H. G. Wells · 1895
The Time Machine is a short novel by H. G. Wells published in 1895. A Victorian scientist known only as the Time Traveller builds a machine that carries him to the year 802,701, where humanity has divided into two species: the gentle Eloi and the underground Morlocks. It popularized the very idea of time travel.
The story
After explaining to his guests that time is a fourth dimension, the Time Traveller travels into the distant future. He finds a peaceful garden world inhabited by the small, childlike Eloi.
When his machine disappears, he discovers the Morlocks, pale creatures who live underground and come out at night. He must recover the machine to return home.
Evolution and society
The Traveller concludes that the two species descend from the idle upper classes and the workers of his own time, separated over hundreds of thousands of years.
Wells uses this vision to criticize the class divisions of Victorian England and to imagine the long-term consequences of evolution.
The end of the world
Travelling even further, the Traveller sees a dying Earth under a huge red sun, with only strange creatures on a silent beach.
He returns to tell his story to his sceptical friends, then sets off again and never comes back.
Anecdotes
A machine with a name
Wells did not invent stories of time travel, but he was among the first to imagine a machine that could be steered through time at will. The phrase time machine became part of everyday language.
A student's draft
Wells first sketched the idea in a story called The Chronic Argonauts, published in a student magazine in 1888.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the Eloi and the Morlocks?
The two species into which humanity has divided in the distant future.
To what year does the Traveller go?
To the year 802,701.
When was the novel published?
In 1895.