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La máquina del tiempo
La máquina del tiempo
La máquina del tiempo
Libro electrónico146 páginas2 horas

La máquina del tiempo

Calificación: 3.5 de 5 estrellas

3.5/5

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Información de este libro electrónico

Prólogo de Félix J. Palma
Traducción de Rodolfo Martínez

La primera gran historia de viajes en el tiempo y una de las grandes novelas de ciencia ficción de todas las épocas. Una especulación arriesgada y sumamente aguda no sólo en lo científico, sino, y especialmente, en lo social y lo político.

El Crononauta de Wells recorrerá distintos momentos de nuestro futuro para acabar en una remota y aparentemente utópica sociedad en la que la humanidad se ha dividido en dos especies tan antagónicas como dependientes la una de la otra: los apacibles Elois y los siniestros Morlocks. La evolución social que prefigura ese escenario sigue siendo, más de cien años después de su publicación, uno de los momentos más brillantes y estremecedores de la ciencia ficción de todos los tiempos.

Y como complemento perfecto a la novela, Félix J. Palma (El mapa del tiempo, El mapa del cielo, El mapa del caos) realiza un interesante repaso al proceso creativo de Wells, la intencionalidad, a menudo política, de su obra y el eco que la novela alcanzó en su tiempo.

IdiomaEspañol
EditorialSportula
Fecha de lanzamiento6 abr 2015
ISBN9788415988755

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Calificación: 3.742857142857143 de 5 estrellas
3.5/5

70 clasificaciones163 comentarios

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  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    This is a novella about a time-traveller who firstly embarks to about 8270 AD (?) to the world of flesh eating Morlocks and peace-loving Eloi. I liked this book much better than The War of the Worlds as I think it has withstood the test of time a little better. I loved the vocabulary of Wells, much larger than today's writers and I even had to look up a few words to add to my word journal. Sci-fi is really not my genre at all (I usually despise it), but due to the writing and the short length of this book, it kept by rapt attention and I read it in one sitting. 88 pages
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5

    Regina Spektor was on NPR today speaking with Terry Gross. The NPR interviewer accomplished no favors. She asked woefully stupid questions about the Soviet Union and its relationship to WWII. this originated when Spektor noted that growing up in the USSR she always felt that the Great Patriotic War had happened recently, given its absorption into the collective consciousness. Emigrating to the Bronx, she was struck that such wasn't a universal condition. Such made me think of The Time Machine.

    As with most archetypes of speculative fiction, the premise had been closeted in my brainpan before opening the book, yet, this one succeeded, especially as a treatise on species within or over time. I'm curious what Spengler thought of this?
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    I think this must have been one of the first novels to warn that the future might not be a Utopia. I found convincing because the unhappy future wasn’t caused by the establishment of an evil dictatorship or the destruction from a catastrophe. No, it came about as the logical climax of certain social trends, trends that are continuing in our time.What I have learned listening to audio versions of Wells’ classic science fiction novels, which I read when I was young, is that he not only an idea man but also a good novelist, with much skill at scene setting, world building, sharp characterizations, and sheer story telling.Scott Brick portrays the Time Traveler as an upper-class adventurer with a sneer in his voice that his terrible experiences do nothing to remove.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    A brilliant inventor creates the world’s first time machine. After explaining its inner-workings to guests of his weekly dinner parties, he arranges for a follow up meeting about a week later. When the group convenes, they find the scientist exhausted and weathered. After cleaning up and consuming a well deserved meal, he sits down to tell of his journey over 800,000 years into the future.

    Damn, this book is old. In fact, I’m certain it is the oldest novel I've yet to read clocking in at one hundred and twenty one years since initial publication. Wells seemingly went to great lengths to explain to the reader how a theoretical time machine would operate and I often wondered if Wells had built one himself based on how detailed his explanations and theories were. It would certainly explain the theory that the author himself is the main character.

    That isn't to say it’s too philosophical and technical, there is quite a bit of action and danger. The events in the future carried with it a constant sense of urgency. Whether the traveler is trying to understand his surroundings, avoid capture or trying to find his missing time machine, the action moved at a brisk pace. In fact, a memorable moment had the traveler racing forward in time, worrying that a pillar or some kind of concrete structure may now be erected in the spot he occupied when he initially began his journey. Would he become a part of the object when he slammed on the brakes or would his machine and body simply explode? The story would be a hell of a lot shorter if he ended up like Han Solo encased in carbonite.

