La Isla del Dr. Moreau

Por H G Wells

Publicada en 1896, entre "La máquina del tiempo" y "El hombre invisible", La isla del doctor Moreau es una de las novelas más inquietantes de la literatura moderna, inscribiéndose de lleno en la crítica y ominosa intuición que H. G. WELLS desde muy pronto albergó respecto a los derroteros de la sociedad en la que le tocó vivir. La isla que da nombre al relato y los siniestros hechos de los que es escenario son, en efecto, una desasosegante parábola sobre el lado oscuro de la ciencia y también una sombría exploración de la esencia y los límites de la naturaleza humana. La novela de Wells es fruto de su tiempo, y es posible que la intención original del autor quedase algo atemperada por los condicionantes de la sociedad victoriana y su pacatería. Pero es sin duda una lectura que merece la pena, tanto por su combinación de elementos de la Fantasía, el Terror y la Ciencia-Ficción, como por su calado en el imaginario colectivo posterior,

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Lebooks Editora
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 4 ene 2017
• ISBN: 9788583861171

H G Wells

H.G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English novelist who helped to define modern science fiction. Wells came from humble beginnings with a working-class family. As a teen, he was a draper’s assistant before earning a scholarship to the Normal School of Science. It was there that he expanded his horizons learning different subjects like physics and biology. Wells spent his free time writing stories, which eventually led to his groundbreaking debut, The Time Machine. It was quickly followed by other successful works like The Island of Doctor Moreau and The War of the Worlds.

Vista previa del libro

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H.G. Wells

LA ISLA DEL DR. MOREAU

Primera Edición

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Isbn: 9788583861171

São Paulo SP

Prefacio

Herbert George Wells. Conocido como H. G. Wells. Fue un escritor, novelista, historiador y filósofo británico. Se le considera uno de los precursores de la ciencia-ficción.

Famoso por sus novelas de ciencia ficción. Publicó más de ochenta títulos en los que siguió la tradición de J. Bunyan y Daniel Defoe al margen de la influencia que los autores franceses y rusos ejercían sobre novelistas contemporáneos suyos como Henry James, George Edward Moore y Joseph Conrad.

Por su gran extensión y su difusión internacional, destacan entre sus obras:

La máquina del tiempo (1895)

La isla del doctor Moreau (1896)

El hombre invisible (1897)

La guerra de los mundos (1898)

El país de los ciegos y otros relatos ( 1911)

Una história de los tiempos venideros ( 1912)

Son obras clásicas que conforman la Colección H. G. Wells, que usted podrá conocer a partir de ahora.

Que tengas una buena lectura

LeBooks Editora

Sumário

PRESENTACIÓN DEL AUTOR Y SU OBRA

Introducción

En el chinchorro del Lady Vain

El hombre que no iba a ninguna parte

Un rostro extraño

En la regala de la goleta

El hombre que no tenía adonde ir

Los siniestros hombres del bote

La puerta cerrada

Los alaridos del puma

La casa del bosque

La llamada del hombre

La caza del hombre

Los Recitadores de la Ley

Una conversación

El doctor Moreau se explica

Los Monstruos

De cómo los Salvajes probaron la sangre

Una catástrofe

La búsqueda de Moreau

A solas con los Monstruos

La regresión de los Monstruos

El hombre solo

Conoce otras obras de la colección H.G. Wells

Notas

PRESENTACIÓN DEL AUTOR Y SU OBRA

El Autor

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H.G.WELLS em foto de 1900

H. G. Wells, escritor británico, fue entre otras cosas el padre de la ciencia ficción, junto a Julio Verne, debido a la desbordante imaginación que salpicaba sus excelentes obras literarias. Nacido en una familia humilde del hoy barrio de Kent en Londres, sus orígenes también quedan reflejados en sus escritos.

A Herbert George Wells (que pasaría a la posteridad como H. G. Wells) le debemos obras tan colosales en el género de la novela de anticipación como ‘La máquina del tiempo’ (1895), ‘La Guerra de los mundos’ (1898) o ‘Las cosas del futuro’ (1933). También trato el tema de los límites éticos de la ciencia en obras como ‘La isla del doctor Moreau’ (1896) o ‘El hombre invisible’ (1897).

El ideario político de Wells influyó de manera importante en la realización de sus obras. Por ejemplo, la novela ‘La máquina del tiempo‘ trata fundamentalmente la lucha de clases. A medida que pasaba el tiempo, el pesimismo se apoderó del escritor británico, que concluyó en sus últimos años de vida que la humanidad caminaba hacia su destrucción, fruto del odio y la ambición. Esto contrasta con su utopía inicial cuando creía que las inmensas fuerzas materiales puestas a disposición de los humanos podían ser controladas por la razón y utilizadas para el progreso y la igualdad entre los diferentes habitantes del mundo.

Wells ha influido en posteriores escritores de ciencia ficción como los ya clásicos Aldous Huxley, autor de ‘Un mundo feliz’, y George Orwell, autor de ’1984'. Muchas de sus obras han sido llevadas a la gran pantalla, lo que ha servido para popularizar aún más a este talentoso escritor entre el público.

La obra

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Cubierta. Primera edición. Londres 1896

Publicada en 1896, entre «La máquina del tiempo» y «El hombre invisible», La isla del doctor Moreau es una de las novelas más inquietantes de la literatura moderna, inscribiéndose de lleno en la crítica y ominosa intuición que H. G. WELLS desde muy pronto albergó respecto a los derroteros de la sociedad en la que le tocó vivir.  La isla que da nombre al relato y los siniestros hechos de los que es escenario son, en efecto, una desasosegante parábola sobre el lado oscuro de la ciencia y también una sombría exploración de la esencia y los límites de la naturaleza humana.

