More than a century after it was written, The Time Machine continues to capture the imagination. The novel by Herbert George Wells – better known as H. G. Wells – has an enduring appeal despite its antiquated language. It’s written as a frame narrative: the story is sandwiched within a narrative. In other words, it is a story within a story. The narrator, an English scientist, describes his meeting with a man known only as the Time Traveller, at a club with a group of men. The man says that he believes that time exists in a fourth dimension. He has invented a time machine to prove it, and has used it to travel to the future.
- “The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness.”
“Il fatto è che il Viaggiatore del Tempo era una di quelle persone che sono troppo intelligenti per essere credute. Non si ha mai l’impressione di vedere tutto di lui, si ha sempre il sospetto che dietro la sua cristallina franchezza si nasconda qualche sottigliezza, che qualche colpo di genio ti tenda un’imboscata”.
THE TRIP TO PARADISE
The Time Traveller then begins his story. He explains that he travelled to the year 802,701 and encountered a kind of paradise built on the ruins of modern society. The world is inhabited by small, beautiful, but frail people, called the Eloi. He shares exotic fruit with them and tries to learn their language. When his time machine disappears, he decides to learn more of this world.
A REVELATION
Soon, the idyllic appearance of the world is shattered, when he discovers the Morlocks, hideous, ape-like creatures who appear to prey on the innocent Eloi. The story turns darker, as the Time Traveller relates his adventures in the future world. At the end of the story, the men of the club are very sceptical about the Time Traveller’s tale. The original narrator continues the storyline. He himself has his doubts and, before the novel ends, a big revelation is made.
A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE
The Time Machine is a work of science fiction, though such novels were called ‘scientific romances’ at the time. At the end of the 19th century, the industrial age ushered in the technological age. Railroad networks, the telegraph and utilities became widespread amid popular speculation on where all these new technological innovations could lead to.
- “Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future.”
“Di fronte a quello spettacolo di stelle i miei crucci personali e tutte le pene della vita terrestre persero consistenza. Pensai alla loro incalcolabile distanza e al lento e inevitabile percorso dei loro movimenti dal passato ignoto nell’ignoto futuro”.
SOCIAL CRITICISM
Novelists like H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs offered some exciting ideas. Wells’ novel stands out as the first and possibly the greatest modern depiction of time travel. Together with Verne, he is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. Unlike Verne’s adventurous style, however, Wells’ brand of science fiction always included a touch of social criticism. In the case of The Time Machine, the science described is inferior to Wells’ underlying critique of the English class structure.
- “Strength is the outcome of need; security sets a premium on feebleness. The work of ameliorating the conditions of life – the true civilizing process that makes life more and more secure – had gone steadily on to a climax [...] And the harvest was what I saw.”
“La forza è l’effetto del bisogno e la sicurezza pone un argine alla debolezza. Lo sforzo di migliorare le condizioni di vita dell’uomo, il vero processo di civilizzazione che rende la vita sempre più sicura, è proseguito con costanza fino a raggiungere un apice. [...] E il risultato era quello che avevo davanti agli occhi!”.
IS TIME TRAVEL POSSIBLE?
The concept of time travel continues to fascinate us today. As technology and scientific discovery advance, we keep on wondering if, one day, it would be possible to travel forward or backward in time. H. G. Wells coined the phrase ‘time machine’ in his novel and he was responsible for popularising the idea of time travel through such a vehicle.
- “It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers.”
“C’è una legge della natura che sottovalutiamo, quella secondo cui la versatilità intellettuale serve da compensazione per i mutamenti, i pericoli e le crisi. Un animale in perfetta armonia con il proprio ambiente è un meccanismo perfetto. La natura non ricorre mai all’intelligenza prima che abitudine e istinto perdano efficacia. Dove non c’è cambiamento, e non c’è necessità di cambiamento, non c’è neanche intelligenza. Condividono intelligenza solo quegli animali che devono affrontare un’enorme varietà di bisogni e pericoli”.
FUELLING IMAGINATIONS
The Time Machine has been made into three feature films and two television films, as well as several comic books. It has also served as inspiration for countless novels and films which have expanded on its central concept of time travel using a vehicle. If this kind of science fiction ever turns into science fact, no doubt future time travellers will come back and tell us all about it!