ABSTRACT
The island setting has long been a staple of imaginative literature in narratives across a range of genres, from Homer's epics and More's Utopia to the satires of Swift and the robinsonades of Defoe and others. In The Island of Doctor Moreau, H. G. Wells used the island mythos to great effect, synthesizing the fantastic elements of the literary tradition with up-to-the-minute discoveries in science to create a tale that intrigues, provokes and haunts readers to this day. Darwin's time in the Galapagos gave him significant clues to natural selection through prompting him to solve the mystery of variation in species across the archipelago. Parallels between Stevenson's 1894 Ebb-Tide and Wells's 1896 Island of Doctor Moreau are readily apparent, though few scholars have noted it. Wallace's enthusiastic embrace of spiritualism was a source of reluctant embarrassment for his fellow naturalists, who otherwise greatly respected his contributions to science.
