NP: H.G. Wells

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Just finished a fantastic biographical novel about HG Wells - A Man of Parts, by David Lodge.  I'd read Nice Work by Lodge, and really enjoyed it, which is what drew me to this book.  Part narrative, and partly using the device of a scathing self-inteview by Wells as he approaches death, the book teases out all of the inherent hypocrisies in Wells' stance on Free Love and utopian socialism, but gives Wells a fair chance to defend himself.  There are extensive quotes from Wells' books and personal correspondence.

Although hypocritically jealous and possessive of the women in his life, one can at least praise Wells for being attracted to their intellect as much as their physical attributes. The book interweaves his complicated personal and political life with the content of his many (now largely unread) novels.  I've only read his science fiction novels.  The sense I got of his later novels is that they're preachy tracts on the issues he was passionate about: utopian socialism, Free Love, international government, and world peace.  Writing about some of this took tremendous guts on his part - even the tepid hints about spouse-swapping at the end of In The Days of the Comet, had a huge backlash on him.

Question: Has anyone here read any of Wells' social issue novels?  Are they worth reading?

Laura