Editing The Time Machine (section)

==History==
Wells had considered the notion of time travel before, in a short story titled "[[The Chronic Argonauts]]" (1888). This work, published in his college newspaper, was the foundation for ''The Time Machine''.

He frequently stated that he had thought of using some of this material in a series of articles in the ''[[Pall Mall Gazette]]'', but in response to a request by [[William Ernest Henley|W. E. Henley]], the editor of ''[[National Observer (UK)|National Observer]]'', he rewrote "The Chronic Argonauts" into a series of seven loosely connected and fictionalized essays which were anonymously published in the newspaper from 17 March to 23 June 1894.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ8eByH9QXsC&dq=%22The+National+Observer+Time+Machine+is+reprinted+here+in+its+entirety%22%22&pg=PA56 H. G. Wells: Early Writings in Science and Science Fiction]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_TQ8eByH9QXsC/bub_gb_TQ8eByH9QXsC_djvu.txt H. G. Wells: Early Writings in Science and Science Fiction]</ref> The series was never completed as Henley stepped down from his role as editor in ''National Observer''. With his encouragement, Wells continued to work on the story, and at the end of the year, when Henley was given the position as editor of [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann's]]  periodical ''The New Review'', he arranged for the story to be published there in [[serial novel|serialized form]] in the January to May 1895 editions instead, for which Wells was paid [[Pound sterling|£]]100 (equal to about £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|100|1895|r=-3}}}} today).<ref name="jrhamm04"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2t9yNKCRL7UC&dq=Bernard+Bergonzi+Time+Machine+March+1895+Henley+National+Observer&pg=PA204 SF: The Other Side of Realism; Essays on Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction]</ref><ref>[https://www.ittdb.com/work-1051 The National Observer Essays by H. G. Wells - ITTDB]</ref> [[Henry Holt and Company]] published the first book edition (possibly prepared from a different manuscript)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newsroom.ucr.edu/news_item.html?action=page&id=2256 |department=UCR Newsroom |title=Rare edition of "The Time Machine" acquired |publisher=University of California, Riverside |date=2010-02-09 |access-date=2015-10-31 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104218/http://newsroom.ucr.edu/news_item.html?action=page&id=2256 |url-status=live }}</ref> on 7 May 1895; Heinemann published a British edition on 29 May.<ref name="jrhamm04">{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=John R. |title=H. G. Wells's The Time Machine: A Reference Guide |date=2004 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0313330070}}</ref> These two editions are different textually and are commonly referred to as the "Holt text" and "Heinemann text", respectively. Nearly all modern reprints reproduce the Heinemann text.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.booktable.net/book/9781495939617 | title=The Time Machine (Paperback) &#124; the Book Table | access-date=30 January 2019 | archive-date=30 January 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130222602/https://www.booktable.net/book/9781495939617 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The story reflects Wells's own [[socialist]] political views, his view on life and abundance, and the contemporary angst about [[industrial relations]]. It is also influenced by [[Ray Lankester]]'s theories about social degeneration<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-01-14|title=mikejay.net » MAN OF THE YEAR MILLION|url=https://mikejay.net/articles/man-of-the-year-million/|access-date=2021-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114134457/https://mikejay.net/articles/man-of-the-year-million/|archive-date=14 January 2010}}</ref> and shares many elements with [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]'s novel ''[[Vril|Vril, the Power of the Coming Race]]'' (1871).<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Bulwer-Lytton|title=The Coming Race|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w3-xlc8edbEC&pg=PR46|year=2007|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|isbn=978-0-8195-6735-2|page=46|access-date=19 May 2016|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320155346/https://books.google.com/books?id=w3-xlc8edbEC&pg=PR46|url-status=live}}</ref> It is also thought that Wells's Eloi race shares many features with the works of other English socialists, most notably [[William Morris]] and his work ''[[News from Nowhere]]'' (1890), in which money is depicted as irrelevant and work is undertaken merely as a form of pleasure.<ref name="Parrinder 2000 23–34"/> Other science fiction works of the period, including [[Edward Bellamy]]'s novel ''[[Looking Backward|Looking Backward: 2000–1887]]'' (1888) and the later film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927), dealt with similar themes.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} In his later reassessment of the book, published as the 1931 preface to ''The Time Machine'', Wells wrote that the text has "lasted as long as the diamond-framed [[safety bicycle]], which came in at about the date of its first publication", and is "assured it will outlive him", attesting to the power of the book.<ref name=":2" />

Based on Wells's personal experiences and childhood, the working class literally spent a lot of their time underground. His own family would spend most of their time in a dark basement kitchen when not being occupied in their father's shop.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9373000/9373313.stm |title=HG Wells' letter goes on display in Sevenoaks |work=BBC News |access-date=15 July 2018 |archive-date=15 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715042029/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9373000/9373313.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, his own mother would work as a housekeeper in a house with tunnels below,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/movies/film-wells-s-future-is-forever-recurring.html |department=Film |title=Wells's Future is Forever Recurring |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=3 March 2002 |access-date=15 July 2018 |archive-date=15 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715041613/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/movies/film-wells-s-future-is-forever-recurring.html |url-status=live |last1=Beale |first1=Lewis }}</ref> where the staff and servants lived in underground quarters.<ref>{{cite book|author=John R. Hammond|title=H. G. Wells's The Time Machine: A Reference Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mR3_3vVoI1sC&pg=PA62|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33007-0|page=62|access-date=16 September 2020|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320155347/https://books.google.com/books?id=mR3_3vVoI1sC&pg=PA62|url-status=live}}</ref> A medical journal published in 1905 would focus on these living quarters for servants in poorly ventilated dark basements.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.record-courier.com/entertainment/20141102/one-for-books-nonfiction-working-women |department=Entertainment - One for the Books: Nonfiction |title=Working Women |date=2014-11-02 |access-date=15 July 2018 |archive-date=15 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715040016/http://www.record-courier.com/entertainment/20141102/one-for-books-nonfiction-working-women |url-status=dead }}</ref> In his early teens, Wells became a draper's apprentice, having to work in a basement for hours on end.

This work is an early example of the [[Dying Earth (subgenre)|Dying Earth subgenre]]. The portion of the novella that sees the Time Traveller in a distant future where the sun is [[Red giant|huge and red]] also places ''The Time Machine'' within the realm of [[eschatology]]; that is, the study of the end times, the end of the world, and the ultimate destiny of humankind.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bashir |first=Seema |date=October 2017 |title=Christian Eschatology and Science Fiction: An Study of HG Wells' The Time Machine |url=https://www.thecreativelauncher.com/index.php/tcl/article/view/675/654 |journal=The Creative Launder |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=610–614}}</ref>

[[Holt, Rinehart & Winston]] re-published the book in 2000, paired with ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', and commissioned Michael Koelsch to illustrate a new cover art.<ref name=":192">{{Cite book|last=Wells|first=H. G. (Herbert George)|url=http://archive.org/details/timemachineandwa0000well_p5y4|title=The time machine; and, The war of the worlds|date=2000|publisher=Austin, TX : Holt, Rinehart and Winston|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-03-056476-5}}</ref>