Hartmann, the Anarchist: Or the Doom of the Great City

by E. Douglas Fawcett

A fascinating science fiction novel exploring political philosophy.
Stanley is a young socialist who is opposed to revolution. He believes that a peaceful community results in a stable government. And as a candidate in the upcoming elections, he is deeply concerned for the safety of the masses.
Hartmann, a notorious anarchist, is believed to have died after his failed attempt to bomb the German Crown Prince. In hiding, Hartmann builds Attila, a flying machine from which he intends to attack European capitals. Hartmann's to overthrow capitalism.
Stanley's intentions seem innocent when he sets out to find the truth behind Hartmann's disappearance. So how is it that Stanley finds himself aboard the warship Attila heading straight for its first target?
This is the first of Edward Douglas Fawcett's science fiction novels. It was most likely a response to the growing anarchist violence in Europe and the developments in aerial navigation in the late nineteenth century. Fawcett continued to write but spent most of his life devoted to mountaineering and philosophy.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

Edward Douglas Fawcett

Reviews

[Ian McQuaid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining late 19th century hokum. This one zips along quickly enough. The central premise has an anarchist raining death on the streets of London from a souped up airship, and the scenes of wild destruction are satisfyingly apocalyptic. The end is very sudden and entirely unsatisfying, but probably better than Fawcett dragging it out for another 50 pages. An interesting sci fi curio rather than a classic.

[Periklis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The anarchist novel that Jules Verne would have written...

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since when did so many horrific writers of the late 19th century ever write so optimistically about a Doomsday Armageddon event that never even happened in the first place like this? If this isn't the worst thing ever written, I dunno what is! This is pretty much yet another generic and forgettable work of early science fiction that heavily relies on the over-the-top anarchism, even more so than either the story, plot, or any character growth or development. It tries so hard to be fun and exciting but fails in doing so, ending up becoming rather dull and exhausting. The setting is supposed to be based on the real world, yet there is barely any logic here. It's also rather poorly-written, sounding like it was written by someone who read way too many anarchism and socialism works and genres and it's frustrating. It is pretty much even insulting to other nations; even though plenty of Presidents of the United States of America have been creeps, not all of them have been, and the characters can accept a heroic president here... but it is insulting to have other world leaders follow him blindly, and have him behave so nobly, going down with his country; the Queen of England is also portrayed as one of the loathsome billionaires buying her way out, which is also insulting considering that the Queen Mum made a point of staying in London during the blitz decades later. Not only that, it's also disrespectful to the former's memory. I will say, however, that it ultimately reminds us that, even with all of our advancements, the force of planet earth remains as the most powerful mean of mass destruction that there is. And the sad thing is that, if destruction and conflict like the ones in the great city depicted herein do eventually come to pass, we're simply not prepared. This is not worth reading unless you think you're a real anarchist...no offense, but I obviously know I'm not, really.

[Tom Sturtridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

At times this book peaked interest, and provided some tension and towards the end, the imagery produced (along with th help of very grainy images) is incredible. However, there are also times where it is easy to see why this book was forgotten. The story is somewhat random in places and resolves quickly and with little sense. Unfortunately just not my cup of tea. However, a good way of getting into reading classics as it is short and has big font.

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book, very reminisant of HG Wells' War of the Worlds. I had never read a book by Edward Douglas Fawcett, but so pleased that I did. It kept me hooked right through to the end. Written by Fawcett when he was only 17 years old, it is a book that holds your attention throughout. 10/10

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

A late 20C anarachist satirical take on late 19C and early 20C science fiction adventure stories. As a pastiche it really doesn't work.

It reads like an overlong injoke for people who don't really know the subject they are attempting a
piss-take on. The painfully bad "lost history "of the author and manuscript fails to set up the joke. There are continuous anarchronisms that prevent you from ever fully slipping into the genre and believing you are reading a contemporary of Conan-Doyle, Verne and HG Wells. The wood block illustrations are "out of place" and distract rather than add to the story telling.

I could see it working a series of snippets in Viz comic, where minimal subject matter knowledge and "factoids" would make the joke appropriate to the audience. However to go through with an entire book I would have expected more effort rather than a half-assed effort.

[nks · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disappointing read, after an introduction by Ian Bone so complimentary that he implies that Fawcett provides us with better anarchist science fiction than Ursula Le Guin. Though the plot quickly drives the reader through what in essence is a short story, the writing is so-so and the depiction of anarchists as blood-thirsty villains disappointing. The best part of the book were Stanley Donwood's illustrations.

NOTE: The author name has been typed into Goodreads as "Famcett" but is actually "Fawcett."

[Giuseppe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questo libro é un ossimoro: un romanzo steampunk scritto all'epoca del vapore. E giá questo basterebbe di per se. Se poi ci aggiungete che é stato scritto da un sedicenne ed é stato out of print per un secolo, viene naturale chiedersi che strano oggetto si abbia in mano. Peccato che, al di lá di queste peculiaritá, il romanzetto qui presente non sia nulla di che.

[Mel C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting. Now.I'd like to read the story behind the writer