"A Modern Utopia" is presented as a tale told by a sketchily described character known only as the Owner of the Voice. This character «is not to be taken as the Voice of the ostensible author who fathers these pages,» Wells warns. He is accompanied by another character known as «the botanist.» Interspersed in the narrative are discursive remarks on various matters, creating what Wells called in his preface «a sort of shot-silk texture between philosophical discussion on the one hand and imaginative narrative on the other.» Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure, H.G. Wells's A Modern Utopia has been called «not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia.» The novel is best known for its notion that a voluntary order of nobility known as the Samurai could effectively rule a «kinetic and not static» world state so as to solve «the problem of combining progress with political stability.» Herbert George Wells (1866-1946), known as H. G. Wells, was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games.
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H. G. Wells. A MODERN UTOPIA
A MODERN UTOPIA
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Table of Contents
THE OWNER OF THE VOICE
CHAPTER THE FIRST. Topographical
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
CHAPTER THE SECOND. Concerning Freedoms
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
CHAPTER THE THIRD. Utopian Economics
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
§ 8
CHAPTER THE FOURTH. The Voice of Nature
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
CHAPTER THE FIFTH. Failure in a Modern Utopia
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
§ 8
CHAPTER THE SIXTH. Women in a Modern Utopia
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 4
§ 6
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. A Few Utopian Impressions
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. My Utopian Self
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
CHAPTER THE NINTH. The Samurai
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
§ 6
§ 7
§ 8
CHAPTER THE TENTH. Race in Utopia
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. The Bubble Bursts
§ 1
§ 2
§ 3
§ 4
§ 5
APPENDIX. SCEPTICISM OF THE INSTRUMENT
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H. G. Wells
Chapter the First. Topographical
.....
There are some you never wish to meet again, you say, and some, I gather, you do. “And One!”
It is strange, but this figure of the botanist will not keep in place. It sprang up between us, dear reader, as a passing illustrative invention. I do not know what put him into my head, and for the moment, it fell in with my humour for a space to foist the man’s personality upon you as yours and call you scientific — that most abusive word. But here he is, indisputably, with me in Utopia, and lapsing from our high speculative theme into halting but intimate confidences. He declares he has not come to Utopia to meet again with his sorrows.
