Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

More book covers: The Time Machine

Berkley Highland edition (45¢ cover price)
1960s - 141 pages (left)

1895 1st British edition
published by William Heinemann
152 pages (right)

With the arguable exception of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this may be the most influential science fiction novel (or scientific romance, as Wells's SF stories came to be known at the time) ever written.

For one thing, it introduced the concept of a time machine, which has since been borrowed by countless other authors (although someone else surely would have struck upon the idea if Wells had not).

More importantly, Wells's use of science fiction as a medium for social commentary was ground-breaking.  Wells was obviously greatly concerned about class divisions in modern society, and wrote this book as a cautionary tale of where social stratification may lead.  Thankfully, Wells does not make his point simply by demonizing the upper class - if anything, the Eloi are presented with more sympathy than the Morlocks.  This novel is not urging the working class to rise up against its oppressors; it is directed at the upper class, telling the members of the elite that they need to find a way to ensure that the lower class shares in the benefits of the advances they devise.

The writing style in this novel is well ahead of its time, despite occasional lapses into pulpishness.  Aside from the obligatory "this really happened" framework, the story moves quickly and draws the reader in without unnecessary melodrama.  Although characterization was plainly not Wells's focus, he made a good choice in allowing Weena some human traits (although I have to confess I find the relationship between the childlike Weena and the time traveler mildly unsettling).  I find it easy to empathize with the slightly pompous but very earnest time traveler.