La historia es sencilla, y para relatarla H.G. Wells emplea el antiguo recurso del manuscrito encontrado. Narrada en primera persona y en retrospectiva, está protagonizada por Edward Pendrick, un caballero de la buena sociedad victoriana, con formación en Ciencias Naturales (se cita que fue alumno de Thomas Henry Huxley). Pendrick deja escrito el testimonio de su odisea, de la cual afirma no conservar recuerdo alguno. El texto es hallado por su sobrino, quien lo saca a la luz.

La novela de Wells es fruto de su tiempo, y es posible que la intención original del autor quedase algo atemperada por los condicionantes de la sociedad victoriana y su pacatería. Pero es sin duda una lectura que merece la pena, tanto por su combinación de elementos de la Fantasía, el Terror y la Ciencia-Ficción, como por su calado en el imaginario colectivo posterior, tan amplio y ramificado (con adaptaciones, referencias, homenajes y hasta parodias en series de TV, cómics, música, películas, novelas...) que es imposible de reflejar en este texto

Introducción

El 1 de febrero de 1887, el Lady Vain naufragó tras colisionar con un pecio cuando navegaba a 1° de latitud sur y 107° de longitud oeste.

El 5 de enero de 1888, es decir, once meses y cuatro días después, mi tío Edward Prendick, un caballero muy reservado que zarpó de Callao a bordo del Lady Vain y que había sido dado por muerto, fue rescatado a 5° 3’ de latitud sur y 101° de longitud oeste en un pequeño bote cuyo nombre era ilegible, pero que al parecer perteneció a la desaparecida goleta Ipecacuanha. Su relato fue tan extraño que lo tomaron por loco. Posteriormente alegó que no recordaba nada de lo ocurrido desde el momento en que abandonó el Lady Vain. Los psicólogos de la época discutieron su caso como muestra curiosa de la pérdida de memoria resultante de un sobre esfuerzo físico o mental. El relato que aparece a continuación fue hallado entre sus papeles por el abajo firmante, su sobrino y heredero, sin ninguna nota que indicara expresamente el deseo de su publicación.

La única isla que se conoce en la zona en que mi tío fue rescatado es la isla de Noble, un pequeño islote volcánico completamente deshabitado. En 1891 fue visitado por el Scorpion. Un grupo de marineros bajó a tierra sin encontrar el menor indicio de vida, a excepción de unas curiosas mariposas blancas, algunos conejos y cerdos y unas ratas bastante peculiares. Sin embargo, no capturaron ningún ejemplar, por lo que no es posible confirmar el relato en sus aspectos más esenciales. Una vez aclarado este extremo, no hay mal alguno en hacer esta curiosa historia, como supongo era deseo de mi tío. Hay al menos algo que dice mucho en su favor: mi tío perdió el conocimiento cuando se hallaba aproximadamente a 5° de latitud sur y 105° de longitud este y volvió a aparecer en el mismo lugar del océano once meses después. De una manera o de otra, tuvo que vivir durante ese intervalo de tiempo. Al parecer, una goleta llamada Ipecacuanha, al mando de un capitán alcohólico, John Davies, zarpó de África en 1887, con un puma y otros animales a bordo, fue vista en varios puertos del Pacífico sur y finalmente desapareció de estos mares (con un considerable cargamento de copra¹ a bordo), tras partir de Banya hacia un destino desconocido, en diciembre de 1887, fecha que coincide plenamente con la historia de mi tío.

Charles Edward PRENDICK

En el chinchorro del Lady Vain

No es mi intención añadir nada más a lo ya escrito sobre la desaparición del Lady Vain. Como todo el mundo sabe, la nave colisionó con un pecio diez días después de abandonar Callao. El bote salvavidas, con siete tripulantes, fue encontrado ocho días más tarde por el cañonero Mirtle, y el relato de sus tremendas penurias se ha hecho tan famoso como el aún más terrible caso del Medusa. Sin embargo, me toca ahora añadir a la historia del Lady Vain otra igualmente terrible y aún más extraña. Hasta el momento se ha creído que los cuatro hombres que viajaban en el bote perecieron, pero no es cierto. Tengo la mejor de las pruebas para hacer esta afirmación: yo era uno de esos hombres.

En primer lugar, debo explicar que nunca hubo cuatro hombres en el bote; éramos tres. Constans, «a quien el capitán vio saltar a la lancha» (Daily News, 17 de marzo, 1887), afortunadamente para nosotros aunque desgraciadamente para él, no consiguió alcanzarnos. Descendía entre la maraña de cabos bajo los estays del destrozado bauprés; una cuerda se le enredó en el tobillo en el momento de saltar y quedó por un instante colgando cabeza abajo; luego cayó y chocó contra un motón o un palo que flotaba en el agua. Remamos hacia él, pero no volvió a salir a la superficie.

Digo que afortunadamente para nosotros no nos alcanzó y casi podría añadir que afortunadamente también para él, pues no teníamos más que un pequeño barril de agua y unas cuantas galletas empapadas, tan repentina había sido la alarma y tan poco preparado estaba el buque para cualquier calamidad. Pensamos que la gente de la lancha iría mejor provista (aunque al parecer no era así) e intentamos llamarlos. No debieron de oírnos, y al día siguiente, cuando dejó de lloviznar, cosa que no ocurrió hasta después del mediodía, ya no vimos rastro de ellos. No podíamos ponernos en pie para mirar a nuestro alrededor, a causa del cabeceo del bote. Las olas eran enormes y teníamos grandes dificultades para tomarlas de proa. Los otros dos hombres que habían logrado escapar conmigo eran un tal Helmar, pasajero como yo, y un marinero cuyo nombre desconozco, un hombre bajito, robusto y tartamudo.

