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The Iron Man (novel)

January 01, 1970

For novels with similar titles, see Ironman (disambiguation) § Literature.

The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights is a 1968 science fiction novel by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, first published by Faber and Faber in the UK with illustrations by George Adamson.[1] Described by some as a modern fairy tale,[2] it narrates the unexpected arrival in England of a giant "metal man" of unknown origin who rains destruction on the countryside by eating industrial farm equipment, before befriending a small boy and defending the world from a dragon from outer space. Expanding the narrative beyond a criticism of warfare and inter-human conflict, Hughes later wrote a sequel, The Iron Woman (1993), describing retribution based on environmental themes related to pollution.

The Iron Man
Adamson cover of first edition
AuthorTed Hughes
IllustratorGeorge Adamson (first)
Andrew Davidson (1985)
CountryUnited Kingdom
GenreScience fiction
Published1968 (Faber and Faber, UK)
1968 (Harper & Row, US)
1985 (Faber and Faber, int'l)
1999 (Knopf, 30th Anniv. Ed.)
Media typePrint
Pages59 pp.
Followed byThe Iron Woman 

Story edit

The Iron Man arrives seemingly from nowhere, and his appearance is described in detail. He first appears falling off a cliff, but his various pieces reassemble themselves, starting with his hands finding his eyes and progressing from there. He is unable to find one ear, which was taken by seagulls earlier, and walks into the sea to find it.

He eventually returns to the country and begins to feed on local farm equipment. When the farm hands discover their destroyed tractors and diggers, a trap is set consisting of a covered pit on which a red lorry is set as bait. Hogarth, a local boy, lures the Iron Man to the trap. The plan succeeds, and the Iron Man is buried alive. The next spring, the Iron Man digs himself free of the pit. To keep him out of the way, Hogarth brings the Iron Man to a scrap-heap to feast. The Iron Man promises not to cause further trouble for the locals, as long as no one troubles him.

Time passes, and the Iron Man is treated as merely another member of the community. However, astronomers monitoring the sky make a frightening new discovery: an enormous space-being, resembling a dragon, moving from orbit to land on Earth. The creature (soon dubbed the "Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon") crashes heavily on Australia (which it is large enough to cover the whole of) and demands that humanity provide him with food (anything alive) or he will take it by force.

Terrified, humans send their armies to destroy the dragon, but it is unharmed by their weapons. When the Iron Man hears of this global threat, he allows himself to be disassembled and transported to Australia where he challenges the creature to a contest of strength. If the Iron Man can withstand the heat of burning petroleum for longer than the creature can withstand the heat of the Sun, the creature must obey the Iron Man's commands forevermore: if the Iron Man melts or is afraid of melting before the space being undergoes or fears pain in the Sun, the creature has permission to devour the whole Earth.

After playing this game for two rounds, the dragon is so badly burned that he no longer appears physically frightening. The Iron Man by contrast has only a deformed ear-lobe to show for his pains. The alien creature admits defeat. When asked why he came to Earth, the dragon reveals that he is a peaceful "star spirit" who experienced excitement about the ongoing sights and sounds produced by the violent warfare of humanity. In his own life, he was a singer of the "music of the spheres"; the harmony of his kind that keeps the cosmos in balance in stable equilibrium.

The Iron Man orders the dragon to sing to the inhabitants of Earth, flying just behind the sunset, to help soothe humanity toward a sense of peace. The beauty of his music distracts the population from its egocentrism and tendency to fight, causing the first worldwide lasting peace.

Publishing edit

The first North American edition was also published in 1968, by Harper & Row with illustrations by Robert Nadler. Its main title was changed to The Iron Giant, and internal mentions of the metal man changed to iron giant, to avoid confusion with the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. American editions have continued the practice, as Iron Man has become a multimedia franchise.

Faber and Faber published a new edition in 1985 with illustrations by Andrew Davidson, for which Hughes and Davidson won the Kurt Maschler Award, or the Emils. From 1982 to 1999 that award recognised one British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."[3][4] The 1985 Davidson edition was published in Britain and America (retaining 'giant') and there were re-issues with the Davidson illustrations, including some with other cover artists. Yet the novel has been re-illustrated by at least two others, Dirk Zimmer and Laura Carlin (current, Walker Books).[2]

In August 2019, an updated illustrated version was released in the UK with new illustrations from artist Chris Mould.

