The Time Machine'', Wells had pictured the childlike
Eloi living the life of leisure of Greek gods whilst the working
Morlocks lived underground and kept their whole idyllic existence going. In contrast to Wells' political commentary, Forster points to the technology itself as the ultimate controlling force.
Critical reception
The ''Fantasy Book Review'' calls ''The Machine Stops'' "dystopic and quite brilliant," noting, "In such a short novel ''The Machine Stops'' holds more horror than any number of gothic ghost stories. Everybody should read it, and consider how far we may go ourselves down the road of technological ‘advancement’ and forget what it truly means to be alive;" rating the story as 10 out of 10.
As well as Forster predicting globalisation, the Internet, video conferencing and other aspects of 21st-century reality,
Will Gompertz
William Edward Gompertz (born 25 August 1965) was the BBC's arts editor before moving to a position as the Barbican Centre’s Artistic Director from 1 June 2021.
Gompertz attended Dulwich Preparatory School, in Cranbrook, Kent.
Gompertz was p ...
, writing on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
website on 30 May 2020, observed, "'The Machine Stops' is not simply prescient; it is a jaw-droppingly, gob-smackingly, breathtakingly accurate literary description of
lockdown life in 2020."
In 2021, ''
Wired'' magazine
's Randy Alfred wrote, "__1909: __ E.M. Forster publishes 'The Machine Stops,' a chilling tale of a futuristic information-oriented society that grinds to a bloody halt, literally. Some aspects of the story no longer seem so distant in the future." Alfred went on to note that a lecturer in the story provides, "a chilling premonition of the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
administration's derogation of 'the
reality-based community'".
Adaptations
* A television adaptation, directed by
Philip Saville
Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...
, was shown in the UK on 6 October 1966 as part of the second series of British science-fiction anthology TV series ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...
''. It is one of only four episodes known to exist from the show's second series.
* In 2001,
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
aired
Gregory Norminton's adaptation as a radio play. Another radio adaptation, by
Philip Franks
Philip Franks (born 2 February 1956) is an English actor and director, known to the public chiefly for his roles in English television series, such as '' The Darling Buds of May'' and '' Heartbeat''.
Early life
Franks was born on 2 February 19 ...
, aired on Radio 4 on 19 June 2022.
* Playwright
Eric Coble
Eric Coble is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is a member of the Playwrights' Unit of the Cleveland Play House.
Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Bef ...
's 2004 stage adaptation was broadcast on 16 November 2007 on
WCPN 90.3 FM in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio.
* ''TMS: The Machine Stops'' is a graphic novel series adaptation written by
Michael Lent with art by Marc Rene, published by Alterna Comics in February 2014.
* Playwright Neil Duffield's adaptation was staged at
York Theatre Royal in May–June 2016.
Related works
* ''
Mad'' #1 (Oct–Nov, 1952) featured "
Blobs",
a seven-page story drawn by
Wallace Wood
Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fro ...
where two inhabitants of 1,000,000 AD discuss the history of man and his evolution into "blobs" totally dependent on the Machine.
*
Stephen Baxter's story "Glass Earth Inc.", which refers explicitly to "The Machine Stops", is included in the book ''
Phase Space
In dynamical system theory, a phase space is a space in which all possible states of a system are represented, with each possible state corresponding to one unique point in the phase space. For mechanical systems, the phase space usually ...
'', published in 2003.
*
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's second novel in the
''I, Robot'' Series, ''
The Naked Sun
''The Naked Sun'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the second in his ''Robot'' series. Like its predecessor, ''The Caves of Steel'', this is a whodunit story. It was first published in book form in 1957 after being s ...
'' (1957), takes place on a planet similar to the earth seen in this story. On the Planet Solaria human colonists live isolated from one another, only viewing each other through holograms, and only have interactions with their robot retinues. After several centuries the humans have become so dependent on this practice it has become taboo to even be in the presence of another human being.
* The song "
The Machine Stops
"The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in ''The Oxford and Cambridge Review'' (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's ''The Eternal Moment and Other Storie ...
" by the band
Level 42 not only shares the same title with the story but also has lyrics that echo Kuno's thoughts.
* The band
A Hope for Home
A Hope for Home (commonly abbreviated to AHFH) is a post-metal band based in Portland, Oregon that formed in 2006. They have five studio albums, three of which were released on Facedown Records and Strike First (the imprint label of Facedown Rec ...
based their song, The Machine Stops, on their album
Realis
A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
on this story by Forster.
* Both George Lucas's film ''
THX 1138
''THX 1138'' is a 1971 American social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, the film stars Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, wit ...
'' (1971) and the original novel version of ''
Logan's Run
''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resource ...
'' (1967) by
William F. Nolan and
George Clayton Johnson bear similarities to "The Machine Stops".
* The space rock band
Hawkwind released a concept album titled ''
The Machine Stops'' in 2016 based on the story by Forster.
* Paul Kingsnorth's 2021 essay "Intermission: The Machine Stops" opens with a quote from Forster's novella.
See also
*
1909 in science fiction
References
Further reading
* Seegert, Alf (2010),
Technology and the Fleshly Interface in E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops', ''Journal of Ecocriticism'' 2: 1.
*
* Pordzik, Ralph. 2010
Closet fantasies and the future of desire in E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" ''English Literature in Transition 1880–1920'' 53, No. 1 (Winter): 54–74.
Wally Wood's version for ''Mad Magazine'', 1952
External links
*
*
Online text
The Machine Stop and other stories by E. M. Forster, Rod MenghamOnline text
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machine Stops, The
Dystopian literature
Plays by Eric Coble
1909 short stories
Religion in science fiction
Short stories by E. M. Forster
Science fiction short stories
Works originally published in British magazines
Works originally published in literary magazines
Constable & Co. books
Fictional computers