Originally posted by Sarah D.
"He is one of the writers (along with L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne, and a few others) that influenced Ray Bradbury. I perhaps read it too quickly; but that is one of my problems. My edition had a forward written by James Gunn (an Amer. Science Fiction writer and anthologist of whom I'll be checking out some of his stories.) Gunn wrote that Wells had written and published an article about time travel in the 'Science Schools Journal' when he was a student. The article was titled "The Chronic Argonauts". He was later asked to rewrite the story which he did and it gave him "instant recognition as a major writer working on the frontiers of a new form." (Gunn) I am going to see if I can't find this original story and see how it compares. Anyways, back to the story. I had a deep feeling of sadness after finishing the book. It seems like, in many of the futuristic stories I have read, the human race has either both destroyed the world and themselves (i.e. "The Martian Chronicles") or have just destroyed themselves. I know that the Time Traveller is hypothesizing about how the Morlocks and the delicate ones came to be. However, if his hypothesis is correct then it is difficult to see how the human race had become so childlike and incapable of defending for themselves or realizing they should defend themselves. It is also depressing the further out the Time Traveller travels. Of course none of us would even remotely be around in that time period. But it is hard for me to fathom.