A Modern Utopia – H. G. Wells

S$61.00

A Modern Utopia – H. G. Wells

S$61.00

Title: A Modern Utopia
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: Thomas Nelson & Sons, early 1900s
Condition: Embossed cloth, a beautiful edition with extremely clean pages. Gilt to spine. No printing date, but inscription on flypage is dated 1913. In excellent c

SKU: wells_utopia Categories: ,

Title: A Modern Utopia
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: Thomas Nelson & Sons, early 1900s
Condition: Embossed cloth, a beautiful edition with extremely clean pages. Gilt to spine. No printing date, but inscription on flypage is dated 1913. In excellent condition. With a forward by the author.

 

About the book (from Wikipedia):

A Modern Utopia (1905) is a work of fiction by H. G. Wells.

H. G. Wells’s proposal for social reform was the formation of a world state, a concept that increasingly occupied him throughout the remainder of his life. One of his earliest and most ambitious attempts at portraying a world state was A Modern Utopia (1905) (McLean).

Like most utopians, he indicated a series of modifications which in his opinion would increase the aggregate of human happiness. Basically, Wells’ idea of a perfect world would be if everyone were able to live a happy life.

This book is written with an intimate knowledge of former ideal commonwealths and is a conscious attempt to describe a utopia that is not utopian.

The work was partly inspired by a trip to the Alps Wells made with his friend Graham Wallis, a prominent member of the Fabian Society.

A Modern Utopia was intended as a hybrid between fiction and ‘philosophical discussion’.

Wells began by stating that the people of this utopia have to plan “a flexible common compromise, in which a perpetually novel succession of individualities may converge most effectually upon a comprehensive onward development.” That is the first, most generalised difference between a Utopia based upon modern conceptions and all the other Utopian stories that were written previously (Wells, Ch. 1).

An important fact about this modern Utopia is that the people’s purpose is to be Utopian. Also, the modern Utopia must have people inherently the same as those in the rest of the world.

 

About H. G. Wells (from Wikipedia):

Herbert George “H. G.” Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called “The Father of Science Fiction”, as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.