SOURCE: Willis, Martin T. “Edison as Time Traveler: H. G. Wells's Inspiration for his First Scientific Character.” Science Fiction Studies 26, no. 2 (July 1999): 284-94.

In the following essay, Willis contends that Thomas Edison could be the inspiration for the character of the Time Traveler in The Time Machine.

Critics of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine have reached no conclusions about the character of, or inspiration for, the Time Traveler. Opinions differ greatly as to the personality of this central figure, with critics forming three distinct groups: those who see the Time Traveler as a poor example of the late Victorian scientist, those who view him as a scientific Everyman, and those who find him a reflection either of Wells himself or of some mythic precedent. Israel Zangwill, in a critique that appeared soon after the publication of the novel (1895), reflects the opinions of the first of these groups...