Adaptations edit

References edit

  1. ^ The subtitle of the first edition was A Story in Five Nights. See also The Iron Man page on the official George Adamson web site.
  2. ^ a b . Presentation of the 2010 edition by publisher Walker Books. Archived from the original on 16 February 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2010. Quote: "Reckoned one of the greatest of modern fairy tales." Observer.
  3. ^ "Kurt Maschler Awards". Book Awards. bizland.com. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  4. ^ The Iron Man: A Story in Five Nights title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 6 October 2013. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image (7 available) or linked contents. For the 1968 and 1985 editions, later printings only.

Bibliography edit

  • The Iron Man, illus. by George Adamson. London: Faber and Faber, 26 February 1968 ISBN 0571 08247 5
  • The Iron Giant, illus. by Robert Nadler. New York: Harper & Row, 23 October 1968
  • The Iron Man, illus. by George Adamson. London: Faber and Faber, 11 October 1971 (paperback edition) ISBN 0571 09750 2
  • L'Uomo di Ferro: Lotta di giganti per la salvezza della terra, transl. into Italian of The Iron Man by Sandra Georgini, illus. by George Adamson. Milan: Biblioteca Universale, Rizzoli, 1977
  • The Iron Man, illus. by George Adamson: “English language textbook with Japanese annotations” by Yuuichi Hashimoto. Tokyo: Shinozaki Shorin, 1980
  • A Vasember, transl. into Hungarian of The Iron Man by Katalin Damokos, illus. György Korga . Budapest: Móra Könyvkiadó, 1981 ISBN 978-963-11-2373-9
  • Le Géant de fer, transl. into French of The Iron Man by Sophie de Vogelas; illus. by Philippe Munch; Folio cadet 52. Éditions Gallimard Jeunesse, 1984 ISBN 978-2-07-031052-4
  • The Iron Man, illus. by Andrew Davidson. London: Faber and Faber, 1985 ISBN 978-0-571-13675-9 (cased); ISBN 978-0-571-13677-3 (paperback)
  • The Iron Giant, illus. by Dirk Zimmer. New York: Harper & Row, 1988 ISBN 978-0-06-022638-1
  • The Iron Man, illus. by Andrew Davidson. London: Faber and Faber, 1989 ISBN 978-0-571-14149-4 (paperback)
  • Le Géant de fer, transl. into French of The Iron Man by Sophie de Vogelas; illus. by Jean Torton; Folio cadet 295. Éditions Gallimard Jeunesse, 1992 ISBN 978-2-07-052686-4
  • Rautamies, transl. into Finnish of The Iron Man by Sinikka Sajama; illus. Andrew Davidson. Karkkila: Kustannus-Mäkelä, 1993 ISBN 978-951-873-267-2
  • Der Eisenmann, transl. into German of The Iron Man by U.-M. Gutzschhahn, illus. by Jindra Čapek. Frankfurt-am-Main: S. Fischer (Fischer Taschenbuch) 1997 ISBN 3-596-80154-0
  • The Iron Giant, illus. by Andrew Davidson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999 ISBN 978-0-375-80167-9; (reprinted as a paperback by Yearling Books, an imprint of Random House ISBN 978-0-375-80153-2)
  • L'Uomo di ferro, transl. into Italian of The Iron Man by Ilva Tron; illus. by Andrew Davidson; Junior Mondadori series. Milan: Mondadori, 2003 ISBN 88-04-43681-6
  • Y dyn haearn, transl. into Welsh of The Iron Man by Emily Huws; illus. by Andrew Davidson. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2004 ISBN 978-0-86381-936-0
  • The Iron Man, illus. by Tom Gauld. London: Faber and Faber, 2005 ISBN 978-0-571-22612-2
  • The Iron Man, illus. by Laura Carlin. London: Walker Books in collaboration with Faber and Faber, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4063-2957-5
  • El hombre de hierro, illus. by Laura Carlin. Barcelona: Vicens Vives, 2011 ISBN 9788468206219 OCLC 794039831
  • The Iron Man, illus. by Andrew Davidson. London: Faber and Faber, 2013 ISBN 978-0-571-30224-6 (paperback)
  • L'Uomo di ferro, transl. into Italian of The Iron Man by Ilva Tron, illus. by I. Bruno. Milan: Oscar junior, Mondadori, 2013 ISBN 978-88-04-62032-7