Navegamos a la deriva, muertos de hambre y, desde que se acabó el agua, atormentados por una terrible sed, por espacio de ocho días y ocho noches. Transcurrido el segundo día, el mar fue apaciguándose lentamente hasta quedar como un espejo. El lector es incapaz de imaginar cómo fueron aquellos ocho días. Por fortuna, nada hay en su memoria que le permita imaginarlo. Pasado el primer día apenas hablamos entre nosotros; permanecíamos inmóviles en nuestro lugar, mirando al horizonte, u observando, con ojos cada vez más grandes y extraviados, cómo el desánimo y la debilidad se apoderaban de nuestros compañeros. El sol era implacable. El cuarto día se terminó el agua y empezamos a pensar cosas extrañas y a decirlas con la mirada, hasta que el sexto día —creo—Helmar se decidió a expresar de viva voz lo que todos teníamos en la cabeza. Recuerdo nuestras voces, débiles y roncas: nos acercábamos mucho unos a otros y ahorrábamos palabras. Yo me opuse con todas mis fuerzas; prefería barrenar el bote y que pereciéramos todos entre los tiburones que nos seguían, pero cuando Helmar dijo que si aceptábamos su propuesta podríamos beber, el marinero se puso de su parte.

Pero yo no quise echarlo a suertes y, por la noche, el marinero no paraba de hablar con Helmar en voz baja, mientras yo permanecía sentado en la proa, con mi navaja en la mano, aunque dudo de que hubiera tenido valor para luchar. Por la mañana acepté la propuesta de Helmar y lanzamos al aire medio penique para decidir nuestra suerte.

Le tocó al marinero, pero era el más fuerte de los tres y no estaba dispuesto a acatarlo, de modo que se abalanzó sobre Helmar. Lucharon cuerpo a cuerpo hasta casi ponerse en pie. Yo me arrastré por el suelo del bote e intenté ayudar a Helmar agarrando al marinero por la pierna, pero con el balanceo del barco el marinero tropezó y los dos cayeron por la borda. Se hundieron como piedras. Recuerdo que me reí y me pregunté por qué me reía. La risa se apoderó de mí sin que pudiera evitarlo.

Me tumbé sobre una de las bancadas durante no sé cuánto tiempo, pensando en que, si tuviera valor, bebería agua del mar hasta enloquecer, para morir rápidamente. Y mientras estaba allí tumbado avisté, con tan poco interés como si fuera un cuadro, un barco que avanzaba hacia mí desde la línea del cielo. A buen seguro había estado divagando durante mucho tiempo, y sin embargo recuerdo claramente todo lo que sucedió. Recuerdo que mi cabeza se balanceaba con el mar, y que el horizonte, con el barco que lo surcaba, oscilaba arriba y abajo. Pero también recuerdo con idéntica claridad que tuve la impresión de estar muerto, y pensé en la ironía de que por muy poco no hubiesen

Comentarios para La Isla del Dr. Moreau

[jigarpatel-6 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Classed as "scientific romance" at the time, this is on the surface an adventure novel. The protagonist Prendick survives a shipwreck and finds himself on an island filled with curious creatures. Pendrick, like Wells himself, studied biology under Darwinist Thomas Huxley, and this forms the scientific backdrop. Like Lord of the Flies, The Island of Dr. Moreau has many layers. There's an underlying mockery of organized religion, a blurring of lines between human and inhuman, suggestions of a link between ethnicity and culture. The characters are flawed and malleable, changing with their environment. Their interaction represents the base around which the story revolves.A couple of possible influences, suggested by Margaret Atwood in her 2005 introduction, are The Tempest and Treasure Island. If you enjoyed this, you may also enjoy Atwood's own MaddAddam Trilogy.

[squeakychu · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I found this to be quite a fun read. That's a great compliment since I'm not really a fan of science fiction. However, I thought I'd give this story a go since I had previously found The Invisible Man, by the same author, very entertaining, In The Island of Dr. Moreau, a man named Prendick, ends up on an island inhabited by only two other men, one of who is a doctor intent on making animals into humans by vivisection. The results of his experimentation abound on the island as well as a rule of order known as The Law. Circumstances happen which change the status quo. It's interesting to follow along on this man-animal continuum to see how everything plays out and to learn if there us any chance that Prendick would make it off of this strange island alive.

[dulac3_1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

2 - 2.5 stars. Not a bad book by any means, but perhaps the fact that I knew the basic story and ideas that would be presented caused it to have less impact for me. Wells was laying the ground work for what would become the basic ideas and concerns of the science fiction genre in his ouvre, but this does mean that coming to it "after the fact" can make the book seem predictable even though he's generally the first person to have done it.
We have the story of a shipwrecked man rescued from drowning only to be taken to a perhaps worse fate: a year on the strange island of Doctor Moreau where he comes face-to-face with the surgically altered horrors of the eponymous doctor. I was surprised to see that the society of beast men was more or less a creation of these creatures themselves and that Moreau had little interest in them after his experiemnts on them were complete as he was obsessed with moving forward in his search for the ultimate "plasticity of the flesh" and seemed to view each completed experiment as at least a partial failure on this road. The movies I have seen made it seem more like Moreau was purposely building a slave race to rule over, so the difference was interesting.
Overall though, while I readily concede that this book is a foundational classic in the genre, I just wasn't very captivated with the story overall.

