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The Chrysalids (U.S. title: Re-Birth) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels, but is often, along with The Day of the Triffids, cited as his best[citation needed]. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
John Wyndham (July 10, 1903 – March 11, 1969) was the pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard...
A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...
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Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic - President George Walker Bush (R) - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
John Wyndham (July 10, 1903 – March 11, 1969) was the pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. ...
1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ...
Plot summary Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The story begins in post-apocalypse rural Labrador, Canada a few thousand years in the future. Labrador has become a warmer and more hospitable place than it is at present. The inhabitants of Labrador have vague memories of "The Old People", a technologically advanced civilization which existed long before them and which they believe was destroyed when God sent "Tribulation" to the world to punish their forebearers' sins. The society that has survived in Labrador is loosely reminiscent of the American frontier of about the 18th century The inhabitants practice a form of fundamentalist Christianity with post-apocalyptic prohibitions. They believe that in order to follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they need to preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants and animals. Genetic invariance has been elevated to the highest religious principle, and humans with even minor mutations are considered "Blasphemies" and the handiwork of the Devil. Individuals not conforming to a strict physical norm are either killed or sterilized and banished to the Fringes, a forbidden area still rife with animal and plant mutations. Apocalyptic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of the world or civilization, through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. ...
Rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Qichun, a rural town in Hubei province, China Rural areas (also referred to as the country, countryside) are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities. ...
Labrador (also Coast of Labrador) is a region of Atlantic Canada. ...
Labrador (also Coast of Labrador) is a region of Atlantic Canada. ...
This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...
The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the entities that bring false peace, War, famine, pestilence, and death. ...
// United States In the United States, the frontier was the term applied to the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of Americans. ...
(17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...
In comparative religion, fundamentalism has come to refer to several different understandings of religious thought and practice, through literal interpretation of religious texts such as the Bible or the Quran and sometimes also anti-modernist movements in various religions. ...
Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ...
Most of the action takes place in the inland rural settlement of Waknuk. Ten year old David Strorm, the son of Waknuk's zealous religious patriarch, has inexplicably vivid dreams of brightly lit cities and horseless carts that are at odds with his pre-industrial experience. Despite David's rigorous religious training, he befriends Sophie, a girl carefully concealing the fact that she has six toes on each foot. With the nonchalance of childhood David keeps her secret. The subsequent discovery of Sophie's mutation and her family's attempted flight causes David to wonder at the brutal persecution of human "Blasphemies" and the ritual culling of animal and plant "Deviations". David and a few others of his generation harbor their own invisible mutation: they have strong telepathic abilities. David begins to question why all who are different must be banished or killed. As they mature, David and his fellow telepaths realize that their unusual mutation would be considered a "blasphemy" and they carefully conceal their abilities. That their mutation cannot be directly detected allows their unusual abilities to remain undiscovered for a time. Eventually the group is exposed and David, his half-cousin Rosalind and younger sister Petra flee to the Fringes. Through the unusually strong telepathic abilities of Petra they make contact with a more advanced society in distant "Sealand". David, Rosalind and Petra elude their would-be captors and are rescued by the Sealand mission to discover the source of Petra's telepathic transmissions. Industrialisation (or industrialization) or an industrial revolution (in general, with lowercase letters) is a process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial state . ...
Telepathy from the Greek τηλε, tele, distant, and πάθεια, patheia, feeling, is the supposed ability to communicate information from one mind to another, and is one form of extra-sensory perception or anomalous cognition. ...
Though the nature of "Tribulation" is not explicitly stated, it is implied that it was a nuclear holocaust, both by the mutations, and by the stories of sailors who report blackened, glassy wastes to the south where the remains of faintly glowing cities can be seen. Sailors venturing too close to these ruins experience symptoms similar to radiation sickness. A woman from Sealand, a character with evident knowledge of the Old People's technology, mentions "the power of gods in the hands of children". Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ...
Radiation poisoning, also called radiation sickness, is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. ...
Context within Wyndham's work While Wyndham tells this story with his characteristic dry humour, The Chrysalids differs from the rest of Wyndham's major novels. While most are set in a mid twentieth century English middle-class background, The Chrysalids is set in a future society very different from our own. Look up humour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Future Geography The inland village of Waknuk is revealed to be in southwestern Labrador. Labrador has become a much warmer place in the fictional future, with large tracts of arable land. Rigo (Rigolet) is the capital of Labrador, a fairly large river town near the east coast. The port of Lark (Lark Harbor) is mentioned as a waypoint on the west coast of the island of Newf (Newfoundland) where sailors may obtain provisions. The majority of the story takes place in the rural frontier region and the areas just beyond that are known as the Fringes. Labrador (also Coast of Labrador) is a region of Atlantic Canada. ...
Rigolet is a remote, northern Labrador community located on the coast of Lake Melville, a large saltwater lake connected with the Atlantic Ocean. ...
Lark Harbour is small fishing community on the western coast of Newfoundland. ...
For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ...
Neighbouring areas are mentioned only in passing. A large island to the northeast (Greenland) is rumored to be inhabited by an amazonian culture with bizarre habits. Northern islands are described as being cold and inhabited chiefly by birds and sea animals. Uncle Axel, a former sailor, has traveled far to the south of Labrador, and from a distance seen the "Black Coasts", where there are areas with what look like ruins of the old civilization. Uncle Axel informs David that in contrast to established orthodoxy, the areas of greater mutation are giving way to areas of less mutation. The Amazons (in Greek, Αμαζόνες) were an ancient nation of female warriors or a society dominated by women, at the edges of Scythia in Sarmatia (Herodotus). ...
Later, the existence of geographic areas far less affected by the nuclear exchange and fallout is established, particularly Sealand (New Zealand). Sealand is home to a socially and technologically advanced society where telepathy is the norm and is encouraged and developed as a survival advantage. Towards the end of the novel, the protagonists' discussion with the Sealand woman becomes more philosophical. The Sealand culture is depicted as having a positive view of human evolution. There is some suggestion, however, that the Sealand society is itself intolerant, perhaps in ways ironically opposite of the intolerance of the less advanced Labradorean society.
Literary significance & criticism While the novel is widely regarded as a science fiction classic, some criticisms have been made (see the reviews below). Structurally, it is to some extent two stories linked together: the Sophie episode, which demonstrates the repressive and intolerant nature of Labrador society, and the emergence of the greater community of telepaths. The intervention of the Sealand people at the end could also be considered a deus ex machina. Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase that is used to describe an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (e. ...
Critics have disagreed with Wyndham's claim that two differently evolved species must necessarily fight to the death. Wyndham justifies this in a lengthy speech from the Sealand woman near the end of the novel, but this seems at odds with the implicit plea for tolerance in the earlier part of the novel. (He also makes this claim in The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos.) Penguin Books cover for The Kraken Wakes The Kraken Wakes is an 1953 apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK and first published in the US in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a...
The Midwich Cuckoos The Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by John Wyndham in 1957. ...
The Chrysalids in wider culture - The novel has been adapted for radio by the BBC.
- It has also been adapted into a play by David Harrower for Shell Connections.
- The song Crown of Creation by Jefferson Airplane was inspired by the novel. Its title and many of its lyrics are drawn from the book and reflect a philosophical explanation by the Sealand woman: "But life is change, that is how it differs from rocks, change is its very nature."
The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion...
David Harrower (1966 - ) is a Scottish playwright born in Edinburgh, who still lives in Scotland (Glasgow as of 2005). ...
Crown of Creation was the fourth album by the San Franciscan rock band Jefferson Airplane and was released in 1968. ...
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. ...
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