Björn recenserade Island of Doctor Moreau av H. G. Wells
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4 stjärnor
I love how Wells holds up for reread 120+ years later. Yes, biology has run laps around this, and there's certainly a white-man's-burden subtext to this that has aged somewhat less than well. But at least he questions it, and at least he uses it as a jumping-off point into similar questions he's asked in The Invisible Man and (to my recollection) The Time Machine; what does progress do to us, what do we gain and what do we leave behind? Does The Law survive when The One With The Whip dies? Is there something inherently cultured about Man or is it all just forced onto us? Can we ever stop being the predator that devours all? Others have asked this and others will continue to ask it (SMG for one), but Wells set a baseline here that's remarkably sharp, multi-layered and, towards the end, kind of …
I love how Wells holds up for reread 120+ years later. Yes, biology has run laps around this, and there's certainly a white-man's-burden subtext to this that has aged somewhat less than well. But at least he questions it, and at least he uses it as a jumping-off point into similar questions he's asked in The Invisible Man and (to my recollection) The Time Machine; what does progress do to us, what do we gain and what do we leave behind? Does The Law survive when The One With The Whip dies? Is there something inherently cultured about Man or is it all just forced onto us? Can we ever stop being the predator that devours all? Others have asked this and others will continue to ask it (SMG for one), but Wells set a baseline here that's remarkably sharp, multi-layered and, towards the end, kind of heartbreaking. But at least it ends on a note of hope against hope. Sorry we proved you wrong, Herb.