H.G Wells

By A.J McDermott

Thesis

• H.G Wells was, along with Jules Verne, one of the fathers of the genre science fiction.

• What Wells wrote was very advanced in this time period, and shaped the genre in many of its aspects.

Early Life

• Born September, 21st, 1866 to Joseph Wells and Sarah Neal, as their fourth and last child.

• He was born into poverty, his family supported on income from his father playing cricket or a rarely visited china shop they owned.

Early Life Cont.

• At the early age of seven, little Herbert George was left with a broken leg after an accident. Due to this, H.G began to read avidly to pass the time. This was the beginning of his interest in literature.

• Wells’ mother believed him to be the family’s last ticket out of poverty, so she encouraged him to pursue an education and sent him to school.

Still cont.

• After having mixed feelings about elementary school because his intelligence separated him from his peers, he went on to be involved with several apprenticeships, all of which he failed at.

• Eventually, at 14, he became a teacher’s assistant for a grammar school.

• From there he got a scholarship to attend the Normal School of Science, where he studied under T.H Huxley, a famous scientist and grandfather of Aldous Huxley

H.G as an author

• Wells first was published in weekly magazines writing in the question and answer columns.

• His first published book was a biology textbook in 1893.

• The style of writing he is famous for he didn’t use until “The Time Machine”

The Time Machine

• Was first written as “the Chronic Argonauts” and versions of it were printed in two different magazines.

• After revision, it was published in 1895 as “The Time Machine”.

• Plot- A mysterious character who is spoke only of as “the time traveler”, demonstrates to a group of his friends his a model of his new invention of a machine that can travel forward and backward along the fourth dimension, time. He then later that night travels into the future on his own, risking his life to discover what is the fate of the world, thousands of years past our time.

A glimpse of Wells’ Future

• In the future, the time traveler discovers that the human race has split and evolved into two entirely different creatures, the morlocks and eloi. The morlocks formed from the working class society that was forced underground and developed into extremely light sensitive monsters that feed on the eloi. The eloi are descendant from the aristocracy, who became small, timid, careless beings whose main concern is dancing and playing with flowers.

Other Works of Literature

• War of the worlds• The Invisible Man• The First Men in the Moon• The Island of Doctor Moreau• When the Sleeper Wakes• Tono Bungay• Mr. Britling sees it through• The Food of the Gods

Time Period

• Wells lived from 1866-1946.

• He was living in a time of great change.

• The literacy rate was rising rapidly since more people could afford education and to buy books.

• Industrialization led to faster communication and mass printing of literature

World War 1

• H.G Wells played a significant part in the war.

• He was a war correspondent, using his literary abilities to tell what he felt about the global situation

• He wanted the world to be united under a one world government, and hoped the war would lead to such unity.

• Coined the term “The War to end all Wars”

• http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807432839/video/2979397/20020307/199/2979397-56-wmv-s.2714461-75356,2979397-300-wmv-s.2714462-75356,2979397-100-wmv-s.2714463-75356#2969088

• javascript:launchVideo('eclipid=e14234&bitrateid=214&amgid=V++++50002&movieid=35557&player=moviePlayer');

Any Questions?