    While I enjoyed the world building and the spectacle of time travel, I found myself re-reading passages over and over again as I struggled with Wells’ writing. I’m sure prose like this was probably commonplace back in the late 1800s but it was a major hurdle for me in 2013. However, you probably don’t need my endorsement or recommendation, this book is certainly a classic that inspired generations of sci-fi writers - it’s just not something I think I’ll find myself picking up again.

    Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    The Time Machine proved to be a lovely, albeit short, read, even for someone who isn't that much of a science fiction enthusiast, but that's probably because I haven't read much of the genre. First published first in 1895, this powerful little book shattered literary ground with a single man, the anonymous Time Traveller, and his "squat, ugly, and askew" machine of "brass, ebony, ivory and translucent glimmering quartz" (110). The tale is told from the perspective of one of the man's acquaintances, who is invited to dinner to hear of his adventure upon his return. Naturally, the Time Traveller's account dominates most of the book, though I found that these two contrasting perspectives complemented each other nicely.The adventure of the Time Traveller consists more of him running around to recover his stolen time machine than anything else. The descriptions of the "post-human humans" he meets are, for this reason, limited, and so is the depth to which the landscape is explored. This read reminded me of two other works, both classics in their own right--Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. The former vaguely resembles this work in prose and descriptive style, while the latter, in its representation of the Eloi race. The Time Traveller describes the Eloi people, who we are the ancestors of, as innocent, pure, and child-like race, having degenerated into ignorance as a result of privilege and laziness. As the traveller reflects, "there is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change" and they serve as a wonderful representation of this (97). A dangerously similar description is found in Bartolomé de las Casas' anthropological account of the natives, which is recounted from the perspective of a European missionary. (The difference, however, is that de las Casas enthusiastically viewed them as perfect receptors of the Christian religion, while here such qualities ignite the total opposite reaction).Furthermore, as this is the first of Wells' works that I read, I'm not sure if this is his natural prose — it was elegant but a little too verbose for my taste. Nevertheless, it was acceptable because it suits the character of the Time Traveller rather perfectly. All in all, you do not have to be a sci-fi fan to appreciate this book, though I'm sure it would help.
  • Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas
    2/5
    I really wanted to like this book but had to force myself to finish it out of a feeling of obligation. How can I consider myself a science fiction fan without having read Wells' The Time Machine?

    My biggest issue with the story is that the only moments that felt realistic were within the narrator's home, in which too much was spent trying to hype up the time adventure.

    Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more 15 years earlier in my own timeline.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    Although this story was written in 1895 and one should Wells pay tribute about his vision of the future, the story do not grabbed me really. He described his landing in a country where there is only harmony and peace. At closer inspection there was still a shadow world. This should be the life of the rich and poor, which is not fully convinced me. He also flew in the distant future, where there were only giant crabs etc..It is probably due to me that this book is not really one for me.
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    Simply amazing, and very intense. I only put it down once, when it all started to overflow in my brain and I had to let it settle (plus it was two in the morning). It's the kind of book that can really impact your emotions, if that makes any sense. It made me feel lonely and awestruck and I'm finding it hard to stop thinking about it.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    Another classic that I took too long to read...

    I enjoyed this, but am glad (I think) that I read it after seeing the movie. The movie was nothing like this, and I could read the book and be pleasantly surprised at the differences, rather than watching the movie after knowing the book and being incredibly disappointed.

