Working for the Empire: Professions of Masculinity in H. G. Wells's The Time Machine“ and R. L. Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde“

Abstract

This article situates the novellas of Stevenson and Wells within late nineteenth century discourses of degeneration and imperialism, establishing connections between fears of imperial decline and anxieties concerning the concept of masculinity at the fin de sia¨cle“. Identifying these works as examples of the late-Victorian romance revival, the piece considers the extent to which they advocate the regeneration of the empire through the revitalization of middle-class masculinity and its incumbent values: hard work, productivity, and self-discipline.