Science Fiction: Why H.G. Wells Is Overrated And Jules Verne Underrated

  (Drivebycuriosity) - The British author H.G. Wells (1866-1946) is often considered as the father of science fiction. I doubt it. I think Wells is overrated and the French writer Jules Verne (1828-1905) deserves the title.

When I read Wells` novella "Time Travel" (published 1895) decades ago I was irritated. Did I read the wrong book? The protagonist traveled far into the future and whom did he meet? Cannibalistic cavemen, the "Morlocks"! How could (will?) humans so regress? The book tells a travel to the stone age, not to the future.

Wells wrote a lot horror and other fantasy novels. His story "The War of the Worlds" (published 1898) described an attack from Mars! Today the planet is known as inanimate. Wells` novel "The Invisible Man" (published 1897) fantasizes about invisibility. A fairy tale. Wells wrote fiction, there was no science in it. 

Wells` dark fantasies are not surprising. They are based on his personality and his view of the world. Wells was a pessimist, socialist and an admirer of Stalin & Communist systems ( wikipedia).

Jules Verne was quite the opposite. The French author was an optimist, he believed in the future and embraced science and technology. Verne invented a new kind of novel, a "Roman de la Science" ("novel of science"), which allowed him to incorporate large amounts of the factual information he discovered while researching in the Bibliothèque ( wikipedia).

I agree with one blogger who wrote, Verne´s "blending of the real, the fantastic, and scientifically-grounded extrapolations led him to describe inventions and circumstances that were over a century away from becoming reality: among other things, he descriptively predicted video conferencing, lunar modules, and, arguably, the geopolitical struggle for control of resources in the Arctic" (sweatpantsandcoffee ).

In Verne`s science-fictional stage play "Journey through the Impossible" the hero "goes to the center of the Earth in the first act, to the bottom of the seas in the second act, and to the Planet Altor in the third" (jv.gilead.org. ). 

Verne`s  novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas" described Captain Nemo's underwater ship, the Nautilus, which had many features of today's submarines. And his most famous novel, "'Around the World in Eighty Days" shows optimism and can do attitude as well. I believe that these works inspired later science fiction authors like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov & Arthur C. Clarke who shared Verne´s positive thinking and belief in technology.

Verne´s novels and stage plays were immense popular and influenced the thinking in Europe in the 19th century. The author inspired positive thinking and belief in science, technology & the future. No surprise that David McCullough, the author of "The Path between then Seas", the history of Panama Canal construction, mentions Verne multiple times ( driveby).

Wells was a talented creator of entertaining fantasy & horror stories, Verne was a visionary who melted sciences and fiction into science fiction.