H.G. Wells
Herbert George "H. G."
Wells (21
September 1866 – 13 August 1946)[3] was
an English writer, now best known for his work in thescience
fiction genre. He was also
a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history,
politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games.
Wells is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction", as are Jules
Verne and Hugo
Gernsback.[4][a] His
most notable science fiction works include The
War of the Worlds, The
Time Machine, The
Invisible Man and The
Island of Doctor Moreau.
Wells's earliest specialised
training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a
specifically and fundamentallyDarwinian context.[5] He
was also from an early date an outspoken socialist,
often (but not always, as at the beginning of the First
World War) sympathising with pacifist views.
His later works became increasingly political and didactic,
and he sometimes indicated on official documents that his profession was that of
"Journalist."[6] Most
of his later novels were not science fiction. Some described lower-middle class
life (Kipps; The
History of Mr Polly), leading him to be touted as a worthy
successor to Charles
Dickens,[7] but
Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in Tono-Bungay (1909),
a diagnosis of English
society as a whole.