[ccookie_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

First line:~ On February the First 1887, the Lady Vain was lost by collision with a derelict when about the latitude 1 degree S. and longitude 107degrees W. ~I actually enjoyed this book very much. Again, with this classic literature, I don’t know why I keep on being surprised that these books are soooo great! I guess that is why they come to be acknowledged as classics. Suspense built very nicely and very well written.As someone who lives with chronic pain, I found the Doctor’s ideas on pain to be quite frightening. To deliberately create such agony for others is tragic to me. It takes away from our humanness.And then that gets me thinking about slaughterhouses and, although I like my meat, it gives me a whole new appreciation of the work of Temple Grandin and her development of humane slaughterhouses.As in Frankenstein and some of the short stories recently read by Hawthorne and Poe, the scientists are trying to improve on ‘life’ and instead succeed in creating something that is ‘perverted’ in a sense. This book clearly points out the hazards of indiscriminate science and makes me grateful for ethics boards etc today. Not that modern man has got it right, yet. We still have had horrors of experimentation including those done during the Holocaust and Project MKUltra by the CIA using hallucinogens on unsuspecting men and women, as late as 1973.Much to think about in this book. I would highly recommend it. Plus it is not long and thus a quick read. (4.0 stars)

[deathsmistress · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

An instant classic. I found H.G Wells' book to be quite entertaining. The "monsters" of the island are grotesque and are fun to read about. Dr. Moreau himself is seen as an unapologetic man who thinks he is doing right by turning beasts into men. A good enjoyable read. I'd recommend it.

[gbsallery · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Island of Doctor Moreau is a clear example of the “Eden Complex”, as advanced by Professor Eric S. Rabkin. A similar case could be made for The Country of the Blind, but for this essay I will concentrate on an identification of the constituent elements within just the one work.The Complex, as explained, contains six elements: garden imagery, fantastic roots, natural limits, a scientist (in the most etymologically literal sense) striving to be a god, Oedipal structures and typical SF dichotomies. The most obvious of these elements in Dr. Moreau is the Eden/garden imagery: Noble's Isle (where the drama is assumed to take place) is an isolated, verdant and uninhabited island, clearly paralleling the garden of Eden.Also clear are the fairytale roots – much use is made of primary colour (particularly natural greens contrasted with crimson gore, but also dramatic sun-related effects), there are certainly arbitrary rules (not entering certain areas, and later the Law), the duration of the story occurs “out-of-time” and the protagonist's centrality is reinforced by the single-viewpoint epistolary form.Dr. Moreau is clearly the isolated scientist striving to be a god, though Prendick himself is also a man of science who at the end of the novel tries (and fails) to assume the position of godhead. The presence of typical SF dichotomies is also unarguable (nature v science being the most obvious).The element of the Complex which is harder to identify is the Oedipal dramatic structure: Prendick does not visibly struggle for mental knowledge during the story, though his sexual motives are less clear. There are a couple of telling passages, such as when discussing the beasts' reversion to their animal natures, where sexual disgust is present, but it is not clear whether Prendick has sought to “know” the creatures in a Biblical sense. There are also Oedipal traces in the relationship with the Dog-creature, who transfers loyalty and affection from the paternal figure of Moreau onto Prendick.Thus, even if the Oedipal element is only potential, this novel is a clear example of the Eden Complex.

[thefallingalice · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Pendrick landet nach einem Schiffsunglück zusammen mit seinem Retter auf einer kleinen abgeschlagenen Insel.Die Menschen dort verhalten sich seltsam und wecken in Pendrick ungeahnte Ängste. Bald erfährt er, dass ein gewisser Moreau auf der Insel arbeitet, der vor einiger Zeit schon in den britischen Medien durch biologische Experimente auffällig geworden war.Pendrick bekommt ein ihm eigens zugewiesenes Zimmer, doch hinter verschlossenen Türen bahnen sich unmenschliche Schreie ihren Weg in seinen Geist. Er flieht, doch was er dann sieht, lässt ihn den Glauben an das Gute im Menschen verlieren.H. G. Wells gilt als Begründer der modernen Science Fiction.Der Schauplatz hier: eine kleine verschlagene Insel mitten im Nirgendwo. Ein Arzt, der es sich zum Ziel gemacht hat, biologische Prozesse außer Kraft zu setzen und zu verändern. Pendrick erzählt als Überlebender diese unglaubliche Geschichte, die ihm niemand glaubt. Und doch ist er der einzige Zeuge eines Wahnsinns, der nicht nur Tiere, sondern auch Menschen leiden lässt. Er lebt in ständiger Angst vor den Wesen der Insel, versucht sie zu beherrschen, sie zu verstehen, sich anzupassen und endet schließlich wieder in der Angst vor ihrer wahren Natur.Ein wunderbarer Roman über den Größenwahn eines einzigen Menschen, der sich in seinen Experimenten ergeht und dem Moral und Anstand nichts bedeuten. Er stellt die Wissenschaft über alles. Wells ist ein großartiger Geschichtenerzähler, der den Leser mitnimmt, ihn durch die Geschichte trägt und ihn hier und dort zu einer Stellungnahme zwingt.

