I have that War of the Worlds broadcast on record at home.

Since Wells is a sci-fi author, I see no reason to doubt that his character has traveled through time; he isn't giving us some penetrating psychological portrait of a deranged man who thinks he's traveled through time.

I could actually give a capitalist reading of the Eloi and Morlocks though. I'm always seeing Marxist readings of literature (whether apropos or not), but I've never seen anyone flip the analysis. So, just for kicks, here's the capitalist reading: The long-term consequence of socialism is that as more and more wealth is redistributed, there is less and less incentive to work; thus, the number of rich people will diminish, and the number of poor people will increase. Here we see the Eloi have given up creativity and production; they do not have art or literature; thier buildingsare in decay; they have no incentive to produce; their numbers are now extremely small, and the Morlocks, who grossly outnumber them, quite literally continue to feed off of them (as the poor figuratively feed off of the rich when wealth is redistributed); eventually, we can guess, there will be nothing left of the Eloi.

But, fun exercises aside, I'm pretty sure Wells, given his background, intended a socialist message here. I agree he is using his future world as an allegory for his own philosophy; not necessarily what he saw in his own day, but rather what he saw it inevitably degenerating into, as the classes drifted farther and farther apart; I assume he thought socialism could hold back that drift rather than increase it. However, I've still got a few chapters to go, and it seems the Traveler himself is regularly revising his readings of the culture.

The Time Machine is a book which I would never have considered reading if it weren't for this book club, but I've been pleasantly surprised by its content. The genre of sci-fi still doesn't appeal to me, but Wells writes with a strong social conscience, and that's an aspect I enjoy stumbling across in any book I read.

Apparently, he also foretold several of man's subsequent inventions in some of his works, often warning of the potential folly of their misuse. I really don't know Wells' work well enough to cite specifics here, never having read anything else by this author, but perhaps someone could elaborate further.

As some have said, he seemed to have been strongly motivated by the injustices of the social structure of his era, even referring to the evolved species early on in this book as the "haves and have-nots".

I had wondered if there was some logical significance behind the naming of the Eloi and the Morlocks, and Google turned up the following possibility in this article, referring to a fairly recent new publication of The Time Machine:

Nicholas Ruddick, ed. The Time Machine. By H. G. Wells. Peterborough, ON & Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 2001. ISBN# 1-55111-305-8.

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>>>"In this edition of Wells' tale, the notes are more than helpful --- both for facts as well as suggesting influences, poetics, style. These are, for example, Ruddick's thoughts on Wells' choice of the name for the subterranean denizens of the future, Morlocks --- which combines allusions to

"mullock" (garbage, low-class human trash),
"warlock" (evil spirit, male witch,
"Moloch" (god of Ammonites to whom children were sacrificed, viewed as a devil by Christianity...
"Mohock" (an eighteenth-century London ruffian),
"more" or more (means "death" in French) and "locks (suggesting both imprisonment and hairiness.)

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Make of that what you will...interesting eh?

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skylarb wrote:
Here we see the Eloi have given up creativity and production; they do not have art or literature; thier buildingsare in decay; they have no incentive to produce; their numbers are now extremely small, and the Morlocks, who grossly outnumber them, quite literally continue to feed off of them (as the poor figuratively feed off of the rich when wealth is redistributed); eventually, we can guess, there will be nothing left of the Eloi.

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So...when there are no Eloi left...what then does the future hold for the Morlocks?

Thanks for the information regarding the radio broadcast Linda, the story has obviously been exagerated over the years.

I concur with izzi. Sci-fi/ fantasy is a genre I have made an occasional foray into, but never really enjoyed. Fantasy I've started to appreciate a bit, but sci-fi...well it's been a bit of a struggle.

I do think that this was a great choice, as it certainly got me to read a book I would normally not have chosen. And it is thought provoking. I've wondered what if the author had been a woman--would the scenario have been different?

As I was reading through the text I had the fleeting notion that the outcome would prove to be that the time traveller had mistakenly gone into our dim and distant past and not the future as he had at first thought. That we didn't actually evolve into the Eloi and the Morlocks, but from them. After all, the Eloi couldn't read or write and their language was basic to say the least, made up of only a few squeals.

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As for the Eloi, the editor of my Everyman paperback mentions the words of Jesus on the cross, as reported by St Mark, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?", i.e. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

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That sounds distinctly feasible, Tom!

I think the time traveler has actually gone forward in time, and that the two races that he sees and describes, are all that is left of humans. He talks about going on until time seems to be coming to an end. I wonder if he's saying that, at the last, it's like the beginning, the sea and rudimentary life is all there is.

His location stays the same, doesn't it? The time traveler is in now in the exact location he started in London, but thousands of years in the future? It seems to me that his natural curiousity would make him wonder what was going on in other parts of the world, too? If there was other civilizations left elsewhere?

