The Island of Dr. Moreau
by H. G. Wells
A shipwreck in the South Seas, a palm paradise where a crazy doctor conducts vile experiments, animals that have become human and are "cruel" like never before - this is a matter of high adventures. It is also an analogy of Darwinian theory, a story of social satire and bloody horror in the spirit of Jonathan Swift ("Gulliver's Travels"). Or, as H. G. Wells himself wrote about this story, "Dr. Moreau's Island is a youthful blasphemy exercise. From time to time, although I rarely admit it, the universe reflects itself to me with a facial expression. Then it roared and I did my best to express my vision of purposeless torture in creation." This colorful story by the author of The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds ignited a heated storm of debate when it was published in 1896.
