Novels: (r)evolutionary adaptation to changing conditions

Since the excerpt from Darwin's autobiography is not as easy to understand as it seems to, and the details can be interpreted in different ways, I will first elaborate how I understand his theory of a literary evolution, revolution, and devolution. Darwin states that poetry is of high aesthetic value, whereas novels are not “of a very high order”(*). However, due to his preoccupation with science, and the need to gather facts, he is no longer able to appreciate or even comprehend what poetry is telling. Instead, novels give him relief and pleasure, something poetry did in former times of his life. So there is the shift from one literary genre to the other. Though Darwin seems unable to change his behavior and thus this evolution of literature, he sees it very critically. In his opinion, aesthetic senses have to be trained, and they atrophy when they are not used. It is the same scenario we see to happen in nature when specific features of animals are no longer needed or used: they disappear in the course of time. But, according to Darwin, aesthetic senses are necessary, they are needed, but mankind does not use them, so that they wither. He argues that “the loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious […] to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.”
I questioned myself why he prefers novels when poetry is so much more valuable, and how he differentiates between novels and poetry. As the last quote shows, he equals poetry with emotion. Contrary to this, novels are “works of imagination.” By emphasizing this, Darwin implies that poetry is not based on imagination. This leads to the conclusion that poetry is a reflection of reality. At first, I thought this to be contradictory to the element of emotion, as I connected reality to the fact-based sciences and given circumstances, but as we see in The Time Machine, reality is not always very reasonable. The Time Traveler, for example, is totally wrong in his first ‘reasonable’ explanations how the new world of the Elois works. If poetry is in fact a highly aesthetic reflection of reality, influenced by emotion, it becomes a means of the universal truth. This truth is yet difficult to grasp. Having in mind the idea of poetry as including the universal truth, Darwin’s argument about the loss of the moral character becomes more understandable because poetry, since it tells the truth, also teaches the reader how to behave, and what is morally wrong and right. But to get these ‘guidelines,’ one must be able and willing to spend time with poetry, to make an effort. An aptitude that apparently gets lost in Darwin’s time.
Contrary, the novels evolve. Being imaginative creations, Darwin demands that they have a happy-ending, a person who can be loved, and “if a pretty woman all the better.” Only then they are “first class” novels. Again, I thought he contradicts himself by fist separating emotion (poetry) from imagination (novel), as such story is emotional. But these emotions are faked, and looking at the plot of such stories, they are often pretty flat and superficial. They might give relief for a short time, but they do not communicate any ideas beyond this dull story. It seems as if Darwin uses novels as an escape from reality. Novels present him a world in which he does not have to think. This is further supported by what he says about his averseness to music: it sets him “thinking too energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure.” He is clearly looking for mindless distraction.
The shift from poetry to the novels is a drastic change, revolutionary. The ‘lower’ category, the novel, becomes more popular, first choice. But following the Darwinian Theory, this is a descent at the same time. As quoted above, we lose the emotional part of our nature, thus we are incomplete. Without poetry, we will no longer be able to decide what is right; and we will only get a fragmentary picture of the world as we do not have access to the ‘universal truth.’ The loss of aesthetic tastes is regression.

