„The Brothers – A Story.” Herbert George Wells was a prolific English writer who wrote in a variety of genres, including the novel, politics, history, and social commentary. Wells returned to a literary genre in which he had always excelled: the satire written in the form of an allegory. In a land torn apart by civil war, Bolaris was fiercely loyal to the Strong Men. So when Number Four informed him that Ratzel, leader of the enemy, had been captured, it was naturally a cau...

This story was the first work of fiction in which an explorer traverses time through the use of a man-made device – a time machine – rather than through magic, divine intervention, or a natural phenomenon such as sleep. HG Wells’s „The Chronic Argonauts”, written seven years before his much more famous time travel work, „The Time Machine”. The mysterious Dr. Moses Nebogipfel arrives in a small Welsh town in 1887. The apprehensions of the simple rural folk eventually cause t...

Wells’s treatise on education is set in the region of Camford (Cambridge/Oxford), and tells of a visitor who proves that education can save the world from destruction. The story centres around a Utopian ’ventriloquist’ who subjects human life and in particular its treatment by the University of Camford to sympathetic but quite unsparing scrutiny. At its core, it was a warning to the educational world of imminent war and of its lack of action, as well as an exploration of th...

„The Bulpington of Blup”, a 1932 novel by H. G. Wells, is a character study analyzing the psychological sources of resistance to Wellsian ideology, and was influenced by Wells’s acquaintance with Carl Gustav Jung and his ideas. Theodore Bulpington is a very ordinary man – with a very vivid imagination. Ill at ease with himself, he sees a way to recreate his identity by adding layer upon layer of deception. This he does with such panache that eventually he becomes an imposto...

A soul-corrupting evil invades the remote English village of Cainsmarsh, infesting the minds of the local residents. Dark events are plaguing its people. An elderly woman stiffens in dread at her own shadow; a terrified farmer murders a scarecrow; food prepared by others is eyed with suspicion; family pets are bludgeoned to death; loving couples are devoured by rage and violence. People are becoming suspicious of every move each other makes. Children are coming to school wi...

„The Dream” by H.G Wells follows the character, Sarnac, who lives a whole other life as Harry Mortimer Smith. Sarnac is at the height of his career as a scientist by discovering new research. Sarnac goes with his friends including his girlfriend, Sunray to escape for the holidays. Little does Sarnac know that he would be dreaming a whole new life as a different person. His dream world is peculiar rules and what is socially acceptable than reality. The roles of each member i...

Mr. Parham is a university academic of the traditional, classical sort, very much a snob and unhappy with many of the social trends of the time. Sir Bussy Woodcock is a self-made millionaire of sharp intelligence and great energy but lowly beginnings and no cultural education. This unlikely pair meet by chance and form an intermittent relationship. In an attempt to foster this acquaintance that goes on for six years, Mr. Parham finds himself involved in séances that summon ...

The story centers on Joseph Davis, a popular writer of romanticized histories, who comes to believe that some people differ fundamentally from most of us. They are more rational, possibly more talented and intelligent. His wife has increasingly become a stranger, the imminent birth of his first child has left him in a panicked state, and his rosy-tinted histories have lately begun to strike him as so much bosh. And then he overhears a conversation at his Planetarium Club, i...

This story is essentially the history of the opening and of the realisation of the Great War as it happened to one small group of people in Essex, and more particularly as it happened to one human brain. „Mr. Britling Sees It Through” begins with a lighthearted account of an American visiting England for the first time, but the outbreak of war changes everything. Day by day and month by month, Wells chronicles the unfolding events and public reaction as witnessed by the inh...

Towards the end of his career, Wells write this book, in which he outlined his vision of Utopia. This is the story of a Mr. Barnstaple, an everyday man, who finds himself propelled into a parallel universe with a group of famous politicians, aristocrats, and their chauffeurs. The world they find themselves in has abolished all disease, and everyone only works at what takes their fancy. The inhabitants of this world speak telepathically, and recognise that the Earth is curre...

Often called the father of science fiction, British author Herbert George Wells literary works are notable for being some of the first titles of the science fiction genre. „Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island” is a 1928 novel by H. G. Wells. It tells the story of a young Englishman Arnold Blettsworthy who, after being betrayed by a business partner, is advised to go travelling in an attempt to recover from his severe disillusionment. During the voyage the ship is wrecked and...

This novel is split into two parts, „The Utopographer in the Garden” and „Advent”. The former is set on the Italian Riviera where the novel’s central figures, a British couple, The Rylands, entertain guests. The latter, written largely in the form of letters between the couple during the husband’s trip to London, provides commentary on British political landscape of the 1920’s. A pretty good book, detailed discussions on Socialism, Communism, Utopia and so on. This novel wa...

