H G Wells :: Biography

Herbert George Wells English author and political philosopher, most storied for his science-fantasy novels with their prophetic tryions of the triumphs of technology as well as the horrors of 20th-century warf atomic number 18. Wells was born September 21, 1866, in Bromley, Kent, and educated at the Normal School of Science in London, to which he won a scholarship. He worked as a drapers apprentice, bookkeeper, tutor, and journalist until 1895, when he became a full- time writer. Wellss 10-year relationship with Rebecca West produced a son, Anthony West, in 1914. In the next 50 years he produced more than 80 books. His novel The Time Machine mingled science, adventure, and political com handst. Later works in this genre are The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, and The Shape of Things to Come each of these fantasies was made into a motion picture. Wells also wrote novels devoted to character delineation. Among these are Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly, which depict members of the lower middle class and their aspirations. Both recall the world of Wellss youth the first tells the story of a struggling teacher, the second portrays a drapers assistant. Many of Wellss some other books can be categorized as thesis novels. Among these are Ann Veronica, promoting womens rights Tono-Bungay, attacking irresponsible capitalists and Mr. Britling Sees It Through, depicting the average Englishmans reaction to war. After World War I Wells wrote an immensely popular historical work, The Outline of History. Throughout his long life Wells was deeply concerned with and wrote voluminously about the survival of contemporary society. For a time he was a member of the Fabian Society. He envisioned a utopia in which the vast and frightening material forces available to modern men and women would be rationally controlled for progress and for the equal good of all.