H. G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895) has hitherto been read in two principal scientific contexts: those of evolutionary biology and thermodynamic physics. Numerous critics have situated the romance in the context of evolutionary biology and contemporary discourses of degeneration (McLean 11–40; Greenslade 32–41). Others have discussed it in the context of thermodynamic physics. For instance, Bruce Clarke has read The Time Machine as “a virtual allegory of classical thermodynamics,” and shows that its combination of physical and social entropy reflects a wider transfer within the period of concepts and metaphors from physical science to social discourses of degeneration (121–26). Neatly linking these scientific contexts with issues of form, Michael Sayeau has argued that the social and physical entropy that are themes of the romance are reflected in its narrative structure, which manifests a type of narrative entropy, and thereby raises the spectre of the end of fiction (109–46).

中文翻译：

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HG 井、地质学和时间的废墟

HG 威尔斯时光机(1895) 迄今为止在两个主要的科学背景下被阅读：进化生物学和热力学物理学。许多批评家将浪漫置于进化生物学和当代退化话语的背景下（麦克莱恩 11-40；格林斯莱德 32-41）。其他人在热力学物理学的背景下讨论了它。例如，布鲁斯克拉克读过时光机作为“经典热力学的虚拟寓言”，并表明其物理和社会熵的结合反映了在概念和隐喻时期内从物理科学到退化的社会话语的更广泛转移（121-26）。迈克尔·萨约将这些科学背景与形式问题巧妙地联系起来，认为作为浪漫主题的社会和物理熵反映在其叙事结构中，这种结构表现出一种叙事熵，从而引发了对终结的幽灵。小说（109-46）。