On H.G. Wells’s Use of Realism in The War of the Worlds The War of the Worlds was released in 1898, during H.G. Wells’s pioneering of the science fiction genre. At this time, there had been numerous novels written with documentary-style exposition. Readers were responding to this type of non-fiction, and with Wells opening a style that bears such thick roots to fiction, it only made sense that he used a journalistic approach, the story being told from the point of view of a completely anonymous chronicler, like one would find in a newspaper. This ultimately led to an underlying sense of realism throughout the narrator’s account of the Martian invasion, and thus unveiling the method through which Wells would appeal to the readers of the 19th
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Herbert George Wells originally wrote the novel in 1898, his fourth novel of a long career pioneering science fiction literature. Many say that he founded the genre with his debut book, The Time Machine, in 1895, however, this was not the start of his writing career. Wells taught at a grammar school for several years before beginning a public writing career for The Fortnightly Review, who published a piece of his, “The Rediscovery of the Unique”. This was his first famous addition to literature, and it sparked an array of educational writings, eventually supporting him enough to quit teaching. Though Wells was a supporter of WWI, he believed the solution was not to destroy nations, but to reform education around the world, and if that was done successfully, it would be “the war to end all wars”. “It was his tragedy that his most successful predictions were of destructive technologies” (Brians). He was hostile to Victorian social and moral orders, and started to develop radical views. Herbert became involved with socialism and radicalism around 1884, and continued to be for the rest of his life. For his association with these
Herbert George Wells originally wrote the novel in 1898, his fourth novel of a long career pioneering science fiction literature. Many say that he founded the genre with his debut book, The Time Machine, in 1895, however, this was not the start of his writing career. Wells taught at a grammar school for several years before beginning a public writing career for The Fortnightly Review, who published a piece of his, “The Rediscovery of the Unique”. This was his first famous addition to literature, and it sparked an array of educational writings, eventually supporting him enough to quit teaching. Though Wells was a supporter of WWI, he believed the solution was not to destroy nations, but to reform education around the world, and if that was done successfully, it would be “the war to end all wars”. “It was his tragedy that his most successful predictions were of destructive technologies” (Brians). He was hostile to Victorian social and moral orders, and started to develop radical views. Herbert became involved with socialism and radicalism around 1884, and continued to be for the rest of his life. For his association with these