Untitled Essay Research Paper H G WellsHerbert

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

H G WellsHerbert George Wells English author and political philosopher, mostfamous for his science-fantasy novels with their prophetic depictions ofthe triumphs of technology as well as the horrors of 20th-century warfare.Wells was born September 21, 1866, in Bromley, Kent, and educated at theNormal School of Science in London, to which he won a scholarship. He workedas a draper’s apprentice, bookkeeper, tutor, and journalist until 1895,when he became a full- time writer. Wells’s 10-year relationship with RebeccaWest produced a son, Anthony West, in 1914. In the next 50 years he producedmore than 80 books. His novel The Time Machine mingled science, adventure,and political comment. Later works in this genre are The Invisible Man,The War of the Worlds, and The Shape of Things to Come; each of these fantasieswas made into a motion picture. Wells also wrote novels devoted to characterdelineation. Among these are Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly, whichdepict members of the lower middle class and their aspirations. Both recallthe world

of Wells’s youth; the first tells the story of a struggling teacher,the second portrays a draper’s assistant. Many of Wells’s other books canbe categorized as thesis novels. Among these are Ann Veronica, promotingwomen’s rights; Tono-Bungay, attacking irresponsible capitalists; and Mr.Britling Sees It Through, depicting the average Englishman’s reaction towar. After World War I Wells wrote an immensely popular historical work,The Outline of History. Throughout his long life Wells was deeply concernedwith and wrote voluminously about the survival of contemporary society.For a time he was a member of the Fabian Society. He envisioned a utopiain which the vast and frightening material forces available to modern menand women would be rationally controlled for progress and for the equalgood of all. His later works were increasingly pessimistic. ‘42 to ‘44castigated most world leaders of the period; Mind at the End of Its Tetherexpressed the author’s doubts about the ability of humankind to survive.He also wrote An Experiment in Autobiography. Wells died August 13, 1946,in London.