WHO in series

WHO in series is a Romance of Science-fiction of the French author Stefan Wul published in 1957.

Argument

On the Ygam planet, Draags maintain WHO like pets. These WHO are the downward distances of the human beings originating in the planet Ground brought back in captivity on Ygam. With his birth, the Terr young person is adopted by a little girl Draag called Tiwa and accompanies it in all its activities. When the Tiwa young person learns his lessons thanks to his ear-phones from instruction, small Om - which sleeps on its knees - also assimilates all the knowledge inculcated in the child draag. As soon as the parents of Tiwa realize that Terr recites whole lessons spontaneously, they worry and ask Tiwa more to make it take part in its meetings of instruction. The Terr young person escapes then while stealing the ear-phones from instructions and finds himself in a park draag inhabited by wild bands of WHO which there live clandestinely and refuse the constraint.

Presentation of work

WHO in series is the fifth novel of Stefan Wul and the Romance last but one of the author published in this rich person year 1957. The novel is composed of three parts divided into chapters sometimes very short. The cutting of the novel in distinct parts makes it possible the author to make the account of events which can be distant several years.

Complete summary

On the Ygam planet, Draags maintain WHO like pets. These WHO are the downward distances of the human beings originating in the planet Ground brought back in captivity on Ygam. With his birth, the young person Om Terr is adopted by a Draag little girl called Tiwa and accompanies it in all its activities. When the Tiwa young person learns his lessons thanks to his ear-phones from instruction, small Om - which sleeps on its knees - also assimilates all the knowledge inculcated in the child draag. As soon as the parents of Tiwa realize that Terr recites whole lessons spontaneously, they worry and ask Tiwa more to make it take part in its meetings of instruction. The Terr young person escapes then while stealing the ear-phones from instructions and finds himself in a park draag inhabited by wild bands of WHO which there live clandestinely and refuse the constraint. Helped by Valiant Brave man , and Coal , Terr is made with the roughness life WHO savages which must hide and steal Draags to survive.

Thanks to its control of the reading, Terr saves the rival bands of the park of a “desomisation” organized by Draags and all take refuge in the ruins of an old port draag. At the end of a few years human, WHO accumulated much stolen material, were informed in all the fields thanks to the ear-phones of instruction of the children draags and prepare their great project: to create a colony of WHO free on the wild old continent of the Ygam planet. During the preparations, WHO follow the decisions of Draags thanks to a network of effective domestic spies and communicate by téléboîte. After having thwarted the trick of spies draags who came to take in photograph their underground city, Terr accelerates the realization of the project and makes put three sinkable vessels at the sea.

At the end of a perilous crossing, during which one of the three ships sank, WHO accost finally on one of the two wild continents of planet. During this time, Main Sinh , a naturalist draag very respected, tries to alert the public authorities draags imminent and irreversible danger which represent from now on WHO which reproduced in an exponential way and threatens to revolt. But the leaders draags are not convinced by the alarmist demonstrations of the scientist. On the wild continent, WHO migrate slowly towards the high plateaus to establish there their new city in protected caves.

Exceeded by the incurie of the capacity in place, Maître Sinh publishes an article catastrophist in the press draag which creates movements of panic among the population of Ygam. Following the civil disorders, the government is reversed and Sihn Master becomes the supreme municipal official. It then orders immediately the massive and immediate destruction of the WHO of the wild continent. Terr, which had been alerted attack by its network of domestic spies, wishes to set up an anti-aircraft defense, but it misses energy sources. It then decides to make take part all the community om and to use the electric impulses of the human muscles to make function the defense system. The missiles sent by Draags are diverted, the warships draags are destroyed by floating mines, Maître Sinh is then seen constrained to accept the terms of the agreement suggested by Terr. When the two men meet in the middle of the ocean to sign peace between Draags and WHO, a new report/ratio of reciprocal emulation is set up on the Ygam planet.

Draags

The Ygam planet is made up of two primitive continents reserved for the nonintelligent endemic races, while Draags built four artificial continents in the shape of triangle, two in the northern hemisphere, two in the southern hemisphere. The size of the Ygam planet is such as one day for a draag is equivalent to forty-five days for Om. Draags live in a nonquarrelsome oligarchy directed by a council of municipal officials, move on mobile ways, by boats and flying spheres. Draags are in the beginning amphibious people which adapted to the terrestrial life after genetic mutations carried out by the Zarek scientist. They are immense, have red eyes and membranes of Amphibians. WHO servants are affublés of a collar of safety which makes it possible to bring back them to the residence of their Masters in the event of running away.

