring the last screen performance by Christopher Reeve before his riding accident. Wyndham was best known for The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957). The Kraken Wakes (1953) and The Chrysalids (1955) are also considered classics.
The Midwich Cuckoos tells the tale of an English village beset for a day by brood parasites — organisms that rely on others to raise their young — in this case, an unseen and unknown alien entity; all of the women in the village still with the ability to become pregnant and bear young are affected, with eventual dire consequences for many. Dan Rebellato, the English dramatist and academic, called The Midwich Cuckoos a searching novel of moral ambiguities; Margaret Atwood, the renowned Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist, called the book Wyndham's chef-d’oeuvre, or masterpiece. I agree, rating it above The Day of the Triffids as one of my all-time favourite science fiction stories — and one of Wyndham's finest.
As I read I particularly enjoyed the language and expressions of the time and the grammar and punctuation in vogue when Wyndham wrote The Midwich Cuckoos. Also of immense satisfaction to me were the manners and societal norms of the day; despite innumerable challenges, hardships and heartbreak, there remained an innocence and sense of fair play — and maintenance of decorum — that was refreshing to witness in the English population. I wonder how the inhabitants of the imaginary Midwich would behave in 2020? Let's pray that we never have to find out!
Sixty-three years ago, English life was (understandably) notably different to that experienced today in 2020. Fourteen years of food rationing had only recently ended in 1954 following World War Two, we still had pounds, shillings and pence as our currency (£100 in 1957 is worth £2,056.01 in 2020 - an inflation rate of 1,956.01%), and customs were fast-changing — such as the abolishing of the “Toddlers’ Truce”, an arrangement whereby there were no television broadcasts between 18:00-19:00 to allow parents to put their children to bed. At least the English retained their sense of humour — on 1st April (All Fools’ Day) The BBC’s Panorama current affairs television programme presented by Richard Dimbleby broadcast a spaghetti tree hoax report purporting to show spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fools’ Day joke on television.
Into this post-war society, John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (John Wyndham to you and me) the English science fiction writer gave us his gem The Midwich Cuckoos, later filmed as the Village of the Damned in 1960, and again as the 1995 Village of the Damned remake, featuring the last screen performance by Christopher Reeve before his riding accident. Wyndham was best known for The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957). The Kraken Wakes (1953) and The Chrysalids (1955) are also considered classics.
The Midwich Cuckoos tells the tale of an English village beset for a day by brood parasites — organisms that rely on others to raise their young — in this case, an unseen and unknown alien entity; all of the women in the village still with the ability to become pregnant and bear young are affected, with eventual dire consequences for many. Dan Rebellato, the English dramatist and academic, called The Midwich Cuckoos a searching novel of moral ambiguities; Margaret Atwood, the renowned Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist, called the book Wyndham's chef-d’oeuvre, or masterpiece. I agree, rating it above The Day of the Triffids as one of my all-time favourite science fiction stories — and one of Wyndham's finest.
As I read I particularly enjoyed the language and expressions of the time and the grammar and punctuation in vogue when Wyndham wrote The Midwich Cuckoos. Also of immense satisfaction to me were the manners and societal norms of the day; despite innumerable challenges, hardships and heartbreak, there remained an innocence and sense of fair play — and maintenance of decorum — that was refreshing to witness in the English population. I wonder how the inhabitants of the imaginary Midwich would behave in 2020? Let's pray that we never have to find out!