Build up Real Time Machine

This article is about the novel by H.G. Wells. For other uses, see The Time Machine (disambiguation).

The Time Machine

First edition cover

Author(s) H. G. Wells

Cover artist Ben Hardy

Country United Kingdom

Language English

Genre(s) Science fiction novel

Publisher William Heinemann

Publication date 1895

Media type Print (hardback and paperback)

ISBN NA

The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in many media. This 32,000 word story is generally credited with the popularisation of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. Wells also introduced the idea of time being the "fourth dimension", as well as an early example of the Dying Earth subgenre.

History

Wells had considered the notion of time travel before, in an earlier work titled The Chronic Argonauts. He had thought of using some of this material in a series of articles in the Pall Mall Gazette, until the publisher asked him if he could instead write a serial novel on the same theme; Wells readily agreed, and was paid £100 (equal to about £9,000 today) on its publication by Heinemann in 1895. The story was first published in serial form in the January to May numbers of William Ernest Henley's new venture New Review.[1] The first book edition (possibly prepared from a different manuscript)[2] was published in New York by Henry Holt and Company on 7 May 1895; an English edition was published by Heinemann on 29 May.[1] These two editions are different textually, and are commonly referred to as the "Holt text" and "Heinemann text" respectively. Nearly all modern reprints reproduce the Heinemann text.

The story reflects Wells's own socialist political views, his view on life and abundance, and the contemporary angst about industrial relations. It is also influenced by Ray Lankester's theories about social degeneration.[3] Other science fiction works of the period, including Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and the later Metropolis, dealt with similar themes.