[p_s_patrick · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is a harrowing memoir of a castaway's time on a small island off South America, inhabited by a mad scientist and his creations. Inspired in part I would guess by Frankenstein, it raises some of the same questions as to the ethics of experimentation, and the philosophical notion of personhood, though in this case on the boundary between the human and the animal, as opposed to the living and the dead.In its turn, it must have been an inspiration for Jurassic Park in some of its peripheral details, though again, that raises a different set of ethical questions and doesn't tread into the territory of the man-beasts of Dr Moreau. Though the plausibility of the science aspect of this novel suffers slightly from it being written quite a while ago, it is quite possible to see how similar ends could be brought about in the future with the wacky misuse of genetic engineering.I really enjoyed this novel, and despite it being relatively short (160 pages), it is complete in its plot and makes for a page-turning read. A really good introduction to H G Wells, and a clever and exciting novel, though some people will find it too creepy to enjoy.

[gypsysmom_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I vaguely knew what this book was about and I knew I wouldn't really care for it so I avoided reading it for a long time. However, the audiobook was available from my library as a free download and it was on the 1001 list so I decided to give it a try.A survivor of a ship wreck, Edward Prendrick, is picked up by a ship which is returning with supplies to the Island of Doctor Moreau. On board is Dr. Montgomery who assists Moreau and he restores Prendrick to consciousness. When the ship reaches the island the captain refuses to take Prendrick any further so he is forced on Moreau and Montgomery. Prendrick learns that Moreau creates human animal hybrids by performing vivisection (i.e. surgery while the animal is conscious) on various animals. Prendrick is sickened by this but, given his circumstances, he is unable to interfere. He wonders if he will ever leave the island or will he go insane as Moreau and Montgomery seem to have done.Very disturbing subject matter. I suppose Wells meant it to be as antivivisectionism was quite a movement in the late 1800s.

[laurochka-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is a clever and disturbing story. I found it reminiscent of Lord of the Flies but almost in reverse. The description of the hybrid beast-men is graphic enough to be unpleasant, yet the creatures still retain enough humanity to be sympathetic. A thought provoking read.

[isabelx_21 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

"You cannot imagine the strange colourless delight of these intellectual desires. The thing before you is no longer an animal, a fellow-creature, but a problem."Edward Prendrick is rescued after being shipwrecked, but unfortunately gets on the captain's bad side and abandoned on a remote island where Doctor Moreau and his assistant Montgomery conduct their experiments away from the disapproval of the scientific establishment.The dated style stopped me from empathising with any of the characters and only the screams of the leopard on the operating table drew me in towards them. I think I have read at least one story based on The Island of Doctor Moreau, and they did a much better job of getting the readers to empathise.

[themulhern · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is the first book I'm certain I've read by H.G. Wells. His writing is not exceptional. But when I had done with the book I had much the same feeling as when I have awoken from a very bad dream. It is a hard book to get out of your head, but I'm not really sure what it is about.

[dabofdarkness · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Dr. Edward Prendick finds himself on a plane that is crashing into the sea. Luckily, he survives and is eventually found on his little raft by a passing ship. Dr. Angela Montgomery nurses him around and eventually the ship drops all passengers and their cargo at a little know island. There, Prendick is pulled into a world of animal experiments that will push the boundaries of his moral compass.This story is told as a series of flashbacks. Prendick lies in a hospital bed recounting his tale to his insistent daughter. Prendick is a mathematician who did some classified work during WWII. He’s a Brit who is still highly respected in his field by both the British and the Americans. Too bad his plane went down. He was believed lost to the world by all but Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Moreau. I was a little surprised by how much of a delicate flower Prendick was. He was usually freaking out about something or making rash decisions. He was a right nuisance on the island, even if he was the only one with what society would call normal morals. Still, he was a great character for Dr. Montgomery to stand beside and appear very reasonable and I think this made the story more intriguing. As a reader, it forced me to slow down on making a judgement and to truly consider the merits of the work of Moreau and Montgomery.I was surprised how few lines and appearances Dr. Moreau had in this story (or, at least, this rendition of it). After all, he is the master mind behind all this. So while we see little of him, his large ego leaves a lasting impression. He’s playing God with his experiments and he doesn’t hesitate to say so.As a biologist, I have long been both repulsed and fascinated by the experiments in this story. When Prendick first meets a few of these talking experiments, he thinks they are merely odd, deformed people. Later, he mistakenly believes that Moreau took living men and experimented on them, bringing out animal characteristics. Once he finds out the truth, that Moreau took animals and gave them human characteristics, he calms down a little, at first. The final step in the experiment is a pretty gruesome, painful one, requiring the chosen animal to remain awake and aware. Not all those who live through the experiment appreciate the gifts they have been given.As you might guess, things start to spiral out of control shortly after Prendick arrives on the island. Part of the reason is that he goes mucking about in a very excitable manner. But, then, Montgomery and Moreau don’t treat all the living experiments with respect either. Then there is the basic nature of the experiments and what will out in time. It was like the perfect storm.And then we quickly come to the ending which was rather anticlimactic for Moreau and a bit drawn out for Montgomery and Prendick. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more from Moreau over all for the entire story and I was definitely a little sad to have his part of the story come to a swift end. After all, he is the reason, the driving force, for this tale, right? But then I enjoyed having more time with Montgomery and Prendick. From the flashbacks, we obviously know that Prendick makes it off the island alive somehow. It was fun to see how that came about.While I have enjoyed other HG Wells stories, this was my first time listening to a version of his book The Island of Doctor Moreau. I was not disappointed. All the drama associated with the moral conundrums of the tale was there. Also, I enjoyed the divided loyalties of Dr. Montgomery, who was saved by Dr. Moreau back during WWII, who loves the science of their work, but also has questions. Prendick was somewhat of a spazzing butterfly much of the time, but this personality trait went well with his sheltered, well mannered, bookish mathematician air. I look forward to future Mondello Publishing performances.I received a copy of this book at no cost from the publisher (via the GoodReads Audiobooks Group) in exchange for an honest review.The Narration: The performance all around was pretty worthy. Ms. Boltt had a spot on German accent for Montgomery that I really enjoyed. Posner did a great job as the highly excitable Prendick, sounding disturbed throughout the entire performance. I want to say that Jeff Minnerly had a great disgruntled voice for the ship captain and also a perfect mesh of human and monkey for Monkey Man. Bob De Dea did an awesome Hyena Man. There were plenty of animal sounds (screeches, grunts, cries, hyena laughs, etc.) throughout the performance and my hat’s off to that – well done! There was some exciting music in between scenes that I enjoyed, keeping the scene shifts clear to me as the listener. Most of the sound effects were great. There were a handful that took me an extra second or two to identify, but that is my only little quibble on the performance.

[bnielsen_30 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

En stillehavsø, 1887.Edward Prendick er ombord på skibet "Lady Vain", der forliser den 1. februar på ca 1 grader sydlig bredde og 107 grader vestlig længde. Ca 11 måneder senere bliver han fundet på 5,3 grader sydlig bredde og 101 grader vestlig længde i en lille båd. Han beretter om omholdet på en lille ukendt ø, hvor en doktor ved navn Moreau har gjort eksperimenter med dyr.???

[rsplenda477 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

H. G. Wells presents a wonderful science fiction novel that dives straight into what it means to be a human being. We are a highly evolved species, but at our core, we are bloodthirsty animals as well. This is definitely one of the greatest science fiction novels of all-time, and can also serve as a great study about the human condition.

[mrslee_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This story does not need me to review it, so I'll put some of my thoughts and impressions here instead. It is about a scientist who has no qualms about inflicting horrific pain on animals and for some mystifying reason thinks they would be better in the shape of humans. I believe the pointlessness of it all was what I didn't get, but then, I suppose that shows the madness of the doctor. Another thing which annoyed me, was that the storyteller seemed to be upset about it all for weird reasons. He kept going on about the abomination of the creatures because they weren't human. The abomination was that they were not allowed to be the beautiful creatures they were created to be. Even supposing it to be all medically possible, WHY would anyone want to do that? Animals are created perfectly for their function, and their function is necessary, so the abomination lies in not allowing them to be what they are, not in the fact that they could not be what the doctor was trying to twist them into. Also, his terror when they began reverting to animals again was off. I would have been happy to have them all be animals again, without the torment of mind and body. Much simpler to live with, I would think.

[scribblekey · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I was extremely surprised at how much I liked this book. Other reviews say it better than I do, so I'll just throw in my recommendation.

[steadfastreader · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I don't know if H.G. Wells was an atheist or not, but if this was the only writing he had left behind, I would have thought he was.

Slow start, but the last 25% of the book more than makes up for it. A fabulous parody of the Christian creation myth and the myth of Jesus.

EXCELLENT.

[jlsmither · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Despite an intriguing concept and an interesting final quarter, The Island of Dr. Moreau fails to really engage the reader. The first three quarters of the book are filled with rambling info-dumps, detailed plot lines, and character introductions that aren’t really necessary to the story. The narrator, Prendick, spends a long time building up to the reveal of what’s happening on the island. If he were dropping clues and piecing together the puzzle himself, the reader would be right there along with him. But instead, he simply narrates odd things that happen around him without seeming to be able to come to any conclusions. It’s up to Dr. Moreau himself to explain everything in a lengthy monologue, and only after Prendick has seen it first-hand. Even listening to this monologue, Prendick asks the wrong questions. He seems to be so caught up in the impropriety of the island that he can’t bring himself to think deeper about any of it. Moreau makes a point of saying that he doesn’t use any humans in his experiments, but how is that possible? How do you combine a bat and a dog and come up with something that walks on two legs and can speak English? And if the Hyena-Swine is a cross between those two animals, then what, exactly, are the Leopard-Man and Ape-Man created from? Since Prendick never asks about it or suspects Moreau was lying, it seems like a rather large plot hole. The world view that underlies Prendick’s narration hurts the book as well. He clearly has an ideal of a white, heterosexual, educated Englishman as the pinnacle of civilized life. There are many subtle examples of this bias throughout the narrative, but the most egregious (to me) was his comment that the female Beast Folk seemed to be more aware of their grotesqueness and to feel shame about it, dressing themselves up more with pretty fabrics. Retch. If you can make it through the problems in the first three quarters of the book, though, you’ll be rewarded with the ending. After a pretty dramatic action scene (relatively), the tenor of the island changes. Prendick’s priggishness, snobbery, and self-righteousness finally start to affect his safety, and he’s forced to either change his behavior or face a dangerous, lonely life. He mostly chooses the latter. These final 4 months on the island are skimmed over for the most part, but it is only then that Prendick actually begins to change a bit. The most introspective Prendick ever gets is when he returns to England and finds himself utterly traumatized by the events of the island. After being so caught up in propriety and civilized behavior for so long, Prendick finds he can’t quite blend back into society. Maybe Wells chose Prendick as his narrator specifically to show how ridiculous his attitude is and how ill-equipped it leaves him to deal with anything more difficult than a London train delay. If so, I think this would have come through more clearly if the story were told in third-person rather than Prendick’s rather shallow first-person narration. But the fact that the unnamed narrator of War of the Worlds had some of these same hang-ups gives me pause. At any rate, it makes both narrators difficult to sympathize with.

[leslie398 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Very well written but just not my kind of story. Too creepy! I had to watch some silly TV for a while after finishing to prevent myself from having nightmares!

