Kumla Bibliotek

Is it better to reign in hell than to serve in Heaven?

Wells at his thoughtful best, "The Country of the Blind" (1904) is one of his best-known and most-anthologized short stories.

The fable tells the story of a stranded mountaineer’s fateful discovery of a mythical village where everyone is blind only to realise that he can teach and rule them. But much to his dismay the villagers do not show any understanding of this fifth sense that is entirely unknown to them.

This story poses many questions: Is there really any such thing as a handicap? How much are we willing to sacrifice for love?

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Or is he?


H. G. Wells was an English writer, remembered mostly for his science fiction works. Often described as a futurist, H. G. Wells’s influence cannot be neglected for his works foresaw many technological innovations such as space travel, the atomic bomb, and the Internet. Four times Nobel Prize in Literature nominee, Wells explored a wide array of themes in his works, occupying one of the central seats in the canon of British literature. Some of his best works include the time-travel novel "The Time Machine", the sci-fi adventure novel "The Island of Dr. Moreau", the mankind-versus-aliens novel "The War of the Worlds" and more than seventy short stories.