    It is a product of its era, however, and does read in the literary fashion that is common in other classics. If you like that style - as I do, when I'm in the mood for it - then this is a good book to read.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    This book was originally published in 1895, and, pardon the pun, it stands the test of time. Although the writing style is one you will recognize if you have read anything by say, Henry Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first person narration of the story still is adequate enough to pull you in and gives it the feel of an adventure being told to you orally. The first two chapters set up the story that is to be told by the Time Traveler, a scientist who has built a time machine capable of traveling into the future and back again. By chapter three, the Time Traveler is relating his tale of traveling a great distance into the future and finding that humanity has become two distinct species - one, the Eloi dwell above ground and are happy if not overly intelligent beings. The other species, the Morlocks, dwells below ground and represent a sinister working class. Excited by his success in time travel, the Traveler leaves behind his time machine to explore the new world before him only to find upon his return that his machine is nowhere in sight. Suspecting foul play, the Traveler realizes that it is very likely that he will have to venture into the underground world in order to retrieve his invention and travel back home.This story is cleverly told, but fell just a bit flat for me. I loved the vision that Wells shared in his futuristic tale, but wanted the Time Traveler to be smarter. Still, often people who are gifted in one area are lacking in another. I wanted a man who was intelligent enough to build a machine capable of traveling into the future to also be capable of forward thinking. He should realize that if he intends to travel into the future, he should pack provisions and think through some contingency plans before actually taking off. However, I could also see the mad scientist type who got caught up in the linear thought progression of time travel without stopping to think about practical matters. I think this book was perhaps supposed to be more of a study in societal development than a sci-fi tale, but it provides both and is worth the time it takes to explore it. I loved the museums that the Time Traveler encounters and was impressed by Wells ability to tell a story that can still stand up today, more than a century after he wrote it. "And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the present moment.""My dear sir, that is just where you are wrong. That is just where the whole world has gone wrong. We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface."
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    I believe this is the first of Wells' science fiction novels. It was published shortly before the turn of the century. The initial portion consists of a bunch of after-dinner chat about the science of time travel but the bulk of the book is the Time Traveller's tale of his experiences. In this part, the events follow very rapidly and somewhat chaotically upon each other, while the Time Traveller tries to make sense of the world he has arrived in. This book was intended to be a critique of the existing social situation in Wells' own time. Since the Time Traveller can not speak the language of the people of the future, and knows nothing of their history, he can only speculate about the true nature of their situation and how it came to be. He reminds his audience of this frequently, and thus Wells is not required to make his future entirely sensible or coherent, which is a nice trick. It _is_ hard for a modern reader to understand how the situation which the Time Traveller finds himself in could have come to pass. Wells writes well, and, as seems typical with his books, the Time Traveller readily admits his terror and distress at the situation in which he finds himself.The book ends abruptly, but very well and on a somewhat poignant note.In the museum in which the Time Traveller finds himself, there seem to be an excess of artifacts from the 20th century. Given that he has travelled to the year 800,000+, the items of the 20th century should not seem so significant.
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    I surprisingly enjoyed this book VERY much! It's tiny, for one thing--I read it in a single car drive to Orlando. Usually I wouldn't be able to afford so much praise to a tiny book. Novella, really. But this book is a glorious exception.

    In it, a time traveler talks lucidly and plainly of his experiences traveling into the future. He sees two races of human-like species, descendants from modern day humans. However, they are "lower" than us and less intelligent life-forms.

    Wells conjectures on what made them this way over the hundreds of thousands of years, and comes to the conclusion that our technology created a society that made it very easy for humans to survive. Intelligence no longer became a factor in reproduction, as is necessary to ensure intelligent offspring. Therefore you get this end result!

    Wells wrote beautifully of social theorizing and what he suspects may happen in both the near and distant future. It's a great book for its time (written in 1895), with people just beginning to wonder about the ultimate effects of technology and increasing industry.

