Please realize that opening this thread does not mean that we must bring to an end the discussion of July's excellent selection "Things Fall Apart", but just to offer a tentative reading schedule and see if this is alright with you all.

Aug. 3-9......Chapters 1-4
Aug. 10-16....Chapters 5-8
Aug.17-23.....Chapters 9-12
Aug.24-31.....Chapters 13-16

This divides the 16 chapters up into four chapters a week.

Written by English novelist, historian, and scientific writer H. G. (Herbert George) Wells (1866-1946). "The Time Machine" was first published in 1895. It has been called the first "scientific thriller" in the English language and has never been out of print.

For those who don't have a copy, there is an online version:

The Time Macine at Bartleby.com

If you find a more readable one, let me know.

Okay--the names all state professions, etc. such as the Psychologist, and whatnot. So what is Filby?

Other than being a rather common English surname, I don't know what a 'Filby' might be. Neither does Google. (*grin*)

Well, thanks for trying. I was thinking he might be sticking to the allegorical names with Filby, and that it was something...but it could be he is just using the name to say "A regular Joe."

Your question has been racking my brains. I've searched everywhere and can find no definitive answer. I wonder if it is slang for a person from that region (I found out there is a Filby, Northfolk, UK) or could it be slang for sometime of club member. I will continue searching and hope someone comes up with an answer as well.

Like the others I've searched and as a final resort gone to the Full Oxford English Dictionary, there isn't an entry for either Filby or Philby or anything like it. Have to assume it's just a name for the character.

I even looked in here , which is a wonderfully comprehensive list: Occupations
No Luck.

I just want to ask a "newbie" question here, since this is the first of these Book of the Month threads I've participated in. Is this just a free-for-all discussion, or are we supposed to stick to some sort of critical approach, or what? (I had a Lit class once about "Critical Approaches to Literature" that's scarred me for life, lol!) Also, how are the books chosen? I decided to check this one out just because I've always loved SF, and have always MEANT to read 'The Time Machine' but never had.

And Skylarb, thanks SO much for the link to Bartelby!

Hi MsBatt, a free-for-all just about sums it up quite well, more or less anything and everything goes in these discussions, we just bounce ideas off each other. It always fascinates me that we can all read exactly the same words and yet each of us interprets them so very differently. Apart from the actual book content, we tend to venture out into the background and history and the life and times of the author when relevant.

Recently we have implemented a discussion schedule for each thread so that each of us know we will not come across spoilers before we have read each section.

Here is a list of threads on the past several book selections, and if you have the time to read some through it will give you a much better idea.

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck

"Adam Bede" by George Eliot

"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

All of our book discussions are open ended, so if there is a particular aspect of any of the books you'd like to comment on, or another element of discussion that you'd like to raise, then just dive right in.

The forthcoming book selections are:

September - "Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales" by Edgar Allan Poe

October - "Don Quixote de la Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes

Welcome!!

Here's a possibility. Digging a bit I found that HG Wells was a member of a left wing society called the Fabiens. Filby seems to be the skeptic argumentative sort as described in the book. Perhaps he represents the right-wing way of thinking to provide a counter-balance to the Time Traveller. Or I'm just going crazy finding the answer.

Sebastaincat, If this helps, in the wonderful Rod Taylor movie "The Time Machine", Filby was a close, personal friend of the Time Traveler. I think that Filby might just be, in the book, a kind of "every man" character? It's amazing how watching a movie, especially when we are very young, can influence the way we think of the book, isn't it? While reading the book, I "see" the Time Traveler as Rod Taylor and the time machine as the marvelous film vehicle that looked sort like an airboat.

Possible spoilers-for chapters 1-4

One reason I am so glad that we are reading "The Time Machine" is that since watching the movie, I have been fascinated with time travel. Imagine being able to personally watch any or all the great events of history--or just going back and meeting your parents when they were growing up. I find it particularly interesting that HG Wells" Time Traveler has come up with the same basic idea of time travel that modern theorectical physicists like Stephen Hawking and Richard Gott, who say time is another dimension and to get there, we need a vehicle that can reach this dimension in. Wells is writing 100 years before Black Holes and traveling in loops of time through wormholes was thought about --but it seems like the same principle.don't you think?

The story begins with after dinner discussion at the Time Traveler's house. I take it that these dinners are a prelude to the Time Traveler's discussing, with his acquaintances, his latest invention or theory? When the Time Traveler makes his miniature time machine disappear right in front of their eyes, he is meet with a healthy dose of skepticism, because he is so very intelligent that he could easily pull-off such a hoax. Then, the Time Traveler shows them a full-size model, but this doesn't really prove anything, does it?

When the friends meet again at the Time Traveler's house, he is late--and when he comes in, his appearance shocks his friends. After he cleans ups and composes himself, he agrees to tell his story. But as his friends were saying before he entered the dining room, his condition doesn't prove he's been traveling in time.

When the Time Traveler's story begins...the question the first four chpters raised in my mind is: Did the traveller ever leave his house? Is he a brillant man, far adavanced in his thinking for the age, or is he just suffering from a delusion brought on by working so long and being so obessed with his dream? Hopefully, the question will be resolved further on.

