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When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year a.d. 802,701, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment, and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realizes that these beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culturenow weak and childishly afraid of the dark. They have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanitythe sinister Morlocks. And when the scientists time machine vanishes, it becomes clear he must search these tunnels if he is ever to return to his own era. -Includes a newly established text, a full biographical essay on Wells, a list of further reading, and detailed notes -Marina Warners introduction considers Wellss development of the scientific romance and places the novel in the context of its time

赫·乔·韦尔斯（H.G. Wells, 1866-1946），英国小说家，社会这家、历史学家。他先在伦敦皇家学院师从赫胥黎学习生物学，后于1888年毕业于伦敦大学。1895年出版的科幻小说《时间机器》使他一举成名。该书以奇特的情节和夸张的手法，讽刺资本主义社会的丑恶现象。其后他又发表了一系列的科幻小说，包括著名的《国际战争》《神食》《首先登上月球的人们》等，预言了科学对人类产生重要作用的同时也给人类带来了可怕的灾难，使人们意识到20世纪技术世界的希望一危险同在。1920年发表的100万字的巨著《世界史纲：生物和人类的简明史》，奠定了他作为历史学家的地位。从30年代开始，他积极投身政治，见过罗斯福和斯大林。因此，他生前被认为是有创造性的艺术家，对未来的预言家和积极的社会改革家。