This book explores the relationship between H.G. Wells's scientific romances and the discourses of science in the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century. It investigates how Wells utilizes his early fiction to participate in a range of topical scientific disputes and, increasingly, as a means to instigate social reform.
Contents Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: MISADVENTURES IN A POST-DARWINIAN UNIVERSE Heart of Darkness: The Time Machine and Retrogression 'An Infernally Rum Place': The Island of Doctor Moreau and Degeneration PART II: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY Science Behind the Blinds: Scientist and Society in The Invisible Man The Descent of Mars: Evolution and Ethics in The War of the Worlds PART III: TOWARDS THE SHAPING OF HUMANITY 'Science is a Match that Man has Just Got Alight': Science and Social Organisation in The First Men in the Moon The Limits of a Sociological Holiday: Social Progress in A Modern Utopia Conclusion Bibliography Index
