The Sleeper Awakes (Penguin Classics)
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"Students of early science fiction will welcome the University of Nebraska Press''s series Bison Frontiers of Imagination."-Times Literary Supplement
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
A troubled insomniac in 1890s England falls suddenly into a sleep-like trance, from which he does not awake for over two hundred years. During his centuries of slumber, however, investments are made that make him the richest and most powerful man on Earth. But when he comes out of his trance he is horrified to discover that the money accumulated in his name is being used to maintain a hierarchal society in which most are poor, and more than a third of all people are enslaved. Oppressed and uneducated, the masses cling desperately to one dream - that the sleeper will awake, and lead them all to freedom.
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One afternoon at low water Mr Isbister, a young artist lodging at Boscastle, walked from that place to the picturesque cove of Pentargen, desiring to examine the caves there. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
One afternoon at low water Mr Isbister, a young artist lodging at Boscastle, walked from that place to the picturesque cove of Pentargen, desiring to examine the caves there. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Published in 1899, "The Sleeper Awakes" comes from Wells most creative and imaginative period of science fiction - the period which produced "The Time Machine", "The Invisible Man", "The War of the Worlds" and "The First Men in the Moon". "The Sleeper Awakes" deserves to be as well known and widely read as these others, as it is easily as good and, possibly, the most imaginative of this group. A man awakes from a 200 year coma and is immediately the centre of a popular revolution. And yet the Utopian society he seems to be at the heart of is not all it seems, and "the sleeper" must decide whether to continue living in a bubble of luxury, or to confront the dark side of the new society.
The picture Wells creates of the future society is remarkably Orwellian in tone and is well drawn. Wells is very prescient in his prediction of television, mass air transport and even the "Pleasure Cities" of Las Vegas and others. There are problems with Wells writing: he doesn't do characterisation very well, and he is not very good at building tension. There is also some clear racism in this book (though it is not clear if this is deliberate to highlight the contrast between Victorian society and the future, or whether it is inherent in the author). Overall though, this is essential reading for Wells fans; for anyone interested in the early development of sci-fi; and for interesting insights into late Victorian society. It easily ranks amongst the best of his early work.
The picture Wells creates of the future society is remarkably Orwellian in tone and is well drawn. Wells is very prescient in his prediction of television, mass air transport and even the "Pleasure Cities" of Las Vegas and others. There are problems with Wells writing: he doesn't do characterisation very well, and he is not very good at building tension. There is also some clear racism in this book (though it is not clear if this is deliberate to highlight the contrast between Victorian society and the future, or whether it is inherent in the author). Overall though, this is essential reading for Wells fans; for anyone interested in the early development of sci-fi; and for interesting insights into late Victorian society. It easily ranks amongst the best of his early work.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lately I have been reading a lot of early science fiction and classic books; things like H. G. Wells, Jules Verne etc. They offer great value and high quality reads compared to modern throwaway supermarket titles. They are also small enough to carry on the train to work (I'm looking at a pile of unread classics like Dumas!).
I read 'War of the Worlds', 'The Island of Doctor Moreau', 'The Invisible Man' and yearning for more Wells, picked this title up. I have never heard of it, which is a crying shame as it is an amazing read. Granted Wells updated the book some time in the 1920s, but his story of a future world is so far ahead of his time that I was dying to visit the place myself.
Aside from some slightly comical descriptions of 'future devices' that now seem dated, this book still holds a vision of the future that is perhaps more valid today than when Wells first wrote this book. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read and Wells is possibly my favourite author from his period.
I recommend this book to anybody who is looking for an adventure told in a fantastic vision of how things may be in the future.
I read 'War of the Worlds', 'The Island of Doctor Moreau', 'The Invisible Man' and yearning for more Wells, picked this title up. I have never heard of it, which is a crying shame as it is an amazing read. Granted Wells updated the book some time in the 1920s, but his story of a future world is so far ahead of his time that I was dying to visit the place myself.
Aside from some slightly comical descriptions of 'future devices' that now seem dated, this book still holds a vision of the future that is perhaps more valid today than when Wells first wrote this book. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read and Wells is possibly my favourite author from his period.
I recommend this book to anybody who is looking for an adventure told in a fantastic vision of how things may be in the future.
14 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting offering from among H G's lesser known works. The central idea is quite a chilling one, esp. when the Sleeper wakes and realises for how long he has slept. The novel also offers a fairly effective critique of monopoly capitalism, though the way in which it arises here is rather unlikely. A word of warning: there are some rather pejorative comments about black people here, even from the lips of the Sleeper himself: it is important to remember it is a novel of its time.
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