Three Prophetic Science Fiction Novels: When the Sleeper Wakes; A Story of the Days to Come; The Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
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When the sleeper wakes: A troubled insomniac in 1890s England falls suddenly into a sleep-like trance, from which he does not awake for over two hundred years. During his centuries of slumber, however, investments are made that make him the richest and most powerful man on Earth. But when he comes out of his trance he is horrified to discover that the money accumulated in his name is being used to maintain a hierarchal society in which most are poor, and more than a third of all people are show more enslaved. Oppressed and uneducated, the masses cling desperately to one dream - that the sleeper will awake, and lead them all to freedom. Story of the days to come: two lovers in a dystopian future London of the 22nd century and explores the implications of excessive urbanization, class warfare, and advances in the technology of medicine, communication, transportation, and agriculture. The London of the early 22nd century is over 30 million people in population, with the lower classes living in subterranean dwellings, and the middle and upper classes living in skyscrapers and largely communal accommodations. Moving walkways interconnect the city, with fast air-travel and superhighways available between cities. The countryside is largely abandoned. Time machine: A Victorian scientist develops a time machine and travels to the year 802,171 AD. There he finds the meek, child-like Eloi who live in fear of the underground-dwelling Morlocks. When his time machine goes missing, the Traveler faces a fight to enter the Morlocks' domain and return to his own time. show lessTags
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The Time Machine (A little short on technical detail but excellent imagery especially for its time.) -
923 Three Prophetic Novels: When the Sleeper Wakes, A Story of the Days to Come, The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells (read 13 Oct 1967) Each of these Wells works has an article in Wikipedia, with A Story of the Days to Come being classified as a short story (though the article itself calls it a novella). I don't recall how these stories struck me, but the articles in Wikipedia are well done and explain each novel .
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H. G. Wells was born in Bromley, England on September 21, 1866. After a limited education, he was apprenticed to a draper, but soon found he wanted something more out of life. He read widely and got a position as a student assistant in a secondary school, eventually winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Science in South Kensington, where show more he studied biology. He graduated from London University in 1888 and became a science teacher. He also wrote for magazines. When his stories began to sell, he left teaching to write full time. He became an author best known for science fiction novels and comic novels. His science fiction novels include The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Wonderful Visit, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon, and The Food of the Gods. His comic novels include Love and Mr. Lewisham, Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul, The History of Mr. Polly, and Tono-Bungay. He also wrote several short story collections including The Stolen Bacillus, The Plattner Story, and Tales of Space and Time. He died on August 13, 1946 at the age of 79. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Three Prophetic Science Fiction Novels: When the Sleeper Wakes; A Story of the Days to Come; The Time Machine
- Dedication
- To William Ernest Henley
- First words
- Introduction: More than any other major English novelist H. G. Wells was obsessed with the future.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Epilogue: And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers--shriveled now, and brown and flat and brittle--to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.
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