“Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life.”
― H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
The Time Machine is a science fiction novel (or a long short-story?) by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 and it has become a classic. In the book, the narrator introduces us to inventor and scientist whom the reader will know only by as Time Traveller. It’s impolite to call him anything different. In The Time Machine, our Time Traveller travels far into the future, into year 801, 701. There he learns that humanity has evolved when he meets Eloi. Eloi are described as naiive and small post-humans with large eyes and small ears and mouths.
Time Traveller soon learns that sweet Eloi do not inhabit this new world alone. There are also Morlocks who are quite different from the other human species.
“The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness.”
― H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
The Time Machine is epic. H.G. Wells was a pioneer and this is one of the cornerstones of all science fiction works that came after…and especially dystopian genre? I like this novel a lot. I think Wells was one of the first ones to tackle the question of what the world would look like 800 000 years in the future. There is already a gap between people so what if after many millennia our world would look like this? Who would become Eloi and who would become Morlocks? I like Wells’ style, he’s whimsical and yet his language is beautiful and descriptions are rich. What did make me drop one star from the rating was the pessimism. I like to think that there is some hope for humanity. I want to read about people who push above everything, whereas here it just got more and more hopeless.
4/5 stars
How- To Read The Time Machine
1. Just 118 pages! The perfect read if you’re having a busy phase in your life! Whimsical and beautiful style of writing ought to keep you entertained. You can get the book at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35
2. Essential read for all science fiction fans and I think this is great piece of work even if you don’t like the genre too much.
3. Plenty of good, entertaining and very different kinds of adaptations.
Have you read this? Thoughts? This post is a part of a very happy event called scifi month. Check it out.
“Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of too hasty guesses at its meaning. In the end you will find clues to it all.”
― H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
I’ll have to get around to this one soon. I usually like sci-fi, from your little blurbs I think I’d get along swimmingly with Wells’s writing style, and I actually enjoy a healthy dose of pessimism regarding humanity. I’ve realized in recent years that my favorite novel may just be Lord of the Flies, which might just say something about me! :P
I’m glad that there are optimists to counterbalance people like me, though! :)
I’m pretty sure you’ll have a great time with this 😊 Yeah I have the same problem with Lord of the Flies, it seems so ridiculous that they’re not able to properly survive on that island instead they end up fighting each other o.O Haha yeah I guess we balance each other out here.
I haven’t read this book in ages. Thank you for a reminder to visit it again.
Definitely :)
I’ve never read The Time Machine, although I did see the old movie and thought it was kinda good in spite of the oh-so-dated special effects! The thing that interested me about it is that a lot of time travel books go back in time, or maybe into the future but the year 801, 000- that’s WAY in the future and I love the idea of it.
I really liked 2002 film adaptation, it was more romantic than the book. Yeah exactly! I love how authors 100 years back imagined the world so far in the future :)
Never knew this book was this short :D Awesome review!! – Trang
Yeah I didn’t recall it was just 100 pages or so either XD Thank you
Have you read War of the Worlds? I liked that one a lot more than the Time Machine :)
I have, somehow I did not like the aliens in it so Time Machine is my favorite one :)
One of my favourite short novels.
I think it’s a pity the film-makers (I can think of two movie versions though there are probably more) softened the message with romantic subplots.
Indeed. Hmm, I somehow liked the romantic subplot.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against romantic subplots (or romantic main plots) but I do prefer it when movies stick to the original story and its themes.
I got your point but failed to express myself properly, I think that maybe it would have been hard to bring to life creatures in Time Machine, especially the pet part might have been too much for some viewers :) romantic subplot, in this case, is maybe easier to realize.
Any fans of Wells science fiction might like to try ‘The Space Machine’, written by Christopher Priest back in 1976. It’s basically a homage to Wells, melding together elements of War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Wells appears as a character, if I remember rightly. Priest is best known for The Prestige (later made into an excellent film). The Time Machine is, appropriately, very much of its time, transposing the late-Victorian idea of a working class regarded as almost sub-human into a science fiction future. I enjoyed the more recent film version, romantic sub-plots aside. Still waiting for a film version of War of the Worlds in the original setting and, hopefully, without Tom Cruise. Nice to see some classic sf being blogged about.
Thank you for the recommendation! :) Space Machine sounds like a good and must-read for fans of Time Machine!
Yeah, oh I would hate to see Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds.Again. Guy makes enough of movies.