The Island of Doctor Moreau (Broadview Editions)

A classic of science fiction and a dark meditation on Darwinian thought in the late Victorian period, The Island of Doctor Moreau explores the possibility of civilization as a constraint imposed on savage human nature. The protagonist, Edward Prendick, finds himself stranded on an island with the notorious Doctor Moreau, whose experiments on the island’s humans and animals result in unspeakable horrors. The critical introduction to this Broadview Edition gives particular emphasis to Wells’s hostility towards religion as well as his thorough knowledge of the Darwinian thought of his time. Appendices provide passages from Darwin and Huxley related to Wells’s early writing; in addition, excerpts from other writers illustrate late-nineteenth-century anxieties about social degeneration.

Steven McLean, H. G. Wells Society

“The Broadview Edition of The Island of Doctor Moreau restores this greatest of all post-Darwinian island fables to its original context. In his introduction, Mason Harris provides a lively account of the evolutionary debates that influenced the novel’s construction and an informative overview of criticism to date. Appendices show the controversy generated by Moreau’s publication, situate the final text alongside early drafts and Wells’s journalism, and reprint scientific and literary sources crucial to understanding the novel. This edition will appeal to both those in the academy and the general reader, and is to be strongly recommended.”

Eric Cash, Abraham Baldwin College, Editor, The Undying Fire: The Journal of The H.G. Wells Society, the Americas, 2001–2005

“Mason Harris provides the reader with essential connections between The Island of Doctor Moreau and the scientific and philosophical debates that raged in the Victorian world. This edition provides vital insight that allows the reader to slice through the shadows of Moreau’s House of Pain and emerge into the true turn-of-the-century horror that H.G. Wells constructed. The appendices, including samples of Wells’s scientific journalism, help bring focus to the complexity of the author’s vision.”

From the Back Cover

A classic of science fiction and a dark meditation on Darwinian thought in the late Victorian period, The Island of Doctor Moreau explores the possibility of civilization as a constraint imposed on savage human nature. The protagonist, Edward Prendick, finds himself stranded on an island with the notorious Doctor Moreau, whose experiments on the island’s humans and animals result in unspeakable horrors. The critical introduction to this Broadview Edition gives particular emphasis to Wells’s hostility towards religion as well as his thorough knowledge of the Darwinian thought of his time. Appendices provide passages from Darwin and Huxley related to Wells’s early writing; in addition, excerpts from other writers illustrate late-nineteenth-century anxieties about social degeneration.

About the Author

Mason Harris is a retired Professor of English at Simon Fraser University.

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