H.G. Wells

The author of The Time Machine, the creator of fantastic stories about aliens, invisible men and strange hybrids of man and beast – this is the well-known side of H. G. Wells. Now that the gap between science-fiction and reality narrows, however, it becomes apparent that Wells provided many of the ideas that have inspired the cinema and the collective imagination of our times: invasions from outer space, time travel, plunging comets, genetic manipulation and virtual worlds. Simultaneously, Wells emerges as prophet of a labyrinthine future of linked projects and associations, anticipating the League of Nations, the United Nations and the League of Human Rights. Elmar Schenkel's essayistic roundtrip shows how Wells influenced the 20th century in a multiplicity of ways.