Professor Wells: the Educational Purposes of H.G. Wells’ Works

This dissertation analyses the educational purposes of H.G. Wells’ works. Wells is known as one of the fathers of science fiction, and as one of the most influential writers of the late nineteenth century. However, I will not focus on H.G. Wells as an author. I will focus on H.G. Wells as a teacher. Education played a key role in the life of this remarkable author. He not only spent some of his early years working as a teacher, but he also wrote a textbook meant for biology students. Furthermore, in the later stages of his life Wells actively advocated for the need to reform the British school system, introducing scientific subjects in the school curricula. He also dedicated himself to writing popularizing articles about scientific topic. The strong connection between Herbert George Wells and education is, to me, quite evident. Every chapter of this work will focus on a different work written by Wells. I chose to follow on some of his most famous works: The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Time Machine (1895), and The World of the Worlds (1898). Here, I will analyse the content of each work, trying to point out the educational narrative proposed by Wells. I am not proposing anything new as far as the interpretation of these works is concerned. In order to carry out my researches for the dissertation, I attentively read many essays and articles that proposed an interpretation of Wells’ texts. Among the authors I refer to, there are authoritative Wells’ scholars such as Patrick Parrinder. The purpose of the work is not providing a new interpretation of the themes and motifs behind H.G. Wells’ works, but demonstrating that these books had been written in order to teach something to their reading public. The last chapter focuses on Wells’ utopian novel A Modern Utopia (1905). It is different from the others because I will not limit myself to describing the educational purposes of the book. A Modern Utopia is a programmatic text, and this gave me the possibility to have a closer look at Wells’ beliefs and plans for society. As I propose in the fifth chapter, some of his views would be considered completely unacceptable by modern-day readers. I focus on two specific topics. First, I will take into exam the treatment received by criminals, feeble-minded, drunkards, and other sorts of people considered “undesirable” by the Victorians. And then I focus on the role of the woman in the utopian state imagined by Wells. As I will discuss, Wells’ ideas were far from progressive as far as these topics were concerned. Or, at least, they could not be considered progressive nowadays. The final chapter is not a way to stigmatise Wells. Rather, it is a way to contextualise both the man and his works. As I propose, contextualising Wells is the only way to truly appreciate the innovative contributions of his works.