    I also enjoyed, by the way, Wells' numerous comments about the continuing heart and sentiment and love of humans, and our capacity for gratitude, which he portrayed so very nicely in the endearing Weena.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    The Invisible Man was an amazing book, its wide range of vocabulary and continuous amounts of action kept me interested the whole way through. Also the stories multiple names for the “Invisible Man” were great and also helped me get a better image of what people see when they interact with the “Invisible Man”. However what I didn’t like so much about this story is how the “Invisible Man” didn’t travel very far to spread his rage or to escape from being chased after from the town’s people. This story’s first couple of chapters were quite slow but yet very interesting, this allowed me to automatically know I was going to really take pleasure in reading this book. The beginning of this book caused me to change my thoughts of what this book was really about. At first I believed it was about an “Invisible Man”, meaning he could not be seen by anyone. Then, after reading the first and second chapter, my thoughts changed to make me think this book was about a man who no one would ever know, meaning he was unable to be understood by others. Around half way through the story, it’s revealed that he was in fact invisible, meaning he was not able to be seen by anyone. After finding that out, I kind of got lost in wondering what was going to happen next since he has been revealed and people know about him. This story foreshadows, allowing it to bring great interest and understanding about the future of the “Invisible Man” and the books beginning half to the readers.This story was a terrific story for me to read because if I were to have a super power, invisibility would be my first choice. I enjoyed being able to read what someone would do if they were invisible and what they would have to go through to get through their lifetime. An example I thought of from the beginning of this book was how does the “Invisible Man’s” family and him get along when they can’t see him? I found that out towards the end of the book which was great. The author, H.G Wells did a marvelous job describing the “Invisible Man’s” past allowing the readers to get a perfect image.The book’s worst part, that could have been changed, was the ending. The story had great excitement and energy leading into the ending which was where it all just stopped. The ending which was the chase of the “Invisible Man” was just too short and made the capture of him look extremely easy. Also the ending didn’t make too much sense to me. Griffin, the “Invisible Man”, was trapped on the ground being held down by Mr. Kemp who was surrounded by the town’s people. As they were calming down Griffin, his ability to become invisible was coming to an end, once he was able to be seen by everyone, they took him to the Jolly Cricketers which then ended the story. H.G Wells ended this great story with a horrible cliff hanger which would now lead you to know my reaction to this book, which is I would recommend this book but be warned it does not end the way I believe it should.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    I read this one as a teen, but it's different, and, in some ways, better than I remember it. "The Time Machine" is, in some ways, an efficiently composed manly-man adventure story that comes complete with monsters, cool machines, and a beautiful, playfully sexual female companion. But in other ways you its a profoundly Modernist text that ably reflects the intellectual currents of its time. Both Darwin and Marx loom large here. Wells's take on human intelligence and endeavor seem directly drawn from the more muscular, violent interpretations of Darwinism: his deceptively peaceful future seems to contain a lesson about the necessity of struggle and suffering in human lives. Meanwhile, the future that the time traveler glimpses might also be described one of the possible fates that might, in the very long run, await a class-stratified society. I don't know too much about the author's politics -- though his character seems to have a low opinion of communism -- so it's hard for me to tell if this aspect of "The Time Machine" has more to do with socialist critique or the author's Englishness. Perhaps it's the latter: there's something about the Eloi, for all their tropical fruits and brightly colored robes, also reminded me of the sort of gently pastoral little folk you sometimes meet in British fantasy literature. After that, the book gets really wild, as the time traveler rockets billions of years into a far future where Earth has become both uninhabitable and almost unrecognizable. The images that Wells presents here are both memorably bizarre and desolate, and it's here that the book really earns its place in the cannon of dystopian science fiction. Indeed, for all the future's beautiful novelty, loneliness seems to be the emotional chord struck most often here. From being the only man with any need of his wits among the Eloi to being the human left to witness an earth taken over by strange, monstrous creatures, to being the only man at his dinner party who really believes that he has traveled in time, the time traveler is very much by himself at almost every stage of this book. Recommended as both a well-written story and an artifact of sorts from another intellectual age. Be careful what you wish for, Wells seems to be telling his readers: human progress doesn't always come as advertised.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    Story of time travel and imagination of future world.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
     First off, I have to say that I enjoyed this book more than Wells' other book The Invisible Man. Unlike in that book, this one began by identifying the inventor of the time machine as a time traveler right off the bat instead of playing around with the revelation of an idea that’s contained within the title (as in, Oh, what do you think is up with this guy? He’s kind of weird and covered in bandages. He couldn’t by any chance be invisible, could he?) It also began by explaining the scientific theory behind the time machine, speaking of time as the fourth dimension and so on. I thought that the explanation of the underlying theory was one of the most interesting parts of [The Invisible Man], and the fact that this book began with something very similar ensured that it began on a good note. I also thought that it was a smart move on the author’s part to have his character travel exclusively into the future. He did mention the possibilities that existed if one travelled into the past, but usually in literature (and in theory) travelling into the past exposes one to all sorts of possible dangers and paradoxes: If you change even some small aspect of the past, is the present you return to affected in some major way? What happens if you go back in time and accidentally cause the death of one of your ancestors? etc. Travelling into the future can affect only events that haven’t happened yet, and thus vastly simplifies things. Travelling into the future also provided an opportunity for the author to engage in utopia and dystopia-type speculation. Yeah, that’s right, it’s both! At least, that’s my interpretation. I actually have no idea what all the literary experts out there classify it as. What I do know is that Wells takes some time to subtly take a dig at all the other utopia fiction of his time period: “This, I must warn you, was my theory at the time,” he says after explaining how the creatures of the time, the eloi and the morlocks, came to be. “I had no convenient cicerone in the pattern of the Utopian books.” Personally, I do think that the book was more interesting with the time traveler attempting to figure things out on his own instead of having another character explain everything to him. For one thing, it makes his final determination even more chilling. One thing that must be mentioned is that, because the story was told from the perspective of a character who is not the time traveler, the reader knows that the time traveller will make it back to his own time because he is telling the story after having already arrived there. That being said, I didn’t seem to mind, perhaps because there are further events after the time traveler tells his initial story. I thought this ending portion was one of the best parts of the book; I love the concluding lines especially.