The Body Snatchers

The Body Snatchers, original title, The Body Snatchers, is a science fiction novel by American author Jack Finney. He first appeared in 1954 as a three-part serial novel in the weekly magazine Collier's Weekly, and in the following year as a paperback in the New York publishing house of Dell. A first German translation appeared in 1962 in the Heyne -Verlag under the title Invisible parasites, a new translation by Tony Westermayr appeared as The Body Snatchers on 1 January 1979 with Goldmann Verlag.

Action

The doctor Miles Bennell lives and works in the idyllic small town of Mill Valley, California. One day, his childhood friend, Becky visits him with a strange request. Supposedly, the uncle of her friend is no longer himself Miles is investigating the case, but can find nothing unusual. In the following days, more and more people come to him with the same problem. He sends them to the psychiatrist Manfred " Mannie " Kaufman, but dismisses the events as mass hysteria. Miles believes this declaration until his friend Jack finds himself a semi-finished copy of his in the basement of his house. Together with their partners begin Miles and Jack investigate and discover that the inhabitants of the city are gradually being replaced by aliens who arrived as seed pods on the ground. Target of the aliens, who live in a de-individualized, conformist society, is world domination. However, due to the strong resistance from the unexchanged people eventually give the invaders on their projects and leave the earth.

Background

The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney has been revised twice, first time on the occasion of the paperback edition of 1955, and again in 1978 for a new edition of the same name at the start of Philip Kaufman's film version. In the 1960s, the original title The Body Snatchers was extended for reprints and new editions of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, leaning on the title of Don Siegel film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

In the course of increasing interpretations of Don Siegel film as - depending on your view of the reviewer - Warning of a communist infiltration of the United States or before the conformism of the McCarthy era novel was also speculates about a possible subtext in Finney. Finney himself denied an intended message of the book: "I have read interpretations for, the statement ' the story that amuse me so far as that there is no statement. The story was intended as pure entertainment, and that was their only concern. "

The reviews of Finney's book was mixed. While the judgment of Anthony Boucher ( in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ) and John Clute ( in The Science Fiction Encyclopedia ) was positive, complained Damon Knight ( in In Search of Wonder) and Groff Conklin ( in Galaxy) lack of logic and originality.

There is a mental illness, the Capgras syndrome. The sufferers believe, close relatives and friends had been replaced by doubles. Whether Finney this disease was known and he used this as an inspiration for his novel, is not occupied.

Films

• The demonic, USA 1956, directed by Don Siegel. This first film is, except for the modified circuit, the vorlagengetreueste implementation of the book.
• The Body Snatchers, USA 1978, directed by Philip Kaufman. The action was moved here in the big city of San Francisco.
• Body Snatchers - Attack of the Body Snatchers, USA 1993, directed by Abel Ferrara. The setting is an army base in the U.S..
• Invasion, USA / Germany, 2007 Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel. Here's an urban venue was chosen as the starting point again, the aliens themselves recede into the background.