Of course, Wells' wHole point, I think, of the novel, is to say that this is what happens in a world where there is no incentative and the "have nots" turn the tables on the "haves".

I am not a sci-fi fan myself, except for Wells and Jules Verne. But I never actually thought of as "The Time Machine" as true sci-fi, because I think Wells did write it as more a format for his social views.

If Wells and Verne are pretty much the only SF authors you're read, then you haven't really read any SF! Heck, the term 'science fiction" wasn't even coined until after Verne was dead. (Hugo Gernsback, mid-1920's)

I wouldn't say "most", but a lot of SF IS written as a platform for the author's social views---"Brave New World", "1984", "Animal Farm", and even "Stranger in a Strange Land" spring immediately to mind. John W. Campbell, famous within the science fiction community as both an author and an editor once said that "Science fiction is the ultimate mainstream genre, dealing as it does with all places and times".

What's been suggested for the September book? Anyone up for another dose of SF, perhaps something a bit more modern?

Don't most authors, in every genre, use their writings as a platform to discuss their social views or societies' ills as they see them? It's been true of almost all the book club selections. Charles Dickens had a morality tale between each xhapter of "Pickwick Papers" plus there was a great social chasm between Sam and the Pickwick Club members. "The Grapes of Wrath" is certainly another an excellent example of this, too. In this respect, Wells happens to be using sci-fi as a genre, the purpose was the same.

But social messages aside, a book still must be readable--no matter what the genre. Verne and Wells are just examples of authors whose books have never been out of print.

Actually, in the past, I have read all of Orwell books, everything Ray Bradbury has written, novels and short stories (even though he has said he's not a sci-fi writer, I think some of his works are), the Dune novels, and I own the "Foundation Trilogy" by Assimov and "The Space Triology" by CS Lewis (bought years ago). I don't have a closed mind on any good book in any genre, but I have found that my taste, in recent years, has changed. I actually very little fiction at all anymore--unless it's a good mystery. I just don't have the time or inclination. I am not a huge fan of fantasy--but I love the Harry Potter books and LOTR and CS Lewis' "Narnia" books.

But my taste in reading aside, and to get back to the present book club selection, I think the thing that sticks to my mind about "The Time Machine" is what the humans have evolved (or regressed) into. One one hand, we have these beautiful childlike, people who know nothing of their own history, and are too indifferent to life to even save one of their own from drowning. Then we have these horrible cannibalistic carnavores. My problem with them is, why eat the Eloi at all? They are certainly pretty advanceed, they make the fine garments that the Eloi wear and gather the fruits they eat (do they not?), so why would they not eat fruit, too? It just does not make sense. One one hand, they have degenerated into animals, but they are advanced, too.

As the books ends, the time traveler leaves--this time taking a sack to bring back specimens, but he never returns. Here are two thoughts that Wells leaves me with: either he dies in the future and can not return, or that, somewhere in time, he finds a life worth staying for. What do you think?

Given Wells's general pessimism as expressed elsewhere in this book, I'd say he dies.

But then, we do get that single hint at the end, that even when all else has crumbled, one thing endures--human affection.

So perhaps the time traveller falls in love.

Isn't the old adage "write what you know"? John Grisham knew law, so the majority of his books are about the US legal system. Wells knew what it was like to be on the lower rung in the hierarchial system, so he wrote about that.

So I'm hoping that to assuage his curiosity the Traveller found an enlightened, or perhaps regressed society where class distinction had no bearing.

Building on Skylarb's suggestion that the Time Traveler finds love somewhere in Eternity,. I MUST recommend Isaac Asimov's "The End of Eternity", a novel about a Time Technician who falls in love and is willing to destroy Eternity itself in order to be with his loved one. It would make in interesting compare/contrast book for Wells' "The Time Machine". Anyone want to read and discuss it? (I read it many years ago, and would have to re-read it in order to discuss it intelligently---I have only 'fond memories' of it left in my immediate recall. (Darn that "Random Access Memory" of mine!))

MsBatt, Why don't you post up "The End of Eternity" as a suggestion in the Book of the Month Club for later in the year? Whatever the response to it is, you have certainly sparked my interest, so I'm going to check and see if it's available in the libraries here. If you know of any more good fiction books on time travel, please let me know.

MsBatt's mention of Issimov's novel illustrates that since 1895 when Wells' "The Time Machine" was published, that people have been fascinated with the idea of traveling through time. It's not only in fiction, but as I mentioned earlier, there are loads of books printed for the lay public on the possibility of time traveling. Who knows what the future holds? Wouldn't it be fun if we all be were visted one of these days by our great-great-great grandchildren?

Great suggestion Ms. Batt. I would definitely read "End of Eternity" not only as a book selection but as a standalone to venture into sci-fi a bit more.