The scientific novel of H.G. Wells

The technique and importance of the scientific novels and short stories of H. G. Wells are considered in this thesis. The first chapter is concerned chiefly with Mr. H. G. Wells and his backgrounds. His parentage, his home training, his formal education, his early bent toward science and literary creation, his first literary creations, and his subsequent development are discussed in some detail. The second chapter is concerned chiefly with the scientific novels themselves. They are discussed in the chronological order of their production. No attempt is made in the second chapter at a final analysis of the novels; the outstanding characteristics of each novel are pointed out. A few representative short stories containing various scientific elements are discussed. The third chapter is concerned chiefly with an analysis of Mr. Wells' technique in the construction of his scientific novels. Scientific elements are pointed out; parallelism and similarity of ideas in the novels are discussed; Wells' motivation and his methods for securing belief in his strange machines and postulated futures are discussed. Such minor elements as Wells' humor, the love element, and conceptions of time and space in the novels are discussed. The third chapter includes full and frequent illustrations from the text of the novels. The fourth chapter is concerned chiefly with the growth of Wells' social theories as illustrated in the scientific novels, and with their permanent literary value. The development of the scientific novel into the sociological novel is traced from the beginnings of sociological speculation in The Time Machine to the final adumbration of the scientific romance as in In the Days of the Comet. An attempt is made to evaluate the contribution of Wells' scientific novels to permanent literature.Master of Art