The Sleeper Awakes

by H. G. Wells

Overview

Unlike his later, more optimistic works, H. G. Wells' earlier books display a deep mistrust of science and 'progress'. The Sleeper Awakes is arguably the starkest and most pessimistic of these dystopian novels. It tells the tale of Graham, a chronic insomniac who falls into a coma-like sleep, from which he emerges over two hundred years later, to discover that investments willed to him by two childless industrialists have borne such fruit that he - The Sleeper - is now the owner of half the world. A 'Council' rules despotically in The Sleeper's name, presiding over a futuristic society of surpassing ugliness, with the uneducated masses themselves deeply asleep - their minds clouded by incessant propaganda and with no right to either property or privacy. Appalled, Graham strives for change, and finds himself regarded as a Messiah by the impoverished masses. But can The Sleeper alone sustain the revolution? And is he willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909735262
Publisher:	Aziloth Books
Publication date:	10/23/2013
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Herbert George Wells was born on 21 September, 1866. He was an English author. He wrote many books, brief tales, and works of social discourse, history, parody, account, and self-portrayal. Two of his books were written on recreational war games. In the present times, Wells is known for his sci-fi books and is frequently called the father of sci-fi"". In his own lifespan, he was regarded as a forward-looking, social critic who gave his scholarly abilities to the improvement of an ever-evolving vision on a worldwide scale. As a futurist, he composed various idealistic works and predicted the approach of an airplane, tanks, space travel, atomic weapons, satellite TV, and something that seemed similar to the World Wide Web. His sci-fis were based upon topics like time travel, allien intrusion, invisibility, and bio-engineering. Brian Aldiss alluded to Wells as the ""Shakespeare of sci-fi"", while American essayist Charles Fort alluded to him as a ""wild ability"". Wells delivered his works persuading by imparting ordinary detail close by a solitary phenomenal suspicion for every work - named ""Wells' regulation"" - allowing Joseph Conrad to hail him in 1898 as ""O Realist of the Fantastic!"". His most striking sci-fi works incorporate The Time Machine (1895), which was his first novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), and the tactical sci-fi The War in the Air (1907). Wells got nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Wells was professionally trained in biology and his reasoning on legal matters occurred in a context that referred to Darwin. He was a frank communist since early on, frequently (however not generally, as toward the start of the First World War) identifying with conservative perspectives. His later works turned out to be progressively political and instructional. Books, for example, Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly, which portray lower-working class life, prompted the idea that he was the deserved successor to Charles Dickens, however, Wells depicted a scope of social layers and tries to bring out the English society as a whole in Tono-Bungay (1909). Wells was diabetic and was the co-founder of the foundation 'The Diabetic Association' (referred to now as Diabetes UK) in 1934.

Date of Birth:

September 21, 1866

Date of Death:

August 13, 1946

Place of Birth:

Bromley, Kent, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

Normal School of Science, London, England

Table of Contents

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION 3

CHAPTER I INSOMNIA 6

CHAPTER II THE TRANCE 12

CHAPTER III THE AWAKENING 17

CHAPTER IV THE SOUND OF A TUMULT 20

CHAPTER V THE MOVING WAYS 29

CHAPTER VI THE HALL OF THE ATLAS 32

CHAPTER VII IN THE SILENT ROOMS 39

CHAPTER VIII THE ROOF SPACES 47

CHAPTER IX THE PEOPLE MARCH 56

CHAPTER X THE BATTLE OF THE DARKNESS 60

CHAPTER XI THE OLD MAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING 68

CHAPTER XII OSTROG 76

CHAPTER XIII THE END OF THE OLD ORDER 86

CHAPTER XIV FROM THE CROW’S NEST 89

CHAPTER XV PROMINENT PEOPLE 94

CHAPTER XVI THE MONOPLANE 102

CHAPTER XVII THREE DAYS 109

CHAPTER XVIII GRAHAM REMEMBERS 113

CHAPTER XIX OSTROG’S POINT OF VIEW 119

CHAPTER XX IN THE CITY WAYS 124

CHAPTER XXI THE UNDER-SIDE 138

CHAPTER XXII THE STRUGGLE IN THE COUNCIL HOUSE 143

CHAPTER XXIII GRAHAM SPEAKS HIS WORD 152

CHAPTER XXIV WHILE THE AEROPLANES WERE COMING 155

CHAPTER XXV THE COMING OF THE AEROPLANES 159

Editorial Reviews

This trio are from Wells's utopian writings, which generally chronicle a future society of potential greatness that has failed its mission and gone to seed. Not as posh as the "Deluxe Classics Editions," these nonetheless feature many nice extras, including scholarly introductions. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"Students of early science fiction will welcome the University of Nebraska Press's series Bison Frontiers of Imagination."—Times Literary Supplement

Times Literary Supplement