John Wyndham’s 1951 book The Day of the Triffids is an important work of post-apocalyptic fiction and established many standards for the genre.
What Is It?
This post-apocalyptic novel is set in a world where a majority of the human population has been blinded by a mysterious meteor shower. In the ensuing chaos, genetically engineered plants called Triffids, capable of moving and killing with their venomous stingers, begin to prey on the vulnerable, blind humans. The story follows the protagonist, Bill Masen, who, having retained his sight due to an eye injury, navigates this dangerous new world. As society collapses, Masen struggles for survival, encounters other sighted individuals, and battles not only the deadly Triffids but also the breakdown of human civilization and morality.
Author: John Wyndham
Originally Published: 1951
Legacy:
The Day of the Triffids is usually not mentioned among the most important science fiction books, but it delivers an excellent genre tale that established many precedents for the post-apocalyptic story, and its influence continues to this day.
A Closer Look:
At the time this book was originally published in 1951, post-apocalyptic stories were not too common in sci-fi literature, but the devastation of World War II was still fresh in the minds of many who lived in Europe. British author John Wyndham certainly drew upon that experience for The Day of the Triffids while also setting up many of the precedents that would become common to the sub-genre. The story must have struck a nerve with audiences in Britain, as well as throughout the rest of Europe, as the characters struggled to survive in a world where society was collapsing, not too different from the reality they had experienced only a few years prior.
In many ways, this book set the template for zombie-apocalypse stories that would emerge a few decades later, with the Triffids as a prototype for the walking dead, equally mindless and just as deadly. Even the setup was later reused in The Walking Dead and other zombie entries, with the lead character receiving treatment in the hospital and not aware of what has happened until after the apocalypse has arrived. Then he would journey through the ravaged world dealing with survivors, some desperate to remain alive while others take advantage of the situation. Throughout the story, Wyndham deals with the moral quandaries that people in this situation would face, and he does not offer simple solutions, even though his style would later be referred to as “Cosy Catastrophe,” referring to the orderly and subdued manner of societal collapse.
While the Triffids are part of the title and central to the book, the story is more about the humans than the monsters. These creatures can be seen as representations of nature’s retribution against humanity, again hearkening back to the devastation the country experienced in WWII. But ultimately, the story hinges on how the humans interact with each other in a world crumbling at the seams and does not rely on the shock value of the monsters.
The science fiction elements of the book are fascinating as well. Wyndham gives a very prescient portrayal of the use of satellites over six years prior to the launching of Sputnik 1. The Triffids provide an interesting form of life as well, with Wyndham suggesting they were the result of genetic engineering on the part of the Soviets. So these are not just conveniently created monsters to add frights to the story; they have some basis in science.
The themes of the book are pretty heavy as well, as it explores human vulnerability and the fragility of civilization. Ethics and morality get put to the test as people struggle to maintain their humanity in order to survive and overcome the disaster that has befallen them. Wyndham delves into some profound territory with his book, and proves that he is up to the task of tackling the quandaries that he presents. And ultimately, The Day of the Triffids rises above the monster genre and delivers an important post-apocalyptic science fiction tale.
The Story Continues:
In 2001, Simon Clark published The Night of the Triffids, which is an authorized sequel approved by the Wyndham estate. That one takes place twenty-five years after the events of the original novel, and it follows David Masen, the son of Bill Masen, as he confronts new challenges, including a prolonged period of darkness and the ever-present threat of the Triffids. It has been generally well received, and it does expand on the world that John Wyndham created. In 2016, Simon Gould wrote The Land of the Triffids, which picks up where Clark’s story left off. That is not an authorized sequel and is not widely available for purchase. 2023 saw the release of John Whitbourn’s The Age of the Triffids, which is another unauthorized sequel that takes creative liberties with the original story and characters, exploring alternative scenarios and extending the Triffid universe in ways that are not part of the established canon. For copyright reasons, it is only available for sale in Canada and New Zealand.
Adaptations:
The Day of the Triffids has been through multiple adaptations, and the one that is probably best known in the United States is the 1963 film. That movie took plenty of liberties with the source material, most importantly suggesting that the meteorite shower that blinded most of the world’s population also brought the Triffids. It had fewer of the moral quandaries found in the book, and more of the horror elements as the film leaned into the monster movie genre. Plus, the storyline with the two people in the lighthouse was not part of the book, nor was their method on how to destroy the Triffids. Still, it gave us one of the great early movie monsters, and it is a better-than-average B-film that can be rather fun. Just don’t expect it to be faithful to John Wyndham’s original vision.
On television, a 1981 British mini-series adapted the story across six episodes, though that was done on a BBC budget and had its limitations. Still, it was much more faithful to Wyndham’s novel than the 1963 movie and is considered a decent adaptation. In 2009, an updated two-part mini-series adapted the book on a bigger budget, and it received some decent reviews. There have also been three different radio adaptations in 1957, 1968, and 2001, plus there is an audiobook version of the work.
Comments on the Audiobook:
An unabridged audio adaptation of the book was released in 2021 with British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir providing the voice work. He delivers a very good reading of the story with sufficient variation in the voices of the various characters, but not quite to the point that I would call it a performance rather than a narration. But he definitely keeps things moving along, and I enjoyed his telling of the story. You can purchase it from Audible.
Interesting Facts:
While The Day of the Triffids is not often ranked high among the great works of science fiction, it is considered a seminal work in the post-apocalyptic genre, and in 2003 it was listed on the BBC’s survey The Big Read.
Despite some similarities to the way The Walking Dead began (both the comic and the TV series), Robert Kirkman has not cited The Day of the Triffids as an inspiration for his work that I am aware of. However, Alex Garland has claimed that the book was a major influence on his screenplay for 28 Days Later.
Where Can you Read It?
The book is available as a hardcover (though rather pricey in that format), paperback, eBook, and audiobook. And as mentioned above, there are three radio adaptations of the story.
