This year I resolved to read more classic science fiction and fantasy, hopefully making a dent in that stack of books I really should have read by now. Mostly because they should be good books, but also to be better informed about my genre and its history. I decided that this meant reading six science fiction and six fantasy books written before 1980 by authors that were completely new to me.
Since I feel weird saying I’m “reviewing” giants like H.G. Wells and T.H. White, let’s just say these will be my reactions to books that have shaped the science fiction and fantasy genres in one way or another.
Up this month is The Time Machine by H.G.Wells, first published in 1895.
The Time Machine (1895)
Written By: H.G. Wells
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 105 (Mass Market Paperback)
Publisher: Signet (2007 edition)
Why I Chose It: I’ve always wanted to read something by H.G. Wells and War of the Worlds didn’t really seem like my kind of thing. Maybe because I’m jut not that into alien invasions. Time travel is much more my speed.
The Premise:
At a Victorian dinner party in Richmond, London, the Time Traveler returns to tell his extraordinary tale of mankind’s future in the year 802,701 AD. It is a dystopian vision of Darwinian evolution, with humans split into an above-ground species of Eloi, and their troglodyte brothers.
Minor spoilers!
Discussion: I had a much harder time enjoying this book than 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, even if it took me a fraction of the time to read. Maybe the philosophy just went over my head, or maybe the adventure itself just didn’t click with me. Whatever the underlying reason, I did not relate well to the Time Traveler, the only name by which we know the main character. I found him condescending and way too superior for a man who lost his only means of getting home on the first night he was away. I mean, he describes the Eloi as being mindless and simple, yet they are not the ones who manage to misplace an entire time machine…
Still, it wasn’t really the way he treated the Eloi that bothered me. He saw them as children, and so he treated them like children. Condescending in the extreme, yes, but there’s at least something fairly noble in the instinct to protect those you see as inferior to yourself. No, the thing that really bothered me was the way the Time Traveler instantly jumped to conclusions about the Morlocks, the other half of humanity’s split evolution. Before he has any evidence of their predatory ways, he fears and despises them simply for the way they look and the fact that they’ve evolved underground. He instantly believes they’ve stolen his time machine, and it’s a good thing he was proved right because he literally pursued no other lead through the whole book. It never occurred to him to try to understand the Morlocks the same way he tried to understand the Eloi because they were ugly and weird and not worth the effort.
I was so put off by his attitude that I almost missed the bigger picture that Wells was trying to paint. I’m glad I ignored my gut reaction long enough to really think about what he was saying because it ended up being interesting. If I look at the book as an argument that challenge is the driving force of human intelligence and evolution, then I can see its merit. I loved the idea that, with all the world’s problems solved, we lose the drive and the curiosity that makes us human. It’s a chilling and compelling interpretation of humanity’s future, and it’s weird because it’s not a call to take care of the planet, or a call to hold onto our compassion. It’s not a call to do anything. Wells is just pointing out the inevitable conclusion to humanity’s tendency to fix problems. Eventually all the problems will be fixed. And after that we have only stagnation to look forward to. Without a call to action or morality, all this book left me with was a desperate hope that the world will never run out of problems to solve. An uncomfortable thing to wish for.
And maybe that helps illustrate my frustration with the characters. The theme is so subtle and invasive but doesn’t seem to fit with the very black and white portrayal of the Time Traveler’s future. Between the Eloi and the Morlocks, there is no gray. There is no nuance to this world. Humanity’s demise is defined by either helpless victim or mindless predator. I wanted more. I wanted some internal conflict over whether these two concepts of humanity were as absolute as they appeared. But I never got it.
In conclusion: Maybe the nuances went over my head. Or maybe I just don’t like the style of storytelling where a character’s speculations of what’s going on are treated as gospel because the author simply hasn’t given us any other options. I guess I want proof. I want to see what a character sees and come to my own conclusions. I don’t want answers handed to me with the assumption that they’re obvious and therefore irrefutable. It leaves me feeling restless and in this case like I missed something important.
Next up is A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a science fiction romance adventure. Who’s up for some early 20th century swashbuckling?
I actually loved this book, and the main character had nothing to do with it. I was absorbed by the pictures Wells painted of these different future settings, and I was especially surprised when the main character left the Eloi and Morlocks behind and went far, FAR into the future to the point that the sun was dying and giant crab-like creatures were cruising on the Earth’s surface. Every movie always focused solely on the Eloi and Morlocks (with the beautiful woman that the main character “gets” as the embodiment of the Eloi), which was why it came as such a surprise to me.
I think I loved it because I also have this kind of weird fascination with the end of the world type stuff. The stuff I know I’ll never be able to see. Which is also why I love Mad Max and other similar stories and their settings. It’s so outlandish and bizarre and when no people (or in this case, people as we know them) are still around, what the world does without us and how it changes.
That is what I ended up liking most about it, was that look into what the future might look like and it’s such a unique idea.
I saw the movie when it first came out (1960s) and that propelled me to read the book in high school. I remember liking it but so much of my impression was colored by the movie. The book however, is very much a product of its time and the patronizing attitude toward the Eloi typical of Victorian treatment of colonized peoples. It was also written very early in the history of science fiction when sf concepts dominated character development. (I’m trying to imagine a Jane Austen time travel novel…)
I’ll be interested in your reaction to PRINCESS OF MARS since ERB was my first “favorite author” and I read so many of his novels in high school and just now am rereading some of his work (the Venus series) after 50 years.
I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard some great things.
I read this after seeing the not-so-great-but-still-interesting movie adaptation starring Guy Pearce. I liked the movie well-enough to want to seek out H.G. Wells’ fiction, and all I remember I made it through The Time Machine okay (maybe because I saw the movie, which also took some liberties with the story), but got really stuck on War of the Worlds, which I totally thought would be my jam.
One of the hardest things when reading classic, for me as a reader, is getting used to the writing style (and developing a taste for it or no). I usually bounce pretty hard off of classics, but that said, if you ever get around to reading Alfred Bester (The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man), I’d love to hear your thoughts. I really, really enjoyed his work.
I really try to read classics with an eye for the historical context of the work, but I felt like I had a really hard time with that in this one. 20,000 Leagues was easier for me to digest even though it’s older.
Sounds like a writing style issue, perhaps?