Audiobook · read by volunteers
Time Machine
H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
Read by Aaron Elliott, TBOL3, Kevin Kivikko, Steven Wendal, Scott Merrill, Jc Guan, stf, Sean McGaughey · 13 chapters · 4 h 09
About the book
A scientist gathers a group of friends at his London home and tells them he has built a machine that can travel through time. They do not believe him, until he shows them a small model vanishing into thin air, and a week later he stumbles back among them, dishevelled, with a remarkable story.
The Time Traveller has journeyed to the year 802,701, where he finds a gentle, childlike people living in the sunshine, the Eloi, and learns about a darker world beneath their feet. Cut off from his machine, he must discover what has become of humanity, and what lies in wait in the shadows.
H. G. Wells’s first novel is short, vivid and thoughtful, and it has shaped nearly every time-travel story since. Thirteen chapters, a little over four hours. A classic of science fiction and a fine listen on a long evening.
Introduction
Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was an English writer who helped to create modern science fiction. Trained as a scientist, he combined his knowledge of biology and physics with a gift for storytelling. In the 1890s he published a series of influential novels: The Time Machine in 1895, followed by The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds. He also wrote social commentary, histories and realistic novels.
The Time Machine was his first major success. It is generally credited with popularising the idea of a machine in which a traveller can choose when to go and where to stop. The story uses its science fiction setting as a way to explore social questions, particularly the divisions between classes in Victorian England. Wells projects those divisions far into the future and shows where they might lead, giving the story a force that goes beyond a simple adventure. It has since been made into films more than once, and its ideas have been taken up by countless writers.
The tale is told by an unnamed narrator, who relays the Time Traveller’s account after hearing it at a dinner party. This framing gives the book a sense of intimacy and plausibility, and Wells’s plain, precise language makes the strange scenes feel concrete.
This recording has thirteen chapters and lasts about four hours, read by LibriVox volunteers. It is a good place to begin with Wells, and a book that rewards listeners who know the genre as well as those who are new to it.
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