H G Wells :: Biography

Herbert George Wells English author and political philosopher, most famous for his science-fantasy novels with their prophetic depictions of the triumphs of technology as well as the horrors of 20th-century warfare. 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 draper's apprentice, bookkeeper, tutor, and journalist until 1895, when he became a full- time writer. Wells's 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 comment. 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 m iddle class and their aspirations. Both recall the world of Wells's youth; the first tells the story of a struggling teacher, the second portrays a draper's assistant. Many of Wells's other books can be categorized as thesis novels. Among these are Ann Veronica, promoting women's rights; Tono-Bungay, attacking irresponsible capitalists; and Mr. Britling Sees It Through, depicting the average Englishman's 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.