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    This is the first book I read all the way through on a Kindle, and watched my progress in "locations" instead of pages. Do all time travel books become about the history of technology and man's relationship to it? The narrator is a Victorian gentleman who reports on his trip to the future non stop, with no pauses, and no dialogue. It is hard to believe that a group of men, the other characters from his time period, no matter how stalwart, would listen to such a long story without interrupting once and questioning some of the details. But still, since I am reading time travel books (When You Reach Me, A Wrinkle in Time) I wanted to try the granddaddy of them all.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    Summary: His Victorian colleagues don't believe he's constructed a time machine, but the Time Traveller returns with a tale to tell, of his journey to the year 802,701. There (Then?) he found that humankind had evolved into two distinct races: the childlike Eloi, who live a life of leisure, free of worry, sickness, or care; and the Morlocks, who are more mechanically inclined but dwell exclusively underground. The Morlocks steal his time machine immediately after he arrives, and in his attempts to get it back, he discovers that the life of the Eloi is not as idyllic as it might seem.Review: As much as I love the genre of science fiction as a whole, The Time Machine is one of my first forays into its origins. I was already fairly well-versed in its plot from having read the fantastic The Map of Time earlier this summer, but I was surprised to find that the main point of the book was not the technology or its consequences, but rather a statement of Wells's beliefs about the effects of class division on the human condition. Of course, the social politics are wrapped up in a fantastical adventure story, but they're not buried particularly deep. I also didn't find the message to be particularly complex, or even particularly plausible.But, setting aside the underlying theme, Wells certainly manages to tell a good story. His vision of the Eloi's world is fascinating, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how things got from here to there. (I particularly loved the scene in the ruined museum.) Once the protagonist leaves the time of the Eloi, he goes even farther into the future, and Wells's vision of a desolate Earth under a dying sun is nightmarishly vivid. It's a very short book - barely long enough to qualify as a novella, really - and part of me wishes it were longer, with a more complex plot. The prose, while not as dense as I was expecting, did take some getting used to, but overall it was definitely worth the read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: It probably should be read by every sci-fi fan, particularly those interested in time travel stories, as a basis of where the genre started; it's quick enough and with an interesting enough story to win over even the more ardent avoiders of the classics.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    This is a short book. I found that I was sort of drawn into the story, eventually. I certainly think that if I'd written it I'd have gone in different directions, quite literally, probably the past! But that wasn't his intention. Wells intended to go where others hadn't been in thought or deed. I suppose that is what stirred me to read it, knowing that it was one of the first of an entire genre wondering where the future might take us. I probably won't read any more Wells books unless I find 'The Invisible Man' which I had begun and then lost but was enjoying more than The Time Machine at the beginning of the two books. I have recently seen the statue of the alien that someone created in honor of a character in Well's book War of the Worlds. That also stirred my interest in finishing the book.
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    Great time travel classic. I have read it three times.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    Things look bleak in the future as told by the Time Traveler in this classic. I read this curriculum book to prep for working with a class. This was my first eBook. I read it on the Kindle app (the book was a free download) for the iPad.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    a good fictional novel i have read many years ago......
    human race has evolved into two species, the leisured classes and the working class ...
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    I'm not sure that this is a great novel in its own right, or that it's held up well over time (pun intended, har har).The most interesting aspect to me was the fact that Wells devoted a good portion of the books opening to explaining the idea of time travel itself. Not how the time machine itself worked - Wells skillfully avoids any attempt to explain that, to his credit. But rather, he presumably felt that "time travel" would be so alien a concept to his readers that it warranted a lengthy exposition. This more than anything illustrates just how groundbreaking the novel was. But while interesting on a meta level, it's a bit dull for a modern reader to plow through.It was also interesting on this level: all science fiction is inherently about the present, and in this case, it said a lot about late 19th century London. Wells took Darwin's (then still new-ish) ideas about evolution, and invented a fictitious time traveler so he could take them to a logical conclusion and use the story as a warning and bit of social commentary. Again, to the modern reader it seems a bit ho hum, but it's fascinating on a meta level.We're all familiar with the basic elements of the story. The time machine, the Eloi, the Morlocks. But surprisingly, that's about all there is to the novel - he makes a trip to the future where he discovers them (spurred by his machine being stolen), and there's little else in terms of story. Wells offers very vivid and captivating descriptions of the world, but there's not that much action. Further, the narrator seems kind of detached from it all, despite living through the experiences. There's no exploration of some of the implications of time travel, only this thinly veiled warning about the future.In short, if one is interested in a science fiction classic, it's a worthwhile read. But as a novel in of itself, it falls fairly flat.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    The main man holds court in his parlour in late 1800s England with a story of his incredible travels through time. His chums are advised to listen carefully and to not interrupt. The story begins with conversation on the possibility of time travel itself, and continues with the event having happened. Time travel, in this case, means going forward a lot of centuries to an improbably futuristic year of 800,000 and something. Humans have evolved into two separate sub-species, one placid pleasant lot living above ground and a light-hating flesh-ripping lot who dwell in subterranean darkness. The time machine itself goes AWOL and our man is understandably in a panic about getting it, and himself, back. A rollicking and gripping story which surprised and delighted me.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    This is a seminal work of science fiction, and as such blazed the trail for the genre as a whole. Reading it over 100 years after initial publication, gives me a sense of understanding science fiction. While taking this into consideration, as well as being a product of the Victorian era, I still found The Time Traveler to be more than a little overwrought in this tale. One surprising thing I learned was that Kodak did indeed have a camera available in 1895 and HG Wells must have been very well informed.
  • Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas
    3/5
    I liked The Time Machine. I think it is a perfect classic sci-fi read, especially for those new to the genre, or those who want to know how the genre began. The existentialist themes in the book were probably very important during the time the book was written, but it does leave a desire for more description of the new world and the technology. However, the read is short, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to fly through some sci-fi.
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    I've watched many movie and tv adaptations of HG Wells Time Machine, but reading it is a totally diferent experience.

