Aliens in Literature

These days, it's all about the zombies and the vamps.  We a culture obsessed with disease and how it's going to, inevitably, bring us down.  And while that obsession makes sense, because it seems like the most realistic way that we're all going to die as a race, it means that some other ideas get neglected in literature.

Mainly the extraterrestrials.

Aliens, though, have been permeating our literature for years, probably without us even realizing that they've been doing it (which makes it all the creepier because then, potentially, couldn't they also be inching into our society without us ever realizing it?)

One of Alex's favorite books is about nothing but alien's.  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a multitude of aliens in it.  In fact, our main character, Arthur Dent, has been best friends with an alien for years and not even known it.  Planet earth gets destroyed because they're making an interplanetary highway, and Earth is in the way, but none of us know about aliens, so we can't go anywhere to fight it.

A Wrinkle in Time is a book that most of us have read as kids, and it centers around three kids, who are brought to another planet by three aliens, to fight off an alien and save their father.  It's really about Meg's personal journey, but the entire book centers around alien worlds and beings and protecting the earth.

Probably one of the most influential books of all time involved aliens.  War of the Worlds was a book about an alien invasion.  In 1938, it was broadcast on air.  Due to the nature of the radio show, vocal
performances and no commercial interruptions, many tuned in after the program had already started.  It caused wide spread panic because the populace thought that we were actually being invaded by aliens.  There was rioting and police inquiries and people out on the streets in fear because of the show.  It wasn't until morning that the truth of the matter came out.

Aliens have been a huge part of our culture, and while they may not be as prevalent as some other trends right now, they have certainly made their impact on history.