
A Story of the Days to Come
by H. G. Wells
'A Story of the Days to Come' Summary
"A Story of the Days To Come" is a novella by H. G. Wells comprising five chapters that was first published in the June to October 1899 issues of The Pall Mall Magazine. It was later included in an 1899 collection of Wells's short stories, Tales of Space and Time.
The novella depicts two lovers in a dystopian future London of the 22nd century and explores the implications of excessive urbanisation, class warfare, and advances in the technology of medicine, communication, transportation, and agriculture. Like When the Sleeper Wakes, published in the same year, the novella extrapolates the trends Wells observed in 19th-century Victorian London two hundred years into the future.
The London of the early 22nd century has a population of over 30 million, with the lower classes living in subterranean dwellings, and the middle and upper classes living in skyscrapers and largely communal accommodations. Moving walkways interconnect the city, with fast air-travel and superhighways available between cities. The countryside is largely abandoned.
Among other things, this novella appears to anticipate technical developments toward massive urbanisation, skyscrapers, moving sidewalks, superhighways, advertising, mass media, psychotherapy, and intercontinental aircraft traveling at jet speeds.
Socially and economically, however, it predicts a very stratified class structure and a largely communal society where few mega-corporations control all means of production. It also predicts hypnosis as a supplement or replacement to psychology, creches where child-rearing is transferred from parents to professionals, and a megapolis served by citywide moving walkways and escalators, with enormous cities (four in England) separated by abandoned countryside.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1899Genre/Category
Tags/Keywords
Authors

H. G. Wells
England
He was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of...
Books by H. G. WellsDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

Zofloya by Charlotte Dacre
Zofloya, a tale set in 18th-century Venice, delves into the lives of Victoria de Loredani and her brother Leonardo. Their world is shattered when thei...

Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope
The thirty-five year-old (hence utterly over-the-hill) Miss Margaret Mackenzie, having devoted her life to others, suddenly finds herself with no one...

Shifting Sands by Sara Ware Bassett
In the charming coastal town of Belleport, Marcia Howe, a captivating young widow, finds her life disrupted when Stanley Heath, a mysterious stranger...

Innocencia: a story of the prairie regions of Brazil by Alfredo d'Escragnolle Taunay
Itakes place in the prairie regions of Brazil and focuses on the life of a young woman named Innocencia. The novel provides a vivid and intimate portr...

Rover Vol. 01 No. 11 by Lawrence Labree
The Rover was a mid-19th-century American literary magazine publishing original and selected short stories and poetry, with engravings. This is the el...

Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
The action takes place in London, with excursions to Devon, Yorkshire, and Portsmouth, as we follow the adventures of the eponymous hero. Nicholas is...

Midlander by Booth Tarkington
The Midlander is a novel that follows the story of Dan Oliphant, a man who possesses a prescience about the coming growth of his Midwestern town. Dan'...

Jan Of The Windmill by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing
"Jan Of The Windmill" by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing is a timeless classic that transports readers to a world of rustic charm and heartwarming tales....

Fliegende Holländer by Julius Wolff
Wolff gehört zu den sogenannten Butzenscheibendichtern. Dieser Begriff wurde zuerst 1884 von Paul Heyse verwendet, um damit zeitgenössische Dichter zu...

Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen by Jules Verne
In Jules Verne's classic novel, Phileas Fogg, a wealthy and eccentric London gentleman, makes a wager that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days....
Reviews for A Story of the Days to Come
No reviews posted or approved, yet...