The First Men in the Moon E-Book

H G Wells

• Herausgeber: Publisher s24148
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon by the impecunious businessman Mr Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr Cavor. On arrival, Bedford and Cavor find the moon inhabited by a race of moon-folk the two call "Selenites." The novel can also be read as a critique of prevailing political opinions from the turn of the century, particularly of imperialism.

Leseprobe

The First Men in the Moon

H. G. Wells

Published: 1901

Copyright © 2018 by OPU

All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

The First Men in the Moon

H. G. Wells

Chapter 1 Mr. Bedford Meets Mr. Cavor at Lympne

Chapter 2 The First Making of Cavorite

Chapter 3 The Building of the Sphere

Chapter 4 Inside the Sphere

Chapter 5 The Journey to the Moon

Chapter 6 The Landing on the Moon

Chapter 7 Sunrise on the Moon

Chapter 8 A Lunar Morning

Chapter 9 Prospecting Begins

Chapter 10 Lost Men in the Moon

Chapter 11 The Mooncalf Pastures

Chapter 12 The Selenite's Face

Chapter 13 Mr. Cavor Makes Some Suggestions

Chapter 14 Experiments in Intercourse

Chapter 15 The Giddy Bridge

Chapter 16 Points of View

Chapter 17 The Fight in the Cave of the Moon Butchers

Chapter 18 In the Sunlight

Chapter 19 Mr. Bedford Alone

Chapter 20 Mr. Bedford in Infinite Space

Chapter 21 Mr. Bedford at Littlestone

Chapter 22 The Astonishing Communication of Mr. Julius Wendigee

Chapter 23 An Abstract of the Six Messages First Received from Mr. Cavor

Chapter 24 The Natural History of the Selenites

Chapter 25 The Grand Lunar

Chapter 26 The Last Message Cavor sent to Earth

Chapter1 Mr. Bedford Meets Mr. Cavor at Lympne

As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. "Here, at any rate," said I, "I shall find peace and a chance to work!"

And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men. I may perhaps mention here that very recently I had come an ugly cropper in certain business enterprises. Sitting now surrounded by all the circumstances of wealth, there is a luxury in admitting my extremity. I can admit, even, that to a certain extent my disasters were conceivably of my own making. It may be there are directions in which I have some capacity, but the conduct of business operations is not among these. But in those days I was young, and my youth among other objectionable forms took that of a pride in my capacity for affairs. I am young still in years, but the things that have happened to me have rubbed something of the youth from my mind. Whether they have brought any wisdom to light below it is a more doubtful matter.

It is scarcely necessary to go into the details of the speculations that landed me at Lympne, in Kent. Nowadays even about business transactions there is a strong spice of adventure. I took risks. In these things there is invariably a certain amount of give and take, and it fell to me finally to do the giving reluctantly enough. Even when I had got out of everything, one cantankerous creditor saw fit to be malignant. Perhaps you have met that flaming sense of outraged virtue, or perhaps you have only felt it. He ran me hard. It seemed to me, at last, that there was nothing for it but to write a play, unless I wanted to drudge for my living as a clerk. I have a certain imagination, and luxurious tastes, and I meant to make a vigorous fight for it before that fate overtook me. In addition to my belief in my powers as a business man, I had always in those days had an idea that I was equal to writing a very good play. It is not, I believe, a very uncommon persuasion. I knew there is nothing a man can do outside legitimate business transactions that has such opulent possibilities, and very probably that biased my opinion. I had, indeed, got into the habit of regarding this unwritten drama as a convenient little reserve put by for a rainy day. That rainy day had come, and I set to work.