The Island of Dr. Moreau (Signet Classics) - Softcover

Wells, H. G.; Flynn, Dr. John L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 045146866X ISBN 13: 9780451468666

Publisher: Signet, 2014

Synopsis

A cautionary tale of the horrors that can ensue when man experiments with nature, from the father of science fiction, H.G. Wells.  

A lonely island in the Pacific. The sinister scientist who rules it. And the strange beings who dwell there...

This is the scenario for H. G. Wells’s haunting classic, one of his most intriguing and visionary novels. Living in the late nineteenth century and facing the impact of Darwin’s theory of evolution, Wells wrote this chilling masterpiece about the characteristics of beasts blurring as the animals turn into men. Dr. Moreau, a scientist expelled from his homeland for his cruel vivisection experiments, finds a deserted island that gives him the freedom to continue torturous transplantations and create hideous creatures with manlike intelligence. But as the brutally enforced order on Moreau’s island dissolves, the true consequences of his experiments emerge, and his creations revert to beasts more shocking than nature could devise.

A genius of his time, H. G. Wells foresaw the use of what he called the “atom bomb,” the practice of gene-splicing, and men landing on the moon. Now, when these have become part of everyday life, his dark fable serves as a compelling reminder of the horrors that reckless experiments with nature can produce.
 
With an Introduction by Nita A. Farahany 
and an Afterword by Dr. John L. Flynn

About this title

Review

A shipwreck in the South Seas, a palm-tree paradise where a mad doctor conducts vile experiments, animals that become human and then "beastly" in ways they never were before--it's the stuff of high adventure. It's also a parable about Darwinian theory, a social satire in the vein of Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), and a bloody tale of horror. Or, as H. G. Wells himself wrote about this story, "The Island of Dr. Moreau is an exercise in youthful blasphemy. Now and then, though I rarely admit it, the universe projects itself towards me in a hideous grimace. It grimaced that time, and I did my best to express my vision of the aimless torture in creation." This colorful tale by the author of The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds lit a firestorm of controversy at the time of its publication in 1896.

From the Publisher

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About this edition

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 045146866X
• ISBN 13: 9780451468666
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 208