All this being said - how does The Time Machine matches Darwin’s argumentation?
At first glance, this text seems to support his thesis of a devolution of taste. Though the Elois are defined as aesthetic beings, they do not have any literature at all. This goes even further than Darwin’s outlook: instead of a degeneration of poetry, there is also the loss of novels. In fact, there will be the loss of all aesthetic tastes: “even this artistic impetus […] had almost died in the Time I saw. To adorn themselves [the Elois] with flowers, to dance, to sing in the sunlight, so much was left of the artistic spirit, and no more. Even that would fade in the end into a contented inactivity” (92). The Elois are shown as superficial, “living in the moment” beings. They are not interested in anything for a longer time as the male Time Traveler, the protagonist of the story observes: “they would come to me with eager cries of astonishment, like children, but, like children, they would soon stop examining me, and wander away after some other toy” (87). And as Darwin predicted, their moral qualities disappeared, e.g. they do not show any intention to save Weena when she falls in the river and is in deadly peril. Finally, the working and sinister Morlocks, the personification of technology, will overpower the Elois, so if there is any aesthetic sense left, it will be annihilated in this moment. The absence of a moral is even more striking in the Morlocks’ behavior as they apparently kill the Elois due to a lack of other food supplies. They seem to be emotionless, only care about their technological life below the surface of the Earth – thus they are more extreme than Darwin who, though preoccupied with science, still finds some amusement and pleasure in at least reading novels. And eventually, the Morlocks, the beings without any aesthetic tastes, will become extinct, too.
However, the distinction between an aesthetic sense and technology, represented by the two ‘races’ Elois and Morlocks, only confirms Darwin’s theory of a general literary regression, and does not say anything about the revolutionary aspect that novels, the lower category, become more popular than poetry.
The Time Machine is a novel; therefore it belongs (according to Darwin) to the lower category of literature. It is a work of imagination, serves as a distraction from real life. If we read The Time Machine only from this limited point of view or perspective, we would not think about the context and what it could mean for us as we are only looking for a contemporary pleasure.
Yet The Time Machine does not fulfill Darwin’s requirements in order to be a first class novel. First of all, there is no person “whom one can thoroughly love.” I cannot completely support the Time Traveler’s behavior. Yes, he is inventive and creative. But although he feels more attracted by the beautiful Elois, he almost behaves like the Morlocks. He comes into this new world as an intruder. He likes the Elois, but he disregards them after a short time (cf. 87). When he sees the Morlocks for the first time, he “longed very much to kill a Morlock or so” (130). This is pretty abhorrent. The (negative) apex of the Time Traveler’s behavior is when he sets the wood on fire and watches how the Morlocks kill themselves by running into the burning forest. A more than disturbing moment. All this makes the Time Traveler a dislikeable character.
The second point, which does not classify The Time Machine as one of Darwin’s preferred novels is the lack of a happy ending. Contrary, the novel presents a very sinister outlook: mankind will finally be extinct. And the ‘steps’ in this development are not attractive, either. Neither the Elois nor the Morlocks are a welcome alternative.
When the novel does not fulfill Darwin’s requirements at all, it is more than arguable if it is appropriate to consider The Time Machine in terms of his classification and characterization of a novel. It could be said that The Time Machine then becomes even a subcategory to the already existing lower literary category of novels. But I think this does not do justice to the novel. In fact, it is completely outside of Darwin’s understanding of a novel, it becomes something different. The Time Traveler, no matter if we like him or not, confronts us with a possible reality. He is the lens through which we can see how the world could look like if mankind proceeds in the way it does. By this, we are becoming aware of the way we go. The separation between science and arts is not completely made up as Darwin has shown us in the excerpt; this tendency already existed in his time. He was aware of it but could not change his behavior. But we, the readers, still might have a chance because the novel warns us of this possible development/degeneration of Man. Furthermore, the novel surprises with thought-provoking statements, such as “we are always getting away from the present moment” (62) or peaceful considerations of nature and its influence on the human being: “I felt a certain sense of friendly comfort in their (the stars) twinkling […] Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life” (123). By presenting a (possible) reality and such thought-provoking impulses, the novel moves even further away from the Darwinian classification and converges towards poetry. Thus it is set in a position beyond the ordinary novel.

The Time Machine serves only partly as a proof of Darwin’s theory of literary (r)evolution. It supports the presumption that the devolution and final loss of aesthetic tastes eventually leads to an incomplete, immoral nature of man, referring to how the Elois and the Morlocks are presented. However, Darwin also says that the novel in its simplicity is the first step towards the descent of Man as it is less valuable than poetry. Here, The Time Machine defies every classification. It does not work in the way Darwin would expect it to work. By being more akin to poetry, this novel shows that the genre ‘novel’ does not have to be condemned to superficial stories. The revolutionary aspect of Darwin’s theory is even expanded in this and turns his thesis almost upside down. Poetry might be neglected by the broad audience, but novels can take over its tasks: showing a reality, reflecting on it and inspiring people to think. This, in the end, would mean that novels are not the first step towards the descent of Man but evolutionary adaptation to the changing conditions in society. Even if poetry or the higher aesthetic taste will be extinct, novels, though admittedly of another type than Darwin described it, will ensure the value and benefit of literature.


References
Wells, Herbert George. The Time Machine: an Invention. Broadview 2001.

Excerpt from: "The Autobiography of Charles Darwin". In: On the Origin of Species (Cornell,ed.). Broadview 2003.

*note: all quotations without indication of pages in parentheses are from the excerpt.