Optimism in the Edwardian Age

Wells is regarded as one of the most prominent champions of the early twentieth-century spirit of British liberal optimism—the belief that scientific advances have made life almost perfect and that there is nothing left to discover. At the Royal College of Science, Wells studied zoology with noted biologist T. H, Huxley, who instilled in the young scientist the belief in social as well as biological evolution that Wells later cited as the single most influential aspect of his education. His works are ranked with those of playwright Bernard Shaw as exemplary of the era's exuberant sense of release from strict Victorian convention and the belief in the escalating benefits of scientific progress.

"The Door in the Wall" was published at a time of great change in England: rapid cultural change had been taking place since the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Victoria...