Audiobook · read by volunteers
Invisible Man
H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
Read by Alex Foster · 13 chapters · 4 h 54
About the book
A stranger arrives at a country inn on a snowy day, his face wrapped in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses, his hands in thick gloves. He demands a room, a fire and absolute privacy, and he pays well for them. The villagers are curious, then suspicious, then alarmed, for the guest's behaviour grows stranger by the day, and what lies under those bandages is a secret more extraordinary than any of them can guess. H. G. Wells's novel mixes laboratory science, village comedy and mounting menace, and it asks what happens when a clever man discovers that he can escape every rule except his own conscience. It is a classic of early science fiction, narrated here in thirteen chapters by one reader, in just under five hours. A shivering, spirited classic.
Introduction
Herbert George Wells, who lived from 1866 to 1946, was an English writer of novels, short stories and essays, and one of the founders of modern science fiction. In the 1890s he produced a remarkable series of scientific romances, including The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man. Written with a clear, plain style and rooted in recognisable English settings, they gave strange ideas a convincing everyday texture.
The Invisible Man, published in 1897, begins in a village inn and gradually reveals the nature of its mysterious guest. Wells is interested in the practical consequences of invisibility rather than in magic: what it would take to achieve it, how it would feel, what would go wrong, and what it might tempt a person to do. The novel is a thriller, but it is also a study of isolation and of the moral hazards of unchecked ambition, and one of its great strengths is the way it balances comedy and horror.
The book has been adapted many times for film, radio and television, and it is notable for its vivid description of a man who cannot himself be seen, no small achievement for a writer. The prose is lively and the plot moves quickly.
This recording consists of thirteen chapters, each gathering several of the novel's short original chapters, and runs for nearly five hours. A single LibriVox volunteer reads it. It is an excellent choice for an evening of classic science fiction, and a reminder of why Wells remains so widely read. The result is a classic that is surprisingly modern in its worries about power and responsibility.
Public domain
H. G. Wells died in 1946: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text