The Dream

The Dream is a science fiction novel written by H.G. Wells and originally published in 1924.

Sarnac, the narrator of the story, is a scientist living 2000 years in the future in a rather dystopian world. He tells his friends that he has had a dream in which he goes back to the early 20th century and dreams that he has had a previous life where he was Mortimer Smith, a man with great aspirations but who has been killed by a rival.

The dream, which spans from birth to untimely death, weaves together the two timelines of such different eras. In the future, far better than today, humans are far more enlightened and live in greater harmony with nature.

In this interesting and disturbing tale, Wells makes a critique of the society of the time through the outsider's eyes of Sarnac.

"I think I mentioned the line of hills, the Downs that bounded the world of my upbringing to the north. What lay beyond them was a matter for wonder and speculation to me long before I was able to clamber to their crests. In summer time the sun set behind them to the north-west, often in a glow of gold and splendour, and I remember that among my fancies was a belief that the Day of Judgment was over there and that Celestial City to which Mr. Snapes would some day lead us—in procession, of course, and with a banner".