Also, I am finding this such an easy book to read. Wells' style seems crisper than many authors that wrote in the Victorian era. It doesn't seemed in any way dated.

Well, these are just my thoughts--what are yours?

And, to all those joining us for the first time, a Big Welcome!! I hope you are enjoying reading "The Time Machine". I don't think there is ever any wrong to say. We all are just careful to warn of possible spoilers, is all.

I think Filby is the everyman character--and the fact that it is a common English surname would seem to support that. But, sebastiancat, the "everyman" would tend to be practical and skeptical and unlikely to vere into left wing thinking, so that fits with your theory as well. Leftist academics do at times tend to possess some degree of condecion for the common man, so Filby could be just that--the stereotype of the common man at which Wells is laughing just a little bit. I don't think Filby has the same role in the book as the movie, but I have not made it past chapter two, and I have not seen the movie, so of course...I don't know.

Sorry to distract us on such a small point, but I really wondered, since all of the other characters were so obvious.

Years ago, I saw the Rod Taylor movie, and recently I've seen the remake. Just from what I've read of this book so far (and based in part from my knowledge of much of Wells' other works), I suspect Wells' version will turn out to be different from either movie version.

The movie I can't put out of my mind while reading this is "Time After Time" starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenbergen. It came out about, oh, twenty years ago (how time does fly!) and intertwines the story of H.G. Wells himself, a time machine, and Jack the Ripper.

I'm not going to say anything else just yet, because I read at least a chapter farther than I was supposed to---I just got caught up and forgot to stop. (*grin*)

Oh, in reply to whomever said something about Wells' prose being crisper than one would expect from a Victorian (I can't seem to look back at but one post, darn it!)---I think that might be due to the fact that Wells is writing science fiction and making a conscious effort to be more 'futuristic' in his prose.

It's also interesting to note that in the SF genra, one still often comes across stories written in the quasi-Victorian style of Wells and Jules Verne.

I really am shutting up this time.

And here I was hoping Filby would be some major secret. I'm glad that we got to the bottom of that, and it was certainly an appropriate and thought-provoking question.

I'm coming into this book having never seen the Rod Taylor movie, the newer one or having read this book before. The only preconceived idea I have, was I thought the Time Machine was one man's attempt to re-do a moment in the past. I have only read the first four chapters so I'm not sure if this plays out later. Sc-fi is generally not the genre I read from frequently, so it is a real treat for me. Having finished the first four chapters today I'm finding the book very easy to read--not in the sense it was dumbed down. As others have mentioned, the author writes with tremendous clarity and with knowledge behind him.

I found myself pondering the gathering of characters he has with him as he shows them the time machine and relates his story. I can certainly understand the wanting of a psychiatrist to prove he is sane, a medical man, a journalist and the like, but am trying to figure out how Silent Man, and Young Man fit in. Why are they there other than being possible friends? Than I thought of the type of persons I would want at such an auspicious occasion. In addition to some of the learned men the Traveller had, I would have included a photographer to capture a few images as well.

LindaC--with your inspiration I will certainly have to rent the movie sometime this month to seehow it measures up to the book. I'm fascinated with the traveller's choice of going to the future. Why the future, especially a far distant future? It was interesting to see how the Traveller assumed what the future had eventually become based on the type of persons he knew of from contemporary times. And he had to really wonder before he went off and explored just what he had gotten himself into. At least the past you have some record of, and know to some degree what you are getting yourself into. The future could be anything. I tried to really put myself in his shoes and wonder if I would have left the time machine after the first person approached me or if I would have quickly pushed the levers back. If I had the ability to time travel I would love to be a speck on the wall in past historical moments. So I pose the question; if you could travel in time, what time era would you travel to and why?

Like sebastiancat, I've neither read the book nor seen the screen version. Science fiction isn't really a genre that I've read very often either, so this will be interesting for me.

Quote:

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I pose the question; if you could travel in time, what time era would you travel to and why?

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There have been so many characters in history who were years ahead of their time, Leonardo da Vinci for example, has always fascinated me. What an incredible mind that man had, I would love to be able to go back and watch him at work.

I started reading the book online late last evening, (thanks skylarb), and found that after a relatively short time I had reached this week's stopping point. As this is such a very short book, do we really need to spread the chapters out over four weeks? I'm sure that most of us could read right through in a couple of hours, so maybe we could adapt the reading timetable to allow greater scope for discussion.

What say the rest of you?

I'm certainly okay with speeding up the timetable on reading the whole book---I had to make myself stop reading because I didn't want to get ahead and get out of sync with the discussion, but I could have finished it easily in a couple of hours. I will, however, go with whatever the majority decides.

I think the reason the traveler chose to go to the far-distant future is A) it makes a better story (*grin*), and B) Wells himself was fascinated with the far future and social evolution. Much of his other work deals with questions about how we will continue to evolve, both socially and physically.. Given a choice, I think I too would prefer to visit the future, but I don't think I'd want to go so far into the future, at least not all at once. A century or two at a time, thank you!

