Les condamnés à mort (1920; trans Elisabeth Abbott as Useless Hands 1926) renders in harsh Social-Darwinist terms a bleak, mechanistic society run by the Governor of most of North and Central America, James F. MacHead Vohr, also known as the Wheat King, who lives with his daughter Eva in luxury. When the worker class – the “useless hands” of the English-language title – go on strike against the threat of Automation, Eva joins he cause. Vohr and his council, which includes the scientist George Torral, disintegrate the rebels, along with Eva, using Torral’s black hole ray.
First Appearance “Les condamnés à mort” (1920) by Claude Farrère issued in L’Illustration
First Publisher L’Illustration
Appearance List Les condamnés à mort (1920) by Claude Farrère issued in L’Illustration; Les condamnés à mort: roman (1920) — first book edition, Édouard-Joseph; L’Illustration; Les condamnés à mort; roman (1921) — French reissue/edition, E. Flammarion; Die Todgeweihten (1921) — German translation; Useless Hands (1926) translated by Elisabeth Abbott — first English translation, by E. P. Dutton & Company; Useless Hands (1975) — reprint, published by Arno Press.
Description Les condamnés à mort (1920; trans Elisabeth Abbott as Useless Hands 1926) renders in harsh Social-Darwinist terms a bleak, mechanistic society run by the Governor of most of North and Central America, James F. MacHead Vohr, also known as the Wheat King, who lives with his daughter Eva in luxury. When the worker class – the “useless hands” of the English-language title – go on strike against the threat of Automation, Eva joins he cause. Vohr and his council, which includes the scientist George Torral, disintegrate the rebels, along with Eva, using Torral’s black hole ray.