„Marriage” is a surprising story about relationships and people by science fiction legend, H.G. Wells. It features two protagonists: Marjorie Pope, the oldest daughter of a carriage manufacturer whose business has been ruined by the advent of the automobile, and R. A. G. Trafford, a physicist specializing in crystallography whom she marries against the wishes of her family at the age of 21. The novel traces the history of their relationship, which begins when an early airpl...

Mr. Lewisham is an ambitious young teacher who has grand plans for his future. Indeed he has written up a Plan or Schema as he calls it and has committed himself to daily study to improve himself. We follow him as he moves to London and becomes a student. He also gets married and the later part of the novel is about how his naive beliefs about himself and the world survive this transition. „Love and Mr. Lewisham” is the story of a young man who seeks to better himself and a...

Arthur Kipps, an orphaned draper’s assistant of humble means, unexpectedly inherits a large sum of money and that is when all his troubles begin. After being left a fortune by a rich uncle, Kipps finds himself in a position to marry Helen Walshingham. His main problem is that he is uneducated, knowing next to nothing of the world of books or the manners of the society he aspires to join. Helen, together with Kipps’s mentor Chester Coote, set about the task of making him a g...

„In the Days of the Comet” is set in early 20th century England and covers Willie, a socialist who is angry and frustrated with everything to do with the world he lives in. The only thing Willie finds beautiful and tranquil is the love of his life, Nettie. The story follows Willie and his lust for Nettie as he finds himself perplexed by what the love of his life decides to do. The comet is referred back to quite often and eventually, when it hits, it brings some sort of cle...

Wells’s satire on literature, „Boon” was originally published under the pseudonym Reginald Bliss; a follow-up to the Fabian-savaging „The New Machiavelli”. It purports, however, to be by the fictional character Reginald Bliss, and for some time after publication Wells denied authorship. „Boon” is best known for its part in Wells’s debate on the nature of literature with Henry James, who is caricatured in the book. But in „Boon” Wells also mocks himself, calling into questio...

The book starts in late Victorian England and ends shortly after the first world war. It covers the transition between the end of the Victorian era, and the aimlessness of the next generation very well. The main characters grow up with the best education that can be found in England at the time, which is freely admitted to be not very good. They grow up and deal with love, decadence and the reality of war in a very meaningful way. Beautiful and brilliant this remarkable nov...

A charming tale of a young recalcitrant boy’s wanderings through England. Full of humour. It is a light tale, and one of Wells’ that holds up the best. Though young Bealby is determined to rise above his mother’s servant status, no amount of struggle helps him to prevail. He reluctantly leaves his home for Shonts, a big country house, to work as a steward’s boy. But a fateful weekend visit by distinguished personages, including the strange yet captivating Lord Chancellor, m...

Stella has it all – looks, intelligence and an undergraduate place at Cambridge, not to mention Gemini, her fervent admirer at Oxford. Stella and Gemini, the two babes of the story, come increasingly under the influence of a rather impressive psycho-therapeutist whose groundbreaking theories capture their imaginations. But when tragedy strikes they are soon to learn that intellectualism brings cold comfort. When James is disowned by his wrathful relatives, he goes to Russia...

Short story told as an allegory set in the future, in form of narrative, with some trenchant remarks on the current situation, and a brilliant introduction to which the balance fails to measure up. Dialogs between God and Mr. Noah Lammock planning a new Ark in which the best of mankind may be rescued from the new flood of war and horror. Wells-Lammock querying of Biblical history is irreverent but amusing, but the plans which follow, for the Аrk and its voyaging, bog down c...

First published in 1909, it focuses on feminist issues from the point of view of a young woman entering adulthood and enduring prejudice about her place in the world. And this novel, „Ann Veronica”, tells the story of a middle class young woman who is fed up of being expected to be purely decorative. Her father and her boyfriends really are incapable of understanding why she should want to study science, or control her own life in any way. One Wednesday, Ann Veronica Stanle...

H.G Wells wrote many tales of adventure and exploration, which were fascinating to early twentieth century readers as transportation to faraway lands was so difficult back then. Wells’ „Modern Utopia” was first published in 1905. It set the scene for many modern, scientific utopias and dystopias. The story is set on a planet very like earth. The Utopian Planet differs from earth in that the inhabitants have created a perfect society. Two men, the narrator and his colleague ...

„Wytrwać w tej pracy pomagało mi przeświadczenie, że mój trud może być przydatny dla innych osób, które pragną się poświęcić pisarstwu”. - ze Wstępu. Opowiadania zebrane Franka Herberta to pierwsze w naszym kraju tak obszerne wydanie krótkich form prozatorskich autora Diuny. Zgromadzone w dwóch tomach utwory – aż czterdzieści! – są, można śmiało powiedzieć, bezcenne. To właściwie przekrój zainteresowań pisarza, które znalazły później odzwierciedlenie w jego najwybitniejs...