The Invisible Man by H G Wells

We all have at one point or another read, seen, or heard a version of the story of The Invisible Man. H G Wells, writing at the end of the nineteenth century was certainly one of the most prolific writers of his time.

When I was in sixth grade my teacher, who I understand now was actually quite modern for mid seventies Maine, had us do a play. There was not much uncommon about that but to make it different she had us do an old style radio play. This would be a play with us all in chairs behind a curtain, the presumption being that listeners were home listening on the radio in there homes. I remember some of our parents did not quite understand the appeal but us children understood right away the significance of this type of play. I remember our teacher was conscious of using the radio style of making sure some children who were not as popular in some of the larger roles. The radio style gave some of those children, with less confidence, the ability to stand out.

The original book however, is far from the story we did that day, and indeed most of the versions of the story we have seen in our lifetime are not similar.

In the original Wells story, a man, we later learn named Griffin, arrives in Iping, dressed in an odd way and behaves very secretly. He has plenty of money however and thus arranges a room in a hotel. Over time we learn how this man came to be in the situation he is and we see how he struggles to make use of it. He quickly learns that the perceived advantages of being invisible do not work out as he expects it to be.

This is a short story and Wells does a fantastic job making the character of The Invisible Man both intense and scary, as well as despairing and sympathetic. This is truly a challenge few authors could succeed with or have succeeded with over the last one hundred years or more.

On to the next classic.