Is H. G. Wells the greatest science fiction writer?

[Scifi fan]

Someone has told me that H. G. Wells is the single most prominent science fiction writer - he came up with invisibility, time travel, and the alien invasion. No other author has come up with so many novel ideas in science fiction.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[dustinzgirl]

Yes. He is.

Sorry, I don't have much else to offer, but no other SF writer has offered as much, and been as popular for as long, as HG Wells.

 

[iansales]

... been as popular for as long, as HG Wells.

That's hardly fair. Not many sf writers have been around as long.

 

[dustinzgirl]

That's hardly fair. Not many sf writers have been around as long.

Well, they should have invented the Time Machine, then.

 

[kythe]

But although H.G. Wells utilized these ideas in a way they hadn't been thought of before, his stories really have little basis in "science". For instance, The Time Machine is really more of a social commentary about working conditions in his time than it is about time travel. Time travel was only a plot point, it was the device he used to illustrate what he believed the world was coming to.

That said, his stories were very inventive and ground breaking for his time period. I would give him a lot of credit just for paving the way for other ideas in the genre.

 

[Ice fyre]

I have to agree that he was a pioneer of his genre. War of the worlds is a facinating glimpse of his time. I think he also pioneered the use of a semi scientific plot hook (the time machine being a good example) to make a comment on social issues. While not the first to use it I'm sure there were people before him but his work is one of the more widley known.

One thing I would say is I actually find his writing style to be good even though it was written many years ago.

 

[Scifi fan]

His writing style is excellent. Granted that his works tended to be social commentaries, but so what? Who else has come up with so many science fiction concepts?

I can think of Karel Capek, with his idea of robots, or Asimov with his idea of the three laws of robotics or the idea of psychohistory, and, of course, Clarke came up with the idea of communications satellites - but none of them had as many original ideas as Wells.

 

[kythe]

His writing style is excellent. Granted that his works tended to be social commentaries, but so what? Who else has come up with so many science fiction concepts?

True, and sometimes that's what makes for great literature - not the amount of science involved. I probably shouldn't have said that in a negative sense.

Many of the greatest works of sci-fi are actual commentaries about current issues but that are set in the future or an alternate "reality" to put a message into a different and more neutral perspective. Considering that H.G. Wells wrote his books in the late 1800's, there is only so much "science" as we know it that could have been incorporated into the stories. He was quite a visionary, and did well reflecting his understanding of the world.

 

[Scifi fan]

Science may be necessary in science fiction, but it's not sufficient. What is far, far, more important is the story.

 

[Connavar]

Science may be necessary in science fiction, but it's not sufficient. What is far, far, more important is the story.

Science is not necessary in SF stories. It wasnt in Wells stories and it isnt a 100 years later.

 

[dask]

Science is not necessary in SF stories. It wasnt in Wells stories and it isnt a 100 years later.

I agree. While helpful, science is not necessary in sf; fictional science is.

 

[ray gower]

I'm afraid Wells did not invent the theme of alien invasions, time machines or much else, they were popular topics in stories from the late 19th century, many of those themes appearing in the same book! Read several published in the 1880's though Ill be blowed if I can find them again.

What he was was a superb writer who could make mundane things sound interesting while broadly keeping the commentary relevant even today and coming at just the right time to make a name for himself

Also I think Verne must also be a close contender to the same crown?

 

[Connavar]

I agree. While helpful, science is not necessary in sf; fictional science is.

I dont think fictional science is either. Of course even low on science authors use fictional science but its not necessary.

A Philip K Dick book about a dystopian future,post nuclear war and focusing on characters,their interactions,emotions doesnt really need his flying cars or vid phones which he uses in like every story he wrote in SF stories.

There are many authors like that.

Thats what i mean.

 

[Scifi fan]

There is a debate apparently, as to whether science fiction should be reasonably scientifically accurate - now that's a topic for another thread.

In any case, if H. G. Wells didn't come up with alien invasion or time travel, who did? I have no idea who pre dated him.

 

[citri]

I dont think fictional science is either. Of course even low on science authors use fictional science but its not necessary.

A Philip K Dick book about a dystopian future,post nuclear war and focusing on characters,their interactions,emotions doesnt really need his flying cars or vid phones which he uses in like every story he wrote in SF stories.

There are many authors like that.

Thats what i mean.

Isn't in necessary by definition? Actual science isn't needed but some form of science is needed for it to be Science Fiction. Otherwise, it's just a book (of whatever genre).

