SOURCE: Niederland, William G. “The Birth of H. G. Wells's Time Machine.” American Imago 35, nos. 1-2 (spring-summer 1978): 106-12.

In the following essay, originally delivered as a speech in 1976, Niederland considers the influence of Wells's childhood and personal experiences on The Time Machine.

One of the most influential writers in English of the early twentieth century, H. G. Wells's prodigious output—more than 150 books, as well as countless articles, reviews, and short stories—has remained psychologically unexplored. Many of Wells's works repeat certain themes of his own life and development and often project his personal experiences and tribulations onto mankind and its prognosticated future. The study of these themes in one of his most famous novels has led me to certain inferential conclusions.

Born in 1866, the year following the end of the American Civil War, he grew up at the height of the Victorian era, and lived through two...