    Some will call it science fiction, others social criticism but I find it to be an adventure; and what a beautifully told adventure it is.
    The time traveler telling its journey into the unknown future is filled with wonderful details and very interesting ideas of mankind evolutions and legacies.

    A classic that is great to read.
  • Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas
    4/5
    The Time Machine 4/5I really really liked this book, it was short and sweet and i loved it. It keeps you gripped and reading despite it being so short. I flew through it enjoyed every moment but didn't have that disappointment when i released id come to the end (it looks longer because of the notes at the back) as i found it was rounded off nicely (as i also found with The Isldand of Dr. Moreau) Defiantly will be reading more Wells this year!
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    Wells was the first time-traveller, from his mind onto the pages of this marvelous book! I must have read this at least three or four times over the years, and it doesn't change for anything but the better.
  • Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas
    5/5
    Second time reading it, and I think I enjoyed it even more this time around. I'm a big Wells fan and thoroughly enjoyed this story. It's short, but there's a great adventure within its pages with some commentary on man, as well. I wouldn't be opposed to reading it some time in the future, again.

Vista previa del libro

La máquina del tiempo - H G Wells

LA MÁQUINA DEL TIEMPO

H. G. Wells

© 2015, Sportula, por la presente edición

© 2015, Félix J. Palma, por «El rumor del futuro»

© 205, Rodolfo Martínez por «El destino de Weena»

© 2015, Rodolfo Martínez, por la traducción

Ilustración y diseño de cubierta: © 2015, Sportula

Publicada originalmente en 1895 como The Time Machine por William Heinemann.

Primera edición, abril, 2015

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CONTENIDO

El rumor del futuro, por Félix J. Palma

LA MÁQUINA DEL TIEMPO

El destino de Weena, por Rodolfo Martínez

Sportula

El rumor del futuro

Félix J. Palma

H. G. Wells oía el rumor del futuro como quien escucha el mar a través de una caracola. De otro modo no se entiende que de una única mente surgieran cuatro de las obras fundacionales de la ciencia ficción. Si observamos atentamente la singladura de dicho género, que prácticamente él inauguró, comprobaremos que gran parte de las obras que lo jalonan se han abandonado a la inercia de La máquina del Tiempo, La isla del doctor Moreau, El hombre invisible y La Guerra de los Mundos, novelas que Wells escribió de corrido en un lapso de cuatro años, entre prisas, desvelos y contratiempos varios, pero sobre todo ajeno a la condición de clásicos que portaban sus genes.

La máquina del tiempo, la obra que nos ocupa, fue publicada en 1895, y obró el milagro de convertirlo en escritor, permitiéndole al fin vivir exclusivamente de la literatura. Pero su ópera prima no brotó de su pluma tal y como la conocemos hoy. En realidad, pese a lo que pueda parecer, eso ocurre con muy pocas novelas. La mayoría suelen esconder una intrahistoria de retoques, mutilaciones y azares que el lector ignora.

