Maps of utopia : H.G. Wells, modernity, and the end of culture / Simon J. James.

9780199606597 hardcover
0199606595 hardcover

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012.

English

xiv, 230 p. ; 23 cm

PR5777 .J345 2012

823.912

"H. G. Wells is one of the most widely-read writers of the twentieth century, but until now the aesthetics of his work have not been investigated in detail. "Maps of Utopia" tells the story of Wells's writing career over six decades, during which he produced popular science, educational theory, history, politics, prophecy, and utopia, as well as realist, experimental, and science fiction. This book asks what Wells thought literature was, and what he thought it was for. H. G. Wells formulated a literary aesthetic based on scientific principles, designed to improve the world both in the present and for future generations. Unlike Henry James, with whom he famously argued, Wells was not content simply to let literary art be, for its own sake: he wanted to make art instrumental in improving the lives of its readers, by bringing about the founding of the World State that he predicted was man's only alternative to self-destruction."--Book jacket.

"H. G. Wells is one of the most widely-read writers of the twentieth century, but until now the aesthetics of his work have not been investigated in detail. "Maps of Utopia" tells the story of Wells's writing career over six decades, during which he produced popular science, educational theory, history, politics, prophecy, and utopia, as well as realist, experimental, and science fiction. This book asks what Wells thought literature was, and what he thought it was for. H. G. Wells formulated a literary aesthetic based on scientific principles, designed to improve the world both in the present and for future generations. Unlike Henry James, with whom he famously argued, Wells was not content simply to let literary art be, for its own sake: he wanted to make art instrumental in improving the lives of its readers, by bringing about the founding of the World State that he predicted was man's only alternative to self-destruction."--Book jacket.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-219) and index.

On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources