When the Sleeper Wakes: A Critical Text of the 1899 New York and London First Edition, With an Introduction and Appendices (The Annotated H. G. Wells, 5) [Library Binding]

H. G. Wells (Author), Leon Stover (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0786406666 | ISBN-13: 978-0786406661 | Edition: annotated edition

Critics rightly view When the Sleeper Wakes as a prototype of the anti-utopian novel, a genre developed by Zamyatin, Huxley, and Orwell into nightmare futures associated with the totalitarian age and the moral horrors of fascism and communism. Suppose, however, that Wells actually intended to present a more positive depiction of political authority misused for ideological ends, a dream rather than a nightmare. This is the possibility explored in the apparatus to the present edition. Annotated by the world's leading Wellsian scholar, in Sleeper is found a greater measure of artistry and characterization than is usually accorded to it. As a complex work combining technological with social speculation, Sleeper is unmatched for canniness in the history of futuristic literature. Indeed, its aeronautical details influenced the Wright Brothers in the design of their flyer, and the novel predicts the promotion of airplanes as a weapon, a prophecy dramatically fulfilled in the twentieth century. This exhaustive critical edition follows other influential titles in the series and features a lengthy introduction, appendices, bibliography and index, and a frontispiece taken from the original 1899 edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leon Stover, professor emeritus at the Illinois Institute of Technology, author of numerous landmarks of intellectual history, is editor of The Annotated H.G. Wells in five volumes (so far). He lives in Chicago.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 465 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company; annotated edition edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786406666
• ISBN-13: 978-0786406661
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,139,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Story, Edition could be improved, October 25, 2001

By 

Jedidiah Palosaari "Not My Real Name" (Fes, Morocco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Sleeper Wakes: A Critical Text of the 1899 New York and London First Edition, With an Introduction and Appendices (The Annotated H. G. Wells, 5) (Library Binding)

The story is very engrossing, coming to life before you. We follow the protagonist with great interest as he is projected far into the future (through a coma), a future uncanningly like our own. The reader will be able to identify with much of the 20th and 21st century reality around them, but with strange twists. Flight (unknown in Well's day) is commonplace, but planes with moving wings. It is a future predicated around the sleeper, a dystopia gone awry, ruled in the sleeper's name in order to oppress the masses in a socialist nightmare. Wells further convincingly demonstrates "the principle of violent mimicry" (see Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers)- we become that which we hate. As throughout history, when the oppressed or powerless obtain freedom and power, they become like their oppressors.

However, unless you're a scholar, I wouldn't recommend this edition. Although greatly annotated by Stover, the annotations detract from the text. Wells makes numerous references that are more understandable if one is British or lived in the 1800's, and when a footnote is next to one of these references, one naturally looks down below to better understand the context. But Stover repeatedly gives away key aspects of the storyline and the ending, thereby detracting from the reading of the text.

In addition, some of the footnotes are incorrect. For instance, when at one point the protagonist, Graham, is referenced as "one man who must die for the nation", Stover comments this is an obvious attempt to compare Graham to Jesus in a fictitious quote from the gospel. But, says Stover, this quote is nowhere in the four synoptic Gospels. The problem is that there are only three synoptic Gospels- synoptic referring to the first three Gospels- and the quote if found in the non-synoptic Gospel of John- 11.50.

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells 1899 first edition, October 29, 2000

By 

R. Stewart (Michigan ,USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Sleeper Wakes: A Critical Text of the 1899 New York and London First Edition, With an Introduction and Appendices (The Annotated H. G. Wells, 5) (Library Binding)

I believe I have a copy of this book. Found it mixed up with some others at a country party store. Found it hard to read. Still I loved it. I have kept it with me since I was a teen. Paid 75 cents for it.