En este prólogo vamos a desvelar lo que podríamos denominar «la historia secreta» de La máquina del tiempo. Wells empezó a trabajar en ella ocho años antes de que esta apareciese publicada en la forma que hoy conocemos. Corría el año 1888, que sería desgraciadamente conocido como el «otoño del terror», pues fue el año en el que Jack el Destripador asesinó y descuartizó a cinco prostitutas en el mísero barrio de Whitechapel. Por aquel entonces Herbert George Wells contaba con 22 años, y acababa de mudarse a Londres desde su Bromley natal gracias a una beca de una guinea semanal que había obtenido en la Escuela Normal de Ciencias. Contento de haber burlado el oscuro destino de mercero al que su madre pretendía conducirlo, Wells no solo se dispuso a disfrutar de los placeres que ofrecía la gran metrópoli, tanto intelectuales como carnales, sino que también intentó hacer realidad el sueño que llevaba incubando desde su infancia: convertirse en escritor. Con más ilusión que habilidad, empuñó la pluma y dio forma a un relato titulado Los Argonautas del Tiempo (en clara alusión a Jasón y los argonautas de la nave Argo, que Apolonio de Rodas, entre otros autores de la Antigüedad, trataron en algunas de sus obras). El relato estaba protagonizada por un científico loco, el doctor Nebo Gipfel, que inventaba una máquina del tiempo, la cual empleaba para viajar al pasado y cometer un asesinato. La idea del viaje en el tiempo no era original, ya había sido usada en El reloj que marchaba hacia atrás, de Edward Mitchell, considerado el primer relato sobre el tema, y posteriormente la utilizarían Dickens en su relato Cuento de Navidad, y el norteamericano Edgar Allan Poe en Un cuento de las montañas Escabrosas. Pero en dichos relatos se viajaba en un estado de ensueño o alucinación, o sencillamente mediante la simple fantasía. Su científico, en cambio, viajaba voluntariamente, y para ello usaba, por vez primera, un artefacto mecánico. Los Argonautas del Tiempo fue publicado en The Science School Journal, serializado en tres partes. Sin embargo, aquel primer y cauteloso intento por probarse como escritor no alteró el curso del mundo, que siguió discurriendo con su habitual normalidad, por lo que Wells, un tanto decepcionado, decidió olvidarse de aquel sueño adolescente y continuar con sus estudios. Tras obtener la Licenciatura de Ciencias, con matrícula de honor en Zoología, empezó a impartir cursos de biología en el Instituto Universitario por Correspondencia y ocupó el cargo de redactor jefe del University Correspondent, al tiempo que escribía breves y sueltos para el Educational Times. En poco tiempo amasó una sorprendente suma de dinero que le hizo reponerse de la desilusión provocada por la escasa repercusión de su relato, renovando su confianza en sí mismo. En los años siguientes, se dedicaría a inundar de artículos los diarios locales, escribiendo incluso algún ensayo para el Fortnightly Review, hasta lograr que le ofrecieran un hueco en las páginas del Pall Mall Gazette.

Pero la literatura de ficción volvió a llamar a su puerta. Por aquel entonces, el autor francés Julio Verne llevaba años practicando un tipo de narraciones didácticas que divulgaban los conocimientos científicos del momento, al tiempo que formaban a los jóvenes lectores, trasmitiendo de modo ameno valores como la solidaridad, la fraternidad, la justicia y demás ideales del socialismo romántico. Tal era la popularidad de esas narraciones que a Lewis Hind, el encargado de las páginas de literatura de la Gazette, se le ocurrió incluir aquel tipo de historias en su publicación, y decidió encomendarle la tarea a Wells. Hind estaba convencido de que él era la persona idónea para pergeñar pequeños cuentos que reflejasen el apogeo científico que estaba viviendo el siglo, y ya puestos, que incluso especularan sobre las consecuencias negativas que aquella imparable erupción de inventos podría tener en el mundo. Wells meditó sobre la propuesta de Hind, y finalmente aceptó. Después de todo, lo que le estaba proponiendo era volver a desempolvar el sueño de su infancia, llevar a cabo un segundo asalto al mundo literario. En un par de días pergeñó un relato titulado El bacilo robado que, aparte de satisfacer completamente a Hind y reportarle cinco guineas, le permitió ver su nombre impreso por primera vez bajo una historia de ficción.

