Talk:John Wyndham

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I propose cleanup of this article, all detailed discussion of the individual novels should be shifted to their own pages. We avoid having a spoiler message on this page. PatGallacher 01:00, 2005 Feb 24 (UTC)

...in the process, secure for themselves a Savile Row wardrobe and a sporty roadster or two. Not really up to Wikipedia's usual high standards of writing, was it?

I quite liked it, actually; admittedly, chapter 5 of Triffids speaks of Bond St., not Savile Row.. I just created Cosy catastrophe – can we link there from here? –Hajor 19:44, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Adaptations 2 Books not widely read 3 Proletarian resentment of John Wyndham 4 Role of women in Wyndham's writings 5 Wyndham and character development 6 Vivian B. Harris??

[edit] Adaptations

I think this could do with a more detailed section on radio, film and televison adaptations of his work - as there have been many.

I belive we should include the dates of which John Wyndham was enlisted in the service.

[edit] Books not widely read

I removed Although many of his creations are famous, particularly the Midwich Cuckoos and the Triffids, the books themselves are not particularly widely read. from the introduction as it seems speculative and unsubstantiated. Should this be reinstated? Colonel Tom 01:20, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

my 8th grade english teacher made my book group read the chrysalids and it was hard as hell becauase there were questions after :( bad memories. This book was hard for us and i always thought the book should have been regarded as one that should be taken on by more mature people.(internet says its a gr12 book)24.66.94.140 23:00, 1 September 2006 (UTC)hope.

Yes, dear, just keep telling yourself it's not becouse of you're a moron. "Hard as hell because there were questions after :(" Poor, poor baby! Fucktard...

[edit] Proletarian resentment of John Wyndham

As of 9.06.2006 this continually reversed "article"

1. shows massive bias against Wyndham: he is said disparagingly to have "lived out his life" (boring!); he is either "quaint" or "stuffy" (code words used traditionally by the UK lower middle class and proletariat against the middle and upper-middle classes; "cosy"; "now-outdated" (how magisterial!) 2. purports to discuss Style and then does nothing of the sort: Style is not an outburst of personal animosity, it is a category of analysis, not to be confused with Tone ie author´s attitude to his subject/the reader. 3.hence appears to be driven not by any understanding of Wyndham but by aspects of his life and writing which the author/s reject. (Phyllis Watson in "The Kraken Wakes" actually seems to know Greek mythology: how elitist! how racist! how non-MTV! vote her out of Big Brother, innit!) In this the author is/are encouraged by 15-20 years of subjectivist, confessional and narcissistic literary criticism at Anglo universities, which have turned analysis into neoliberal consumer choice.

• Eno' with the rant. Edit it, man! But nix any edits to 'cosy' - it's in quotes, don't you see. Verne Equinox 17:37, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

<<Eno' with the rant. Edit it, man!>> Amusing how an argued objection to a mediocre article, which doesn´t start to do justice to Wyndham, gets labelled a "rant", even when I place it in the Talk section. You will have heard of Edit Wars: why should I get into one of those? After all, Wikipedia is a demotic sump, QED.

I'd say Verne Equinox actually agrees with your views, and is suggesting that you act on them rather than grumble. He wouldn't encourage you to edit if he disagreed with your views!

[edit] Role of women in Wyndham's writings

I have added a few lines on the way that Wyndham portrays women in his writings.

JohnT 04:45, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wyndham and character development

I agree that Wyndham is more concerned with character development than most SF writers, and suggest the reason is that he's better at it. SF writers have excellent imagination but not many of them are very good at handling people rather than ideas. This does not matter in short stories but can become painfully obvious in longer SF novels. Wyndham's short stories are as good as most but do not stand out, whereas his novels hold the interest by portraying genuine 3-dimensional characters. His characters certainly have something of 1950s England about them, but he was a good enough writer for them also to be representative types, at least of the modern era. One recurring type is the non-conforming sage: Uncle Axel (Chrysalids), Zellaby (Midwich Cuckoos), Dr Bocker (Kraken Wakes) - AG, Stockport.

non-conforming sage: what's-his-name in Triffids--the friend of the main character from the triffid farm that questioned just how clever the triffids really were.

[edit] Vivian B. Harris??

I cannot find any material on Wyndham's brother mentioned in this article, and who was also allegedly a "successful writer". Any shining light on thus??

SBerner —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.253.131.85 (talk) 04:02, 5 March 2007 (UTC).