I have no objection to izzi's suggestion: in fact, I finished the book this morning. But I realize that this is a very busy time of year for some people (school holidays, etc), so if people want to stick to the original timetable, please shout!

Quote:

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I found myself pondering the gathering of characters he has with him as he shows them the time machine and relates his story. I can certainly understand the wanting of a psychiatrist to prove he is sane, a medical man, a journalist and the like, but am trying to figure out how Silent Man, and Young Man fit in. Why are they there other than being possible friends? Than I thought of the type of persons I would want at such an auspicious occasion. In addition to some of the learned men the Traveller had, I would have included a photographer to capture a few images as well.

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I'm coming to the conclusion that these characters are not meant to be particular types, but just a more or less arbitrary selection of contemporary society. Wells wants to anchor the Time Traveller's story in his own present because in due course comparisons will be drawn between that present and the remote future into which the Traveller goes. So we're given a number of pretty ordinary specimens of educated middle-class Victorians. Filby is indeed presented as an argumentative type, but in general the others don't seem to me to display any marked traits of character. They just represent collectively (I think) the human beings at the top of the pile in the late nineteenth century, at their current stage of evolution. I must admit, though, that it's very puzzling why Filby alone is given a name, especially as the Medical Man and the Psychologist (who are present at both the initial dinners), may well more closely acquainted with the narrator and the Traveller.

Quote:

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I'm fascinated with the traveller's choice of going to the future. Why the future, especially a far distant future? .... At least the past you have some record of, and know to some degree what you are getting yourself into .... If I had the ability to time travel I would love to be a speck on the wall in past historical moments. So I pose the question; if you could travel in time, what time era would you travel to and why?

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Interestingly, in so far as they take the prospect seriously at all, the Traveller's guests also favour the past. I think I would, too. As you say, sebastiancat, we've got some knowledge of the past. And although (like the Psychologist and the Very Young Man) we may not know exactly what happened at the Battle of Hastings or how classical Greek sounded, we'd have the advantage (like Mark Twain's Yankee at King Arthur's court) of knowledge and skills gained since then. The future is a far more disturbing prospect, because (just by looking back at previous forecasts of what life would be like now), we can see how wrong our expectations of it are likely to be.

For my part, I think I'd favour England in the first half of the eighteemnth century, so long a I could be assured of modest comfort and good health.

I read "The Time Machine" straight through over the weekend, so I am all for speeding up the reading, too. When I started "The Time Machine, I found it very easy and quick to read. I think it just starts getting interesting from Chapter 4 on-when the time traveler really gets into his story.

When I wondering where I would go if I had a time machine, it just never came to me to travel forard in time, either. I was thinking about going back and witnessing exciting events in history or maybe great Bibical events like listening to Christ telling the Sermon on the Mount. I guess I just don't have the stuff to go "where no one has gone before" into the uncertainity of the future.

Argg...I lost my book. Somewhere between when I left the office for lunch and when I arrived, it disapeared, and I don't recall it happening. I only noticed when I sat down.

I'm not sure if I'll get in on this one, unless I trek to the library...I'm not much for reading books online. But, maybe I'll pop back in the last week when I've secured a copy and read it.

As for the when/where you would go if you could time travel question, well, as long as I don't have to live for a long period of time in the past, I'd want to go back to the three years when Christ was alive and preaching and be able to listen to his teaching and ask questions like--"Do you really mean that? Is that what it sounds like--come on, you don't really mean THAT, do you?" And then he could be satirical with me like he was with the Phairisees.

But, barring that one past time period, I would much rather go to the future. Of course, that's more of a gamble--less of a known quanitity--but more of a curiosity.

I am certainly all for plowing ahead. I went past chapter 4 today and kept going.

With the idea of time travel I have discovered my cowardice. Not only would I have to be able to travel in time, but become invisible so as to not attract attention. I want to be an observer to some historical events, and if i could guarantee my safety the future looks bright as well.

The traveller certainly has no hesitancy in travelling and being a participant in new worlds. It seems courageous, but it's probably much more curiosity that drives him forward.

I'm here for the duration TabbyTom, but I wonder what the reaction to my choice would be - Biography and/or Historical -
A recent one I'd recommend to anyone is "The Map That Changed The World" (Subtitle is William Smith and the Birth of Science) it sounds very droll and boring but it's a facinating insight into the thinking of the period.
And I think that's the period I'd time travel back to knowing what I do now and agreed being in a financially comfortable position - the book does describe in some detail the plight of the less well off. Time travel forward, just enough to see my great-great-grandchildren (if there are any!)(and to hear what they say about me

I found my book!

I'm through Chapter 4, but I think this one will be slow going for me. I find the story interesting, but Well's prose style for some reason doesn't interest me. I do want to find out what happens though, so I will be pressing through. Please, go ahead and speed up the discussion schedule, since mose people seem already to be finished--I can always just wait to read and respond to the posts until after I have finished the book.