“Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life.”
I feel embarrassed that it took me to 2019 to read HG Wells' The Time Machine.
This year, I'm trying to read more sci-fi and dystopian stories, and this fits into the former. Well, and the latter too...
Essentially, the "Time Traveller" invites his friends over to discuss his theories on time travel. But the next day, he stumbles in late, and tells them all of his adventures traveling ahead in time. He journeys ahead to a world in which mankind has evolved (or perhaps devolved) into two distinct races: the Eloi and the Morlocks. Wells uses these groups to explore duality of humanity, but also make comments on society and social classes. He also witnesses a slowly dying Earth...
It's an exciting adventure story, but also the root for so much science fiction that has followed.
I haven't read a classic in a while, and it was comforting for me to delve back into one. I like the writing style, and Wells' descriptions are thoughtful. It is the original time travel story, and I like that it just moved forward; no dealing with alternate realities, no risk of messing up the time continuum, no question of killing Hitler or stopping war or winning sporting bets. Instead, it is all a question of what happens to the world we live in, if we don't change.
And, since it was first published in 1895, that is both an interesting question, and a concerning one.
Regardless, I liked this story, and recommend it.
Have you read much historical science fiction? I find it interesting to read the roots of these genres... Any to recommend?
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