Book description
When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he
is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by
beauty, contentment and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin
species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people
are simply remnants of a once-great culture - now weak and childishly
afraid of the dark. They have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels
beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity - the
sinister Morlocks. And when the scientist's time machine vanishes, it
becomes clear he must search these tunnels, if he is ever to return to
his own era.
H. G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist, who published
more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and
programmes for world regeneration. Wells's prophetic imagination was
first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he
became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. His
controversial views on sexual equality and the shape of a truly
developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was,
in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.
Marina Warner is a famed writer and critic.
Patrick Parrinder has written on H. G. Wells, science fiction, James
Joyce and the history of the English novel. Since 1986 he has been
Professor of English at the University of Reading.
Steven McLean is Secretary of the H. G. Wells Society. He recently
completed his PhD on H. G. Wells at the University of Sheffield.
