The War of the Wheels : H. G. Wells and the Bicycle Hardback
by Jeremy Withers
Part of the Sports and Entertainment series
Hardback
Description
Amid apocalyptic invasions and time travel, one common machine continually appears in H.
G. Wells’s works: the bicycle. From his scientific romances and social comedies, to utopias, futurological speculations, and letters, Wells’s texts brim with bicycles.
In The War of the Wheels, Withers examines this mode of transportation as both something that played a significant role in Wells’s personal life and as a literary device for creating elaborate characters and exploring complex themes. Withers traces Wells’s ambivalent relationship with the bicycle throughout his writing.
While Wells celebrated it as a singular and astonishing piece of technology, and continued to do so long after his contemporaries abandoned their enthusiasm for the bicycle, he was not an unwavering promoter of this machine.
Wells acknowledged the complex nature of cycling, its contribution to a growing dependence on and fetishization of technology, and its role in humanity’s increasing sense of superiority.
Moving into the twenty-first century, Withers reflects on how the works of H.
G. Wells can serve as a valuable locus for thinking through many of our current issues and problems related to transportation, mobility, and sustainability.
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:264 pages, 17 black & white illustrations
- Publisher:Syracuse University Press
- Publication Date:30/04/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780815635031
Other Formats
- Paperback / softback from £25.95
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:264 pages, 17 black & white illustrations
- Publisher:Syracuse University Press
- Publication Date:30/04/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780815635031
