Author Profile: H.G. Wells
by Matthew Grant
Herbert George Wells (H.G. Wells) was an author who lived in the Victorian/Edwardian era of Britain.
While he also wrote works on his political and social views, he is primarily known for his work in the realm of science fiction. While the genre existed before his time, Wells was arguably the first modern sci-fi author, reinventing the genre with a simple method: focus on the science just as much as the fiction.
Scientific, Social, and Political Views
Initially a student of biology, Wells had a particular fascination with the works of Charles Darwin, and the resulting ethical implications from the theory of natural selection. He would focus on this element in The Time Machine.
Wells described himself as a futurist. Futurism is a scientific and philosophical approach to the world that examines what the future of human life might be like. This viewpoint can be seen throughout Well’s books, with a sense of advancing technology. Wells even ended up predicting such technological accomplishments such as the internet, space travel, and biological engineering.
Wells lived in a time where science and people’s understanding of the world was rapidly rising. Throughout the 19th century inventions such as film cameras, photography, motor vehicles, telephones, and music players were becoming more advanced by the day. Wells attempted to instil this fascination with science and technology into the younger generation while working as a teacher in Wales.
Wells’ anti-imperialist stance was a frequent topic of his work, as the British empire continued to expand. A result of this expansion, more information about other cultures around the world became easily available. People back in Britain no longer had to imagine how people in Africa or Asia lived their lives. Wells incorporated this age of discovery into his writings, examining not only other cultures, but humanity’s own place in the universe, such as in The War Of The Worlds.
A large portion of Wells’ political writings focused on his endorsement of socialism, presenting the concept that the long term survival of the species was conditional on people coming to the realisation that humanity was one big collective.
Somewhat controversial for his time, Wells was also an avid feminist. In his novel, The New Machiavelli, Wells wrote: “I want to see [women] citizens, with a marriage law framed primarily for them and their protection” and the good of the race, and not for men’s satisfactions. I want to see them bearing and rearing good children in the State as a generously rewarded public duty and service, choosing their husbands freely and discerningly, and in no way enslaved or subordinated to the men they have chosen.” Wells supported advancements in birth control in a time where few were willing to talk about such ideas. This attitude to sexual relationships also extended into his personal life.
Wells's second wife, Amy Catherine "Jane" Wells
Personal life
Wells was married twice, and had four children. His first marriage, to his cousin, ended in divorce, as he had begun to have a relationship with one of his former students. While he had a deep romantic, and reciprocated, love for his second wife, he described her as “sexually incompatible” with what he desired. As a result, they developed what we in a modern context would call an open marriage; Wells had numerous sexual relationships with other women, with the approval of his wife. In deeply religious Victorian Britain, this was a very unorthodox lifestyle.
Some of Wells’ extramarital relationships included many famous women of the time, such as feminist scholar Amber Reeves, author Dorothy Richardson (which produced a son), and Planned Parent founder Margaret Sanger. Wells also had relationships with his former students, many of whom were several decades younger than him.
Famous Works
The Time Machine (1895)
An unnamed inventor builds a machine that allows him to travel through time. Interested in humanity’s future, he travels 800,000 into the future to discover that humanity has evolved down two diverging paths. The beautiful but infantile vegetarian Eloi who live in paradise, and the savage but intelligent meat eating Morlocks who live underground and are later revealed to be farming the Eloi for food. After freeing the Eloi from the Morlock’s control, the inventor travels millions of years into the future. Upon discovering that humanity has further devolved into a crab like creature amongst a toxic wasteland, the inventor travels back to his own time, and collects educational resources so that he can educate the future inhabitants of Earth to prevent the upcoming dystopia.
War of the Worlds (1898)
Several tripod spaceships from Mars arrive on Earth to exploit the natural resources of the planet. The Martians easily defeat any humans who attempt to approach them, using their superior technology such as heat rays and chemical weapons. While attempting to flee London, the unnamed narrator begins to curate several observations about the Martians. They can easily overpower any human weaponry, they are using human blood for nourishment, and planting their own seeds and flora on Earth for future harvesting. The narrator meets several people along their journey who try different methods to attack the Martians, generally to no avail. After their initial, seemingly unstoppable invasion of Earth, the Martians die after being exposed to Earthly viruses and pathogens, which their immune system was not prepared for.
Two film adaptations were released in 1953 and 2005 respectively. Both adaptations changed the setting from Victorian England to contemporary America. Both adaptations were critical and commercial successes.
The novel is frequently homaged in other films, such as the comedy Mars Attacks (1996), and the blockbuster Independence Day (1994).
A scientist named Griffin has created a chemical formula that makes anything invisible. After testing the formula on himself, Griffin becomes permanently invisible, needing to wrap himself in bandages and a coat so that others can see him. He tries to work in solitude at a local inn to reverse his condition, but the interrupting landlady, and the other creeped out customers at the inn frequently frustrate him. In a fit of madness and rage, he reveals his invisibility to terrified onlookers. Griffin decides that his invisibility could be used to his advantage, and so coerces a former colleague named Kemp to act as his minion for his upcoming reign of terror. Kemp attempts to resist, but Griffin cruelly tortures him. While attempting to strangle Kemp in a fit of rage, Griffin is captured and beaten to death by an enraged mob. As he dies, he becomes visible again.
Wells' Legacy
Many of Wells’ works have continued to be influential long after his death. Modern sci-fi storytelling tropes such as time travel, alien invasions, space travel, and biological transformation can be traced back to work written by Wells.
Because the vast majority of his works are in the public domain, the characters of his novels have gone on to appear in other works. For example:
Many of the characters appear in the comic book series The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and have been reimagined as a Victorian era Avengers/Justice League style team.
The Martians are featured in Sherlock Holmes’ War Of The Worlds, which retells War Of The Worlds from the viewpoint of Sherlock Holmes.
The inventor of the time machine appears in a sequel called The Time Ships, wherein the inventor travels through various timelines in the multiverse in order to change the future.
Wells himself has also been adapted into other works, many of them also sci-fi stories. For example:
He creates a time machine to chase Jack The Ripper in Time After Time (1979).
He is inspired to write after travelling with the sixth Doctor in the Doctor Who episode Timelash (1985).
He is revealed as a front for his sister Helena G. Wells, who was the real writer of the novels, in the television series Warehouse 13 (2009-2014).
While not all of Wells’ works, ideas, or worldviews have stood the test of time, his impact on the science fiction genre is impossible to deny.
If you enjoy the works of H. G. Wells, you would probably also enjoy the works of Jules Verne.