The shape of things to come: victorian literature, the machine, the classes or on H. G. Wells’ science fiction en fin de siècle and a study of The time machine

Authors

  • Amanda Naves Berchez Universidade Estadual de Campinas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2022.184251

Keywords:

H. G. Wells, Science fiction, Dystopia, Victorian literature, Industrial novel

Abstract

In this article, we aim to demonstrate how H. G. Wells’ Victorian novel The time machine reverberates, from the perspective of science fiction and dystopias, questions (of social matter, mainly) intensively explored in the industrial novel genre, also referred to as “condition-of-England novels”, such as class conflicts and dehumanization towards the proletariat in the industrial niche. To this end, we do a historical and theoretical review of all the aforementioned literary genres and forms.

Author Biography

  • Amanda Naves Berchez, Universidade Estadual de Campinas

    Doutoranda em Estudos Literários pela Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL/CAr) da Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP); mestra em Teoria e História Literária pelo Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL) da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP); graduada em Letras pelo Instituto de Ciências Humanas e Letras (ICHL) da Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG). Contato: amanda.berchez@unesp.br.

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Published

2022-12-30

How to Cite

BERCHEZ, Amanda Naves. The shape of things to come: victorian literature, the machine, the classes or on H. G. Wells’ science fiction en fin de siècle and a study of The time machine. Literartes, São Paulo, Brasil, v. 1, n. 17, p. 51–77, 2022. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2022.184251. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/literartes/article/view/184251.. Acesso em: 5 jan. 2026.