SUMMARY
Three 19th century authors are generally credited with the development of what came to be known as Science Fiction:

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) Born in the UK and wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she wrote "Frankenstein or A Modern Prometheus" in 1818. She also wrote another, although less famous, proto-science fiction novel, "The Last Man" in 1826.

H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells (1866-1946) Also British, Wells , a teacher and general scholar, wrote many books of "speculative fiction" as well as many non-fiction books and text books. Perhaps his most famous non-science fiction work is the "The Outline Of History". He is of course best known for "The War Of The Worlds", "The Island Of Doctor Moreau", "The Time Machine", and many others.

Jules (Gabriel) Verne (1828-1905), was a Frenchman, an optimist, a novelist and a playwright. His large body of work includes many favorites, such as "Around The World In Eighty Days" ( a non-SF adventure), "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", "From The Earth To The Moon", and, perhaps his most famous, "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".

QUOTES

"In some ways...the linking of (H. G. Wells and Jules Verne) as founding fathers is deceptive. Jules Verne was a pragmatic, entrepreneur of letters, and at least during the first part of his career espoused the clear-eyed optimism about progress and European man's central role in the world typical of high 19th-century culture. Born almost forty years later, and to lower-middle-class parents, Wells in his early work exuded and helped to define the doom-laden fin-de-sie`cle atmosphere of the old century's hectic, premonitory climax."
                              -Clute/Nicholls, "The Encyclopedia Of Science     
                                Fiction",  pg. 1275

"Frankenstein was a mixture of Mary (Shelley's) personal traumas, her concern that Percey Shelley's overreaching could lead to disaster, her reading of "Paradise Lost" and attempts to make contact with her parents -William Godwin who had disowned her,  and Mary wollstonecroft, who had died giving birth to her - plus her understanding of the then current debates about "vitalism" and the origin of the life principle itself"

"Over time, though, Frankenstein has turned into a  reworking of Faust and an allegory of the social responsibility of science"
                                              -Christopher Frayling, Sunday Times,
                                                  December 8, 1996

"H. G. Wells' Scientific Romances and a number of his short stories set an intellectual, ethical and aesthetic standard that serious Science Fiction still honors.....it is worth noting that practically everybody's idea of what a time machine is comes from "The Time Machine", and that the themes and imagery of that tale and of "The War Of The Worlds" and"The Invisible Man" have been reworked right through the twentieth century without wearing out at all..."
                                          - Ursula LeGuin, Introduction,
                                              "The Norton Book Of  Science Fiction"

MAIN TEXTS ( see downloadable links to PDFs above)

"Frankenstein or A Modern Prometeus" Shelley
"The Time Machine" Wells
"20,00 Leagues Under The Sea" Verne

RELATED MATERIAL (links to other sites)

"The Last Man" Shelley
"The War Of  The Worlds" Wells
"The Island Of Doctor Moreau" Wells
"From The Earth To The Moon" Verne
Jules Verne's Nautilus a site that "recreates" Verne's Nautilus using 3D software and Verne's own notes.

DISCUSSION/ESSAY TOPICS (Please post comments on the related thread on the discussion board)

1. How did the different positions held in society by Verne and Wells reflect in their outlook and their fiction?

2. Explain how the various film versions of the Frankenstein monster you may have seen differ in relationship to the time the film was made in.

3. Given an oppurtunity, which fictional creation would you rather have at your disposal, a time machine, a super-advanced submarine, or a man-made being? Why?