NP: H.G. Wells

[James Kyllo]

I thought The New Machiavelli was worthwhile, although I enjoyed the first
half rather more than the second - which isn't a good trajectory.  It's
semi-autobiographical, and much concerned with political policies.

J


On Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 8:08 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> 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
>



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