External links edit

  • The Iron Man by Ted Hughes at Primary Resources

January 01, 1970
iron, novel, novels, with, similar, titles, ironman, disambiguation, literature, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, fi. For novels with similar titles see Ironman disambiguation Literature This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Iron Man novel news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Iron Man A Children s Story in Five Nights is a 1968 science fiction novel by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes first published by Faber and Faber in the UK with illustrations by George Adamson 1 Described by some as a modern fairy tale 2 it narrates the unexpected arrival in England of a giant metal man of unknown origin who rains destruction on the countryside by eating industrial farm equipment before befriending a small boy and defending the world from a dragon from outer space Expanding the narrative beyond a criticism of warfare and inter human conflict Hughes later wrote a sequel The Iron Woman 1993 describing retribution based on environmental themes related to pollution The Iron ManAdamson cover of first editionAuthorTed HughesIllustratorGeorge Adamson first Andrew Davidson 1985 CountryUnited KingdomGenreScience fictionPublished1968 Faber and Faber UK 1968 Harper amp Row US 1985 Faber and Faber int l 1999 Knopf 30th Anniv Ed Media typePrintPages59 pp Followed byThe Iron Woman Contents 1 Story 2 Publishing 3 Adaptations 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External linksStory editThe Iron Man arrives seemingly from nowhere and his appearance is described in detail He first appears falling off a cliff but his various pieces reassemble themselves starting with his hands finding his eyes and progressing from there He is unable to find one ear which was taken by seagulls earlier and walks into the sea to find it He eventually returns to the country and begins to feed on local farm equipment When the farm hands discover their destroyed tractors and diggers a trap is set consisting of a covered pit on which a red lorry is set as bait Hogarth a local boy lures the Iron Man to the trap The plan succeeds and the Iron Man is buried alive The next spring the Iron Man digs himself free of the pit To keep him out of the way Hogarth brings the Iron Man to a scrap heap to feast The Iron Man promises not to cause further trouble for the locals as long as no one troubles him Time passes and the Iron Man is treated as merely another member of the community However astronomers monitoring the sky make a frightening new discovery an enormous space being resembling a dragon moving from orbit to land on Earth The creature soon dubbed the Space Bat Angel Dragon crashes heavily on Australia which it is large enough to cover the whole of and demands that humanity provide him with food anything alive or he will take it by force Terrified humans send their armies to destroy the dragon but it is unharmed by their weapons When the Iron Man hears of this global threat he allows himself to be disassembled and transported to Australia where he challenges the creature to a contest of strength If the Iron Man can withstand the heat of burning petroleum for longer than the creature can withstand the heat of the Sun the creature must obey the Iron Man s commands forevermore if the Iron Man melts or is afraid of melting before the space being undergoes or fears pain in the Sun the creature has permission to devour the whole Earth After playing this game for two rounds the dragon is so badly burned that he no longer appears physically frightening The Iron Man by contrast has only a deformed ear lobe to show for his pains The alien creature admits defeat When asked why he came to Earth the dragon reveals that he is a peaceful star spirit who experienced excitement about the ongoing sights and sounds produced by the violent warfare of humanity In his own life he was a singer of the music of the spheres the harmony of his kind that keeps the cosmos in balance in stable equilibrium The Iron Man orders the dragon to sing to the inhabitants of Earth flying just behind the sunset to help soothe humanity toward a sense of peace The beauty of his music distracts the population from its egocentrism and tendency to fight causing the first worldwide lasting peace Publishing editThe first North American edition was also published in 1968 by Harper amp Row with illustrations by Robert Nadler Its main title was changed to The Iron Giant and internal mentions of the metal man changed to iron giant to avoid confusion with the Marvel Comics character Iron Man American editions have continued the practice as Iron Man has become