In the Avu Observatory (Illustrated)

by H. G. Wells, First Rate Publishers (Editor)

Overview

Herbert George (H.G.) Wells was an English author most famous for writing science fiction novels. Wells was born to a middle class family in Bromley which is in the county of Kent. A bad accident in Well’s youth left him bedridden with a broken leg. It was during this tough time that Wells began to read books which his father borrowed from the local library and would develop the desire to write.

Wells’ childhood was often difficult as he was forced to become an apprentice for a draper to help his family which was struggling financially. Wells then became a teacher and after living with his aunt he fell in love with his cousin and married her in 1891, but the couple separated after he fell for one of his students in 1894. Wells married the student, Amy Catherine Robbins, but was known to have many affairs which Amy accepted. Wells most famous science fiction novels include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and The Invisible Man but he also wrote on topics such as history, politics, and English society.

This edition of Wells’ In the Avu Observatory includes a table of contents and images of Wells, his life, and his works.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014997232
Publisher:	First Rate Pubishers LLC
Publication date:	07/29/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	386 KB

About the Author

Social philosopher, utopian, novelist, and "father" of science fiction and science fantasy, Herbert George Wells was born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, Kent. His father was a poor businessman, and young Bertie's mother had to work as a lady's maid. Living "below stairs" with his mother at an estate called Uppark, Bertie would sneak into the grand library to read Plato, Swift, and Voltaire, authors who deeply influenced his later works. He shoed literary and artistic talent in his early stories and paintings, but the family had limited means, and when he was fourteen years old, Bertie was sent as an apprentice to a dealer in cloth and dry goods, work he disliked.

He held jobs in other trades before winning a scholarship to study biology at the Normal School of Science in London. The eminent biologist T. H. Huxley, a friend and proponent of Darwin, was his teacher; about him Wells later said, "I believed then he was the greatest man I was ever likely to meet." Under Huxley's influence, Wells learned the science that would inspire many of his creative works and cultivated the skepticism about the likelihood of human progress that would infuse his writing.

Teaching, textbook writing, and journalism occupied Wells until 1895, when he made his literary debut with the now-legendary novel The Time Machine, which was followed before the end of the century by The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds, books that established him as a major writer. Fiercely critical of Victorian mores, he published voluminously, in fiction and nonfiction, on the subject of politics and social philosophy. Biological evolution does not ensure moral progress, as Wells would repeat throughout his life, during which he witnessed two world wars and the debasement of science for military and political ends.

In addition to social commentary presented in the guise of science fiction, Wells authored comic novels like Love and Mrs. Lewisham, Kipps, and The History of Mister Polly that are Dickensian in their scope and feeling, and a feminist novel, Ann Veronica. He wrote specific social commentary in The New Machiavelli, an attack on the socialist Fabian Society, which he had joined and then rejected, and literary parody (of Henry James) in Boon. He wrote textbooks of biology, and his massive The Outline of History was a major international bestseller.

By the time Wells reached middle age, he was admired around the world, and he used his fame to promote his utopian vision, warning that the future promised "Knowledge or extinction." He met with such preeminent political figures as Lenin, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and continued to publish, travel, and educate during his final years. Herbert George Wells died in London on August 13, 1946.

Author biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The War of the Worlds.

Date of Birth:

September 21, 1866

Date of Death:

August 13, 1946

Place of Birth:

Bromley, Kent, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

Normal School of Science, London, England