 

[ray gower]

In any case, if H. G. Wells didn't come up with alien invasion or time travel, who did? I have no idea who pre dated him.

I was originally thinking of William Hope Hodgeson: House on the Borderland gives you a fair taste of many of Wells works especially War of the Worlds and the Time Machine, but that one was published about 5 years after Wells. though 'Date 1965, Modern Warfare' does predate Wells' Shape of Things to Come by some 20 years. There are others, many living under the Horror banner, we also have to remember stories like Verne's Earth to the Moon, Green Ray, Robur the Conqueror among others.

 

[Scifi fan]

I was originally thinking of William Hope Hodgeson: House on the Borderland gives you a fair taste of many of Wells works especially War of the Worlds and the Time Machine, but that one was published about 5 years after Wells. though 'Date 1965, Modern Warfare' does predate Wells' Shape of Things to Come by some 20 years. There are others, many living under the Horror banner, we also have to remember stories like Verne's Earth to the Moon, Green Ray, Robur the Conqueror among others.

I read the wikipaedia entry on "House on the Borderland", but it seems more like horror and fantasy than science fiction. That said, all stories are retelling of older stories, as we've discussed elsewhere, but, still, I wouldn't consider it time travel or alien invasion as we would consider it today.

 

[ray gower]

Yes it is classic Victorian horror, but aliens from other worlds, devices that speed you through fantastical journeys in time (forward and back) and space (in and out), dystopian civilisations etc are very Wellsian in concept. The parallels are most obvious when reading, but if you can't face reading it it will undoubtedly appear again on BBC7 shortly.

You also have to remember that Science Fiction as a classification simply did not exist until the late 30's. Until then books were pretty much either Fiction or Horror

 

[dask]

Isn't in necessary by definition? Actual science isn't needed but some form of science is needed for it to be Science Fiction. Otherwise, it's just a book (of whatever genre).

My dictionary of choice (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary) defines science fiction as "fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component." You're closer to the truth than I am.

 

[j d worthington]

You also have to remember that Science Fiction as a classification simply did not exist until the late 30's. Until then books were pretty much either Fiction or Horror

Close, but not quite accurate. The usual date is 1926, with the publication of Gernsback's Amazing Stories; though Munsey magazines and the like, around the 1890s to the 1920s, published a great many stories (and writers) considered classics (and founders) of the field, such as Burrough's early John Carter stories, George Allan England's Darkness and Dawn trilogy, stories by Garrett P. Serviss, etc. The late 30's is actually the date of the so-called "Campbell Revolution" or "Golden Age", under the aegis of the late John W. Campbell as editor of Astounding (later Analog) -- as well as its sadly short-lived fantasy counterpart, Unknown (later Unknown Worlds).

However, your point about The House on the Borderland is right on the money, as it was long considered a classic of the field. And, like so many things of the time, it straddled what would later become more rigid genres -- in this case, the weird tale, fantasy, and science fiction, much as his The Night Land also did. The same is true for many of those who were long viewed as major writers in the field from the period, such as A. Merritt, much of whose work does blend sf and fantasy by blurring the lines between the two -- something which remained quite acceptable in sf for a very, very long time; certainly throughout the Golden Age itself (see Kuttner and Moore's "The Children's Hour", "Mimsey Were the Borogoves", and "Vintage Season", for example).

As far as the opening question... I don't know as Wells is/was the greatest sf writer... I don't think a field as broad as sf (or any other) can produce a single "greatest" writer... but he is certainly one of the most influential and important.

Oh, and as for alien invasions... try Fitz-James O'Brien's "What Was It?" or Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla", or even Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing", which gives a (more or less) scientific explanation of the invisible invader....

Time travel? Asimov included "A Christmas Carol" in that camp, and that certainly predates Wells by a good many years. And, if you'll look at this Wiki entry, you'll see that time travel (granted, not using technology... but then, Wells' Time Machine is scarcely a well-developed scientific -- or pseudoscientific -- concept) as a theme dates back at least as far as the 18th century:

List of time travel science fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It isn't so much that everything is a new telling of an old story; closer to the mark is that basic underlying themes are used and re-used, though in vastly different ways and often presenting vastly different stories (with correspondingly vastly different moods and impressions).

And for anyone interested in a broader view of the sf of the period 1890-1920, look for some of Sam Moskowitz' anthologies, such as Science Fiction by Gaslight or Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the "Scientific Romance" in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920, or, for a broader period, Damon Knight's A Century of Science Fiction....