Evolution of Humanity as a Literary Experiment in the Works of H. G. Wells
Яна Валерьевна Шрайнер
Докладчик
студент 3 курса
Сибирский государственный аэрокосмический университет им. академика М. Ф. Решетнева
Сибирский государственный аэрокосмический университет им. академика М. Ф. Решетнева
Ключевые слова, аннотация
The study examines the
representation of human evolution in the prose of H. G. Wells through «The Time
Machine», «The Invisible Man», and «The Island of Doctor Moreau». The research
interprets these novels as literary experiments that test biological, social,
and ethical dimensions of progress. It demonstrates that Wells transforms
evolutionary theory into a critical model revealing degeneration, instability
of identity, and the ambivalent logic of fin de siècle civilization.
Тезисы
Keywords: evolution;
scientific romance; literary experiment; fin de siècle culture
The research examines how evolutionary theory is transformed into a narrative principle in the works of H. G. Wells. The aim is to demonstrate that Wells constructs evolution as a literary experiment designed to test the epistemological and ethical limits of modern civilization. The novelty of the study lies in interpreting biological, technological, and social change as interconnected dimensions of a single experimental model.
The material includes «The Time Machine» (1895), «The Invisible Man» (1897), and «The Island of Doctor Moreau» (1896). The methodology combines close textual analysis with historical-literary contextualization, particularly fin de siècle debates on degeneration and social Darwinism.
In «The Time Machine», evolution functions as a speculative projection that exposes the hidden logic of social stratification. The division of humanity into distinct forms does not illustrate progress but radical specialization driven by economic structure. The narrative experiment demonstrates that social inequality, when extended historically, produces biological divergence. Evolution is thus reconfigured as a process of differentiation that destabilizes the progressive myth of unity and improvement.
Within «The Invisible Man», the experiment shifts to the level of the individual subject. Invisibility operates not as a fantasy device but as a theoretical abstraction: the removal of visibility eliminates the mechanisms of social regulation. Evolution here is displaced into the sphere of technological self-modification, revealing that emancipation from physical limits entails ethical regression. The novel tests whether scientific transcendence enhances or erodes human identity.
A more radical configuration of experimental evolution appears in «The Island of Doctor Moreau», where artificial transformation seeks to accelerate natural processes. The instability of imposed rationality and the repeated collapse of constructed order demonstrate that culture cannot permanently override biological impulse. Evolution is presented as reversible and contingent, undermining deterministic optimism.
The analysis confirms that Wells’s scientific romances operate as a conceptual laboratory in which humanity becomes both object and subject of experimentation. Evolution, in this model, is a critical instrument that interrogates the coherence of progress and the stability of the modern human.
The research examines how evolutionary theory is transformed into a narrative principle in the works of H. G. Wells. The aim is to demonstrate that Wells constructs evolution as a literary experiment designed to test the epistemological and ethical limits of modern civilization. The novelty of the study lies in interpreting biological, technological, and social change as interconnected dimensions of a single experimental model.
The material includes «The Time Machine» (1895), «The Invisible Man» (1897), and «The Island of Doctor Moreau» (1896). The methodology combines close textual analysis with historical-literary contextualization, particularly fin de siècle debates on degeneration and social Darwinism.
In «The Time Machine», evolution functions as a speculative projection that exposes the hidden logic of social stratification. The division of humanity into distinct forms does not illustrate progress but radical specialization driven by economic structure. The narrative experiment demonstrates that social inequality, when extended historically, produces biological divergence. Evolution is thus reconfigured as a process of differentiation that destabilizes the progressive myth of unity and improvement.
Within «The Invisible Man», the experiment shifts to the level of the individual subject. Invisibility operates not as a fantasy device but as a theoretical abstraction: the removal of visibility eliminates the mechanisms of social regulation. Evolution here is displaced into the sphere of technological self-modification, revealing that emancipation from physical limits entails ethical regression. The novel tests whether scientific transcendence enhances or erodes human identity.
A more radical configuration of experimental evolution appears in «The Island of Doctor Moreau», where artificial transformation seeks to accelerate natural processes. The instability of imposed rationality and the repeated collapse of constructed order demonstrate that culture cannot permanently override biological impulse. Evolution is presented as reversible and contingent, undermining deterministic optimism.
The analysis confirms that Wells’s scientific romances operate as a conceptual laboratory in which humanity becomes both object and subject of experimentation. Evolution, in this model, is a critical instrument that interrogates the coherence of progress and the stability of the modern human.