Shoghi Effendi read HG Wells, The Shape of Things to Come, and (probably) other futurist fiction

[Sen McGlinn]

This video shows that Shoghi Effendi read H.G. Well's utopian work "The Shape of Things to Come" (1933, filmed 1936), and quotes from it in his 1936 letter "The Unfoldment of World Civilization," which is one of the "World Order" letters.
Could it be that the futurist letter "The Unfoldment of World Civilization," was intended to provide for his readers the long vision that Wells (also in "The time traveller" and "the dreamer awakes") and Huxley were giving to their readers? Was Shoghi Effendi doing the same, but better?

 

[Ahanu]

This video shows that Shoghi Effendi read H.G. Well's utopian work "The Shape of Things to Come" (1933, filmed 1936), and quotes from it in his 1936 letter "The Unfoldment of World Civilization," which is one of the "World Order" letters.
Could it be that the futurist letter "The Unfoldment of World Civilization," was intended to provide for his readers the long vision that Wells (also in "The time traveller" and "the dreamer awakes") and Huxley were giving to their readers? Was Shoghi Effendi doing the same, but better?

Interesting to learn about other literary influences on Shoghi Effendi. Previously all I knew was that he modeled some of his English writing style on Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Now I can add H.G. Wells.