Main characters

Draags

Faoz , owner of the mother of Terr and close to Praw and Tiwa;
Praw , father of Tiwa;
Tiwa , little girl draag, owner of Om called Terr;
Main Sinh , naturalists draag who worries about the increase in population in WHO, future supreme municipal official;
Xeb Liar , henchman of Sinh Master, left espionner WHO on the wild continent;

WHO

Brave man , gang leader of the Large Tree;
Coal , member of the band of the Large Tree;
Redhead , member of the band of the Red Bush;
Sav , erudite naturalist;
Terr , municipal official of WHO savages;
Valiant , member of the band of the Large Tree;
the Old , Ome, gang leader of the Red Bush;

Comments

Decline of civilizations

Stefan Wul defends in WHO in series a dynamic vision of civilizations which would need a certain form of adversity to maintain their lifeblood in awakening. For the author, civilizations seem to have a chance of perdurer only by stimulation and the emulation which confrontation with other civilizations or an hostile environment gets.

Thus, Stefan Wul presents WHO like the cruel descendants of a very advanced civilization which declined little by little after being arrived at tops of technological comfort. In parallel, after having eliminated all the potential dangers from the life on their Ygam planet, civilization draag suffers from a form of sclerosis that only the revolt of WHO finally makes it possible to avoid.

As recalled by Laurent Genefort in his foreword with the complete Works of Stefan Wul, “ the hero wulien is not in conflict with its medium; he discovers it, includes/understands it, is made an ally of it. ” WHO in series still specifies the content of this close relation of the man in his medium: if the man is not in conflict with his medium, it needs its relative adversity to maintain its vigilance and its reactivity.

In this context, the reading of WHO in series does not fail to make think of the emulation ideological and technological that had induced the political opposition of the blocks is and western during the Cold war, period during which Stefan Wul wrote its novel.

The body like resource

As in many its other novels, Stefan Wul uses the body and its resources in its intrigue. Here, the electricity of the human muscles connected in series are used to feed the anti-aircraft defense system of WHO, in Niourk , in fact the gray cells develop their capacities thanks to the radioactivity and make pass the man at a new stage of its mental evolution, while in Retour to “O” and the Temple of last the , the human body or animal is the medium even in which the protagonists evolve/move.

Spartacus syndrome

The account invented by Stefan Wul is not without pointing out the history of the slave gladiator Spartacus and the revolt which it carried out against Rome, big raise of the mass of the slaves constituting a political clout little by little not awaiting more but one charismatic chief to raise itself against its oppressor. Whereas the revolt of Spartacus failed, Stefan Wul gives to its protagonists the chance of a new departure.

Film adaptation

The novel of Stefan Wul was adapted to the screen in the form of animated feature film entitled the wild Planet , carried out by Rene Laloux on drawings of Roland Topor. The film was presented to Évreux in 1973 and certain journalists transfer in the Scénario a historical Métaphore of the Printemps of Prague, which contradicted later the author.

Masterpiece of the science fiction

This novel was classified among the masterpieces of the Science-fiction in the following reference books:

Science fiction. The ideal library , Albin Michel, 1988;
ideal Library of the webzine cosmic Cockroach.

Criticisms specialized

Ronny L. IDELS, HORIZONS OF FANTASTIC, n°5, 1969;
Tina Ground, HORIZONS OF FANTASTIC, n°21, 1972;
Denis Philippe, CHOSE, coll Fiction (re-examined), 1973.

Editions

Stefan Wul, WHO in series , BLACK RIVER, coll Anticipation n° 102, cover of BRANTONNE, 1957;
Stefan Wul, WHO in series , DENOEL, coll Presence of the future n° 146,1972 (Republications in 1973,1981,1993,1994);
Stefan Wul, WHO in series , in To discover the science fiction , SEGHERS, coll Anthology-youth (Extracted), 1975;
Stefan Wul, WHO in series , in complete Works 1 , LEFRANCQ, coll Volumes, 1996;
Stefan Wul, WHO in series , GALLIMARD, coll Folio SF n° 11, ISBN 2-07-041560-0, 2000.

Quotations

The numbers of page of the quotations which follow refer to the edition Lefrancq (1996), quoted in bibliography.

“ There exists, Édile Supreme, a great danger to an advanced race: sclerosis. When a civilization reaches its point of perfection, it becomes a gigantic machine, incompetent of progress, and of which all the members make nothing any more but wheels without thought. ”, Third Part, chap. X, p. 683;

“ I envisage for our two races an extraordinary future, conquered thanks to the spring of the emulation. ”, Third Part, chap. X, p. 683;

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