a multimedia franchise Faber and Faber published a new edition in 1985 with illustrations by Andrew Davidson for which Hughes and Davidson won the Kurt Maschler Award or the Emils From 1982 to 1999 that award recognised one British work of imagination for children in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other 3 4 The 1985 Davidson edition was published in Britain and America retaining giant and there were re issues with the Davidson illustrations including some with other cover artists Yet the novel has been re illustrated by at least two others Dirk Zimmer and Laura Carlin current Walker Books 2 In August 2019 an updated illustrated version was released in the UK with new illustrations from artist Chris Mould Adaptations editPete Townshend produced a musical concept album based on the novel in 1989 In 1999 Warner Bros released an animated film using the novel as a basis titled The Iron Giant directed by Brad Bird and co produced by Pete Townshend References edit The subtitle of the first edition was A Story in Five Nights See also The Iron Man page on the official George Adamson web site a b The Iron Man Presentation of the 2010 edition by publisher Walker Books Archived from the original on 16 February 2011 Retrieved 7 December 2010 Quote Reckoned one of the greatest of modern fairy tales Observer Kurt Maschler Awards Book Awards bizland com Retrieved 6 October 2013 The Iron Man A Story in Five Nights title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Retrieved 6 October 2013 Select a particular edition title for more data at that level such as a front cover image 7 available or linked contents For the 1968 and 1985 editions later printings only Bibliography editThe Iron Man illus by George Adamson London Faber and Faber 26 February 1968 ISBN 0571 08247 5 The Iron Giant illus by Robert Nadler New York Harper amp Row 23 October 1968 The Iron Man illus by George Adamson London Faber and Faber 11 October 1971 paperback edition ISBN 0571 09750 2 L Uomo di Ferro Lotta di giganti per la salvezza della terra transl into Italian of The Iron Man by Sandra Georgini illus by George Adamson Milan Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli 1977 The Iron Man illus by George Adamson English language textbook with Japanese annotations by Yuuichi Hashimoto Tokyo Shinozaki Shorin 1980 A Vasember transl into Hungarian of The Iron Man by Katalin Damokos illus Gyorgy Korga Budapest Mora Konyvkiado 1981 ISBN 978 963 11 2373 9 Le Geant de fer transl into French of The Iron Man by Sophie de Vogelas illus by Philippe Munch Folio cadet 52 Editions Gallimard Jeunesse 1984 ISBN 978 2 07 031052 4 The Iron Man illus by Andrew Davidson London Faber and Faber 1985 ISBN 978 0 571 13675 9 cased ISBN 978 0 571 13677 3 paperback The Iron Giant illus by Dirk Zimmer New York Harper amp Row 1988 ISBN 978 0 06 022638 1 The Iron Man illus by Andrew Davidson London Faber and Faber 1989 ISBN 978 0 571 14149 4 paperback Le Geant de fer transl into French of The Iron Man by Sophie de Vogelas illus by Jean Torton Folio cadet 295 Editions Gallimard Jeunesse 1992 ISBN 978 2 07 052686 4 Rautamies transl into Finnish of The Iron Man by Sinikka Sajama illus Andrew Davidson Karkkila Kustannus Makela 1993 ISBN 978 951 873 267 2 Der Eisenmann transl into German of The Iron Man by U M Gutzschhahn illus by Jindra Capek Frankfurt am Main S Fischer Fischer Taschenbuch 1997 ISBN 3 596 80154 0 The Iron Giant illus by Andrew Davidson New York Alfred A Knopf 1999 ISBN 978 0 375 80167 9 reprinted as a paperback by Yearling Books an imprint of Random House ISBN 978 0 375 80153 2 L Uomo di ferro transl into Italian of The Iron Man by Ilva Tron illus by Andrew Davidson Junior Mondadori series Milan Mondadori 2003 ISBN 88 04 43681 6 Y dyn haearn transl into Welsh of The Iron Man by Emily Huws illus by Andrew Davidson Llanrwst Gwasg Carreg Gwalch 2004 ISBN 978 0 86381 936 0 The Iron Man illus by Tom Gauld London Faber and Faber 2005 ISBN 978 0 571 22612 2 The Iron Man illus by Laura Carlin London Walker Books in collaboration with Faber and Faber 2010 ISBN 978 1 4063 2957 5 El hombre de hierro illus by Laura Carlin Barcelona Vicens Vives 2011 ISBN 9788468206219 OCLC 794039831 The Iron Man illus by Andrew Davidson London Faber and Faber 2013 ISBN 978 0 571 30224 6 paperback L Uomo di ferro transl into Italian of The Iron Man by Ilva Tron illus by I Bruno Milan Oscar junior Mondadori 2013 ISBN 978 88 04 62032 7External links editThe Iron Man by Ted Hughes at Primary Resources Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Iron Man novel amp oldid 1213637247, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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