[sbloom42 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Fairly predictable, but a thrilling read none the less.

[nmele_4 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Before I read this short novel, my sense of the story was formed by the 1977 movie which didn't do much for me. The original is an oddly-dated, oddly-relevant exploration of bioethics disguised as an adventure tale.

[vivl_6 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I love some H. G. Wells, specifically the short stories, which are pure and unadulterated (tautology, anyone?) genius and the comic novels such as Kipps and Mr Polly. This one has some genius moments, but overall was not ultimately gripping. Of course, it's difficult to come at a novel such as this, where we all KNOW what's going on before we read a word, and experience the mystery the author intended, so that doesn't help. Perhaps that's part of the problem, as the first few chapters are all "Oh my goodness, what's going on here?"-type scene setting. Aside from that, I do like to be able to feel empathy on some level with at least one of the characters; they don't have to be perfect, or even nice, but I have to be able to make SOME sort of emotional connection with them. I wasn't able to with anyone/any creature in this book.

Another issue, to my mind, is that I feel Wells' always had a bit of a problem figuring out how to end novels. Like Phillip K. Dick after him, the short story was his forté. This one ends *somewhat* satisfactorily, but overall I wasn't convinced. What happens to the creatures? What happens when somebody one day goes to survey the island and finds the ancestors? Unanswered question that bugged me a little too much.

[baswood · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

"What could it all mean?. A locked enclosure on a lonely island, a notorious vivisector and these crippled and distorted men These are the thoughts of Edward Prendick: Well's anti-hero who is in effect a castaway on the island of Doctor Moreau. Most readers would be able to tell Prendick exactly what it means, because there has been at least three film versions and the story has been widely imitated. This is a horror story and the horror is palpable: if vivisection is the stuff of your nightmares then this novel will not be easy reading. Doctor Moreau is obsessed with his theories of being able to create men from beasts and has set up his laboratory on an island in the Pacific ocean far from any shipping lanes. He spends his time slashing and cutting away at live animals in an attempt to create something recognisable in human form and Wells makes us feel the pain and the degradation of his cruelty. In the chapter "The crying Puma" Prendick is given a room on the other side of a locked door leading into the laboratory and Doctor Moreau is operating on the puma:Suddenly the Puma howled again, this time more painfully. Montgomery swore under his breath. I had half a mind to attack him about the man on the beach. Then the poor brute within gave vent to a series of short, sharp cries.......I found myself that the cries were singularly irritating, and they grew in depth and intensity as the afternoon wore on. They were painful at first, but their constant resurgence at last altogether upset my balance. I flung aside a crib of Horace I had been reading, and began to clench my fists, to bite my lips, and to pace the room. Presently I got to stopping my ears with my fingers.The emotional appeal of those yells grew upon me steadily, grew at last to such an exquisite expression of suffering that I could stand it in that confined room no longer. I stepped out of the door into the slumberous heat of the late afternoon, and walking past the main entrance - locked again, I noticed - turned the corner of the wall. The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice. Yet had I known such pain was in the next room, and had it been dumb, I believe - I have thought since - I could have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering and this pity comes troubling usThere are over 100 of the man-beasts still alive on the island who have all undergone days of surgery in the house of pain. They live as best they can according to a ritual of law imposed by Doctor Moreau in an attempt to stop them reverting to mindless beasts.It is an adventure story as well as a horror story but the sickness of the life on the island is never far away from our thoughts as we read on to discover what happens next. Wells has used the literary device of the story being discovered amongst Prendicks papers after his death and so it is told by him in the first person. This adds immediacy to the writing and we witness the fear, the degradation, and the pain at first hand, it also allows for a certain amount of tension and mystery especially in the first part of the novel. Prendick believes that he might be a subject for vivisection and his escape from the compound and headlong flight amongst the man-beasts on the tropical island is exciting and vividly told.There is more to Well's novel than an adventure/horror story. At the time of the novel's publication 1896 there was a debate raging about the morality of vivisection and Wells story pitches right in with the horrors that medical science can and will inflict if it remains unchecked. Evolution through natural selection or Darwinism was also much in the minds of the late Victorians and Thomas Huxley was seen as a propagator of Darwin's theories. Prendick in the novel says that he spent some years studying under Huxley, whose views that morality is determined independently of the biological origins of humanity is another key theme explored by Wells. The man-beasts must be indoctrinated by a set of rules, chanted by them at frequent intervals to help arrest their degeneration back into wild animals.Man as a social animal is another theme fully explored by Wells in his novel. The three characters that feature on the island are Prendick, Doctor Moreau and Montgomery, they are all in their way outcasts and it is typical of Wells to make his main character very much an anti-hero. Prendick finds himself sent to the island after an altercation with the ships captain, he is not welcome on the island despite his knowledge of biology, Montgomery calls him a prig, because of his standoffish behaviour and refusal to drink alcohol. Prendick himself although appalled by what is going on in the laboratory, has no thoughts of intervening, he would rather run away from the cruelty than challenge it. His practical knowledge is almost non-existent and when he is called upon to show courage or take action he always demurs. When he returns to civilisation he becomes again "the man alone," who would rather be with his books and papers than mix with other people. Doctor Moreau is an obsessional scientist whose moral code one might think is typical of such a man. Montgomery is a born follower, under the spell of the Doctor, but who has some sympathies with the beast-men, but takes solace in his alcoholism.Other themes that might easily be read into the novel are colonialism and religion, but care should be taken not to read to much from our 21st century perspective. As is usual with H G Wells there is much going on; I sometimes get the feeling that so many questions about the human condition are raised that it would take a much longer novel than this to deal with them all, however all power to Well's elbow for raising them here in a novel that is both original and looks forward to realisable horrors that would take place in the century following the novels publication. Nothing should get in the way of the fact that this horror story is genuinely creepy, certainly horrible, superbly well paced and reads like an adventure story. A great read 4.5 stars.

