With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Emily Alder, Lecturer in Literature and Culture at Edinburgh Napier University'Each time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, Isay: this time I will burn out all the animal, this time I will make arational creature of my own!' declares Doctor Moreau to hapless narratorEdward Prendick.Moreau's highly controversial methods and ambitions conflict with thereligious, moral and scientific norms of his day and Wells later called The Island of Doctor Moreau'a youthful exercise in blasphemy'. Today his vivid depictions of theBeast People still strike modern readers with an uncanny glimpse of theanimal in the human, while the behaviour of humans leave us wonderingwho is the most monstrous after all.This volume unites four of Wells' liveliest and most engaging talesof the strange evolution and behaviour of animals - including humanbeings. The Island of Doctor Moreau is followed by three fantastic yetchillingly plausible short stories of human-animal encounters. The Empire of the Antsis a darkly humorous account of intelligent Amazonian ants threateningto displace humans as 'the lords of the future and masters of theearth'. In The Sea Raiders, the south coast of England is terrorized by an unwelcome visit from deep-sea predator Haploteuthis ferox, while AEpyornis Island provides a marooned egg collector with an unusual companion.
