Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Tomatoes and Cucumbers

   • Emelyne Godfrey

   Pages 1-32

3. Setting the Scene

   • Michael Sherborne

   Pages 33-39

4. Time as a Kind of Space

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41

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   2. Imaginary Hindsight: Contemporary History in William Morris and H.G. Wells

      • Helen Kingstone

      Pages 43-56

   3. Quivers of Idiosyncrasy: Modern Statistics in A Modern Utopia

      • Genie Babb

      Pages 57-73

   4. ‘All Good Earthly Things are in Utopia Also’: Familiarity and Irony in the Better Worlds of Morris and Wells

      • Ben Carver

      Pages 75-87

5. Matters Out of Place: Danger and Disruption in Utopia

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 89-89

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   2. Problems in Utopia from the Thames Valley to the Pacific Edge

      • Tony Pinkney

      Pages 91-105

   3. Utopia’s the Thing: An Analysis of Utopian Programme and Impulse in H.G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau

      • Rhys Williams

      Pages 107-121

   4. ‘Great Safe Places Down Deep’: Subterranean Spaces in the Early Novels of H. G. Wells

      • Catherine Redford

      Pages 123-138

6. Distorted Realities, Shattered Perspectives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 139-139

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   2. The Urban Wasteland in H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds

      • Vera Benczik

      Pages 141-156

   3. An Epistemological Journey: The Uncertainty of Construed Realities in The Time Machine

      • Károly Pintér

      Pages 157-172

7. Unnatural Theologies in the Island

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173

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   2. Dark Artistry in The Island of Doctor Moreau

      • Sarah Faulkner

      Pages 175-187

   3. Punishment, Purgatory, and Paradise: Hating the Sin, and Sometimes the Sinner, in H.G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Invisible Man

      • Gianluca Guerriero

      Pages 189-207

   4. Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island: The Novel as Fable

      • John Hammond

      Pages 209-220

8. Building the Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 221-221

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   2. ‘Flowers and a Landscape were the Only Attractions Here’: The England of Wells and Morris in Aldous Huxley’s Interpretation

      • Maxim Shadurski

      Pages 223-239

This book is about the fiercely contrasting visions of two of the nineteenth century’s greatest utopian writers. A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study, it emphasizes that space is a key factor in utopian fiction, often a barometer of mankind’s successful relationship with nature, or an indicator of danger. Emerging and critically acclaimed scholars consider the legacy of two great utopian writers, exploring their use of space and time in the creation of sites in which contemporary social concerns are investigated and reordered. A variety of locations is featured, including Morris’s quasi-fourteenth century London, the lush and corrupted island, a routed and massacred English countryside, the high-rises of the future and the vertiginous landscape of another Earth beyond the stars.

• Science fiction
• The Time Machine
• The War of the Worlds
• Kelmscott House
• Society
• British and Irish Literature

“This collection of essays highlights and interrogates the differences between Wells’s and Morris’s respective worldviews, but it also approaches their own interdisciplinary visions through a variety of methodologies. … the breadth and variety of approaches in Godfrey’s collection are commendable. Because methodological scope is so broad, each major section is curated thoughtfully and manageably. … the collection surveys with depth and interest the influence of both writers on each other, on their environments, and on scholarship and post-nineteenth-century fiction.” (Kameron Sanzo, The British Society for Literature and Science, bsls.ac.uk, July, 2017)

“Some outstanding work on utopias and dystopias, on Morris, Wells and others, is collected here: of the books I've read on utopias in recent years, this is one of the very best.” (Simon J. James, Durham University, UK)

“Emelyne Godfrey has curated a fascinating collection of insights into the work of two of Britain's most innovative writers - offering food for thought for all storytellers. The book explores the two great themes that powered their storytelling: Utopia and Dystopia- and how they used the possibilities of fictional realms to question the status quo. But it also reveals that, while they had a common interest in Britain's woes, their emerging creative, social and professional rivalry gave them very different ideas about how to make the world a better place, whilst shaping their work. This evocative book pieces together the secrets of their world building, offering a glimpse into their creative mindset and how they breathed life into their fascination with the worldaround them- through stories and ideas that still resonate today.” (Andy Hall, Documentary Producer)

• London, United Kingdom

  Emelyne Godfrey

Emelyne Godfrey is Publicity Officer of the H.G. Wells Society. She graduated with a PhD from Birkbeck College in 2008 and is author of Femininity, Crime and Self-Defence in Victorian Literature and Society: From Dagger-Fans to Suffragettes (2012) and Masculinity, Crime and Self-Defence in Victorian Literature (2010), published by Palgrave Macmillan. In 2014 she edited The Convert, the first suffragette novel, originally published in 1907.

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