[amelish · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Pure unadulterated paranoia and gore. Pretty fucking scary.

[benjamin.duffy · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

One thing I've found to be true about science fiction is that even though sci-fi authors aspire to speculate on future technology and culture, alien races, and faraway worlds, what they ultimately end up documenting most tellingly is their own time and place. What really shows up in the pages are the philosophical and cultural concerns of the author's own era, the timeless questions that come of being human, and a view of the future that is constrained by the limits of scientific knowledge at the time the book was written.

Because of this, the sci-fi that ages most gracefully tends to be that sci-fi that makes the fewest specific predictions about future technology. A good example of this is Wells' own The Time Machine, which wisely steers clear of trying to explain in detail how the titular machine works. As a result, a 21st century reader can enjoy the book for its many strengths - as a fantastic tale of adventure, a disturbing commentary on class distinctions in the late 19th Century, etc. - rather than concentrating on hopelessly quaint and outdated science.

Unfortunately, The Island of Dr. Moreau is not so circumspectly written. The way in which the good doctor goes about his aims is far too well described, and comes off as positively laughable by the standards of even 1960s science, let alone that of 2011. It ended up diminishing my enjoyment of the rest of the story, which is a shame because the book has a lot going for it. For one, it's exciting: Wells writes fast-paced action scenes better than just about any other writer of his era. Also, for as silly as the biology babble is, the actual end results are creepy as hell. And regarding "the philosophical and cultural concerns of the author's own era," this book shows the signs of having been written in the years directly after Darwin in much the same way that The Time Machine has to be viewed through the lens of being less than a generation removed from Karl Marx. It's fascinating as a mirror of the cultural issues of the day. There's even a dash of dry humor here and there, and the human characters in general (all four or five of them) are believable and well-developed.

Definitely worth the read; just prepare to roll your eyes at some of the science.

[marcoguarda-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Through vivisection, Moreau evolves animals into far cries of men and women. He makes them stand up and walk like humans and refines their throats so that they can talk. He succeeds so well in his latest experiments that Prendick, unwilling witness of all this, can hardly tell the servants from the animals Moreau has used as building matter.

But Moreau hasn’t always been as successful, and the whole island he has found refuge on, reeks with the half-experiments and failed attempts he’s carried out in the last ten years in an abominable show of horrors.

Moreau’s ultimate goal is immediate evolution at all costs and one wonders if, in his mind, even human beings have a place for further development.

Wells’ theme in this story goes beyond the mere portrayal of a crazed scientist who uses torture. In many ways, Moreau is Wells’ attempt to look into the obscure abyss that is our subconscious. For the chasm from where Moreau draws his talking animals is also mankind’s abyss of unknown, where our past and our common fears and hopes dwell.

Prendick's escape from Moreau’s madness brings him to the “huts,” where these creatures live in a half-human state. Never fully civilized, they live in a twilight between their former nature and the human they are supposed to mimic.

Even if Moreau has forced them into a religion which only enforces his undisputed powers of a god, his best experiments are short-lived. The more he perfects his creations, the more the trouble he has at controlling them until, in one last attempt to bring order, Moreau is killed. As soon as the driving spark of the mind that is Moreau vanishes, his experiments revert to being the animals they were in the first instance.

In the attempt of confronting the animal which lies within the human lies Wells’ most exceptional modernity.

[carl_alves_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Prior to reading this novel, I was very familiar with the story, having watched at least one movie adaptation. The story is a classic one, and I imagine most readers would be familiar with at least the concept prior to reading. The concept of the story is a good one, but the writing style is a bit dry. Some parts of the story are a little confusing to read. Although it was written some time ago, some of the themes, like the ruthless exploitation of science, are timeless. Still, it was hard to get past some of the dialogue and writing, which would transform this from a solid read, to something special.Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity

[drachenbraut23 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another reread for me, as I read quite a lot of Wells in my late teens and early twenties. Still an enjoyable classic which explores science, surgery, morality and the nature of god. The topic reminds me a lot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. We follow Pendrick who is rescued after a ship wreck, and then finds himself on an isolated island with two scientists in a medical compound. The story is told through Pendrick eyes, and you can feel all the fear, disgust and horror in his voice. Dr. Moreau practices vivisection to transform animals into humans, by modifying both, their physical appearance and improved mental workings, which in turn gives them the ability of speech and some mental reasoning. His justification is that there is a need to perfect his surgical skills, to ? ultimately improve the suffering of human beings with deformities. Once, he finished the vivisection and these human/animal hybrids don't fulfil his expectations, they are cast aside. The hybrids he cast aside are kept in check by way of an instilled law he achieved through some kind of ? hypnosis. This law has the purpose that the hybrids don't go back to their animal ways, and that they accept Dr. Moreau as their creator. In the end the animal side of these hybrids win's, and they manage to take revenge at their creator and his assistant. Pendrick survives and is still stuck on the island for several months, before he can flee himself.All in all a complex and thought provoking story.

[kronos999_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Trailblazing for its time, the lack of climax detracts from this eerie story which plods along describing the horrors of Dr. Moreau's experiments in turning beasts to men. I found it pretty dull. Perhaps I have just been spoiled by too many action flicks, but I greatly preferred his novel 'War of the Worlds'.