El cuento también llamó la atención de William Ernest Henley, director del National Observer, que se apresuró a brindarle sus páginas, convencido de que aquel joven sería capaz de confeccionar historias mucho más ambiciosas si disponía de mayor espacio para correr. El ofrecimiento de Henley entusiasmó y amedrentó a Wells a partes iguales, pues el National Observer era una de las revistas más prestigiosas de Inglaterra. Sin ir más lejos, en aquel momento estaba publicando El negro del Narcissus, de su admirado Conrad. Ya no se trataba de breves ni de columnas ni de pequeñas historias. Ahora su imaginación podría fluir libremente, pues el espacio que se le ofrecía era la distancia de un escritor. Pero, ¿estaría a la altura de las circunstancias?

No lo sabía, pero no pensaba dejar pasar aquella oportunidad, así que Wells invirtió los días previos a su cita con Henley en revolver entre las muchas ideas que atesoraba en su mente. Buscaba una que se le antojara lo suficientemente original y atractiva para sorprender al fogueado editor, pero ninguna le parecía digna de su oferta. La cita se aproximaba y Wells seguía sin una buena historia que proponerle. Entonces se acordó de su antiguo relato Los Argonautas del Tiempo. Si lo desplumaba de sus ingenuidades y despropósitos argumentales, la idea de partida seguía siendo novedosa. Así que se puso a remodelarlo. Sacrificó sin miramientos al cargante Nebo Gipfel y lo sustituyó por un respetable científico al que ni siquiera puso nombre, sumiéndolo en un anonimato en el que cualquier inventor pudiera verse representado, e intentó convertir la idea del viaje en el tiempo en algo más que una simple fantasía pueril aplicándole el ligero barniz científico con que cubría las historias que había escrito para Hind. Para ello echó mano a una teoría que ya había desarrollado en anteriores ensayos en el Fortnightly Review: el tratamiento del tiempo como la cuarta dimensión de un universo sólo en apariencia tridimensional. Adelantándose veinticuatro años a la Teoría de la Relatividad de Einstein, Wells contempló el tiempo como una cuarta dimensión, por la que uno podía desplazarse igual que por el espacio.

Para cuando acudió al despacho de Henley visualizaba la historia con asombrosa nitidez. La novela del viajero del tiempo constaría de dos partes. La primera contendría la explicación que el inventor ofrecería a sus invitados sobre el funcionamiento de la máquina, una explicación, que al contrario que las prolijas exposiciones de Verne, sería concisa y ligera, llena de ejemplos sencillos que ilustraran sus ideas. La segunda parte de la novela relataría el viaje que el protagonista llevaría a cabo para probar su máquina, y que pondría rumbo al futuro. Con un puñado de rápidas pero sugerentes pinceladas, Wells transportó a Henley millones de años hacia delante, para arrojarlo a un mundo que casi había dejado de rotar y que languidecía bajo un sol cada vez más frío. Tras reponerse de la impresión, Henley, un individuo enorme al que una chapucera intervención quirúrgica había condenado a vagar por el mundo apoyándose en una enorme muleta, y en quien Stevenson se había inspirado a la hora de describir a John Silver el Largo, compuso un gesto de duda. Hablar sobre el futuro era arriesgado. En los mentideros literarios se rumoreaba que el propio Verne había escrito una novela titulada París en el siglo XX, en la que mostraba el mundo del mañana, pero Hetzel, su editor, había rehusado publicarla por considerar que su idea del año 1960, donde a los reos se les ejecutaba con una descarga eléctrica y existía una red de «telégrafos fotográficos» que permitía enviar el facsímil de un documento a cualquier parte del mundo, era demasiado ingenua y pesimista. Y al parecer Verne no había sido el único en vaticinar el futuro. Muchos otros lo habían intentado, y habían fracasado de igual modo. Wells, sin embargo, no se dejó amedrentar. Se inclinó en su asiento y aseguró a Henley que la gente querría leer sobre el futuro, y que alguien debía atreverse a publicar la primera novela que hablara de él.

Así fue cómo, en 1893, el relato de Wells empezó a serializarse en el prestigioso National Observer con el título La historia del Viajero del Tiempo. Sin embargo, para su comprensible desesperación, la novela no alcanzó a publicarse en su totalidad, ya que los propietarios de la revista la vendieron y el nuevo consejo de administración se entregó a la purga propia en estos casos, en la que perecieron tanto Henley como su proyecto novelístico. Afortunadamente, Wells no dispuso de demasiado tiempo lamentarse, pues Henley, como su alter ego stevensoniano, era un hueso duro de roer, y enseguida se hizo con el timón de la New Review, en cuyas páginas le propuso volver a acoger su novela, pidiéndole

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