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| Author | Ted Hughes |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
| Publication date | 1968 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 59 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-571-22612-4 |
| Followed by | The Iron Woman |
The Iron Man is a 1968 novel written by Ted Hughes. It describes the landing in England of a giant "metal man" of unknown origin who befriends a small boy. Hughes later wrote a sequel, The Iron Woman.
Contents |
Plot summary
The story declares that the Iron Man arrives from seemingly nowhere, and provides a description of his appearance. In order to survive, he feeds off the local farmers' equipment. When the farmers discover this, they set a trap consisting of a covered pit on which is set a tractor as bait. A boy called Hogarth lures the Iron Man to the place. The plan succeeds, and the Iron Man is buried alive. A few days later, the Iron Man digs himself free of the pit. In order to keep him out of the way, Hogarth takes charge and brings him to a scrap-heap where he sets about eating all the discarded metal. He promises to be no trouble, as long as no one troubles him. Time passes, and the Iron Man is treated as merely another person. However, astronomers monitoring the sky discover something new to be frightened of; a massive "star spirit" shaped like a black dragon, who is moving out of his orbit to land on our Earth. The said Star Spirit crashes heavily on Australia, later to demand of humanity that they provide him with food. Terrified, humans send their armies to destroy him; but he is unharmed. When the Iron Man hears of this, he disassembles himself and is transported to Australia, where he challenges the Star Spirit to a contest of strength. If the Iron Man can withstand the heat of burning petroleum for longer than the Star Spirit can withstand the heat of the Sun, the Star Spirit must obey the Iron Man's commands forever more. If the Iron Man melts or is afraid of melting before the Star Spirit undergoes or fears pain in the Sun, the Spirit has permission to devour the whole Earth. They play this game three times over, and at the end the Star Spirit is so badly burned that he is no longer frightening. The Iron Man, by contrast, has only a deformed ear-lobe to show for his pains. The Star Spirit admits defeat. When asked why he came to Earth in the first place, the Star Spirit replies that the sights and sounds of the many wars humanity fights with itself had excited him. He wished to take part in all this violence, and so had come. 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 Star Spirit to fly singing around the Earth, just behind the sunset, so that at night all humanity is lulled to peace by his song. The beauty of his music distracts humanity from its egocentricism and from its tendency to fight, causing the first worldwide lasting peace.
Film, TV and theatrical adaptations
The story was memorably read by Tom Baker for the BBC's Jackanory in 1986. Later, in 1989, guitarist Pete Townshend from the rock band The Who released an album realizing the work in musical form. A decade later, Warner Brothers released an animated film using the novel as a loose basis, entitled The Iron Giant, directed by Brad Bird.
