DOCSLIB.ORG

H. G. WELLS and the SHORT STORY Also by J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
H. G. WELLS and the SHORT STORY Also by J H. G. WELLS AND THE SHORT STORY Also by J. R. Hammond AN H. G. WELLS COMPANION H. G. WELLS AND REBECCA WEST AN EDGAR ALLAN POE COMPANION A GEORGE ORWELL COMPANION A ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON COMPANION H. G. WELLS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HIS WORKS H. G. WELLS AND THE MODERN NOVEL H. G. Wells and the Short Story J. R. Hammond M St. Martin's Press © J. R. Hammond 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 978-0-333-51327-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Great Britain 1992 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Hound mills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-349-38922-3 ISBN 978-0-230-37667-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230376670 First published in the United States of America 1992 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth A venue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-07582-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hammond, J. R. (John R.), ] 933- H. G. Wells and the short story I J. R. Hammond. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-07582-8 1. Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946-(:riticism and interpretation. 2. Short story. I. Title. PR5777.H294 1992 823'.912-dc20 91-38862 CIP For H. G., in homage This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xi PART ONE: OVERVIEW 1 1 Wells and the Short Story 3 2 The Frontiers of Art 19 3 A Checklist of Wells's Short Stories 29 PART TWO: CASE STUDIES 41 4 Suburban Gardens 43 'Through a Window' 44 'The Purple Pileus' 48 'A Catastrophe' 52 'Miss Winchelsea' s Heart' 55 5 Mysterious Worlds 59 'Aepyornis Island' 60 'The Sea Raiders' 63 'The Crystal Egg' 66 'Under the Knife' 70 6 A Hideous Grimace 75 'The Flowering of the Strange Orchid' 76 'The Red Room' 79 The Cone' 82 'The Wild Asses of the Devil' 86 vii viii Contents 7 The Magic Crystal 89 'The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes' 90 'The Plattner Story' 93 'The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham' 96 'The Stolen Body' 100 8 The Man Alone 103 'A Slip under the Microscope' 104 'The Presence by the Fire' 107 'Wayde's Essence' 109 'The Valley of Spiders' 110 9 Lost Orientations 115 'Mr Skelmersdale in Fairyland' 116 'The Country of the Blind' 121 'The Door in the Wall' 125 10 First and Last Things 133 'The Apple' 134 'The Story of the Last Trump' 136 'Answer to Prayer' 139 'A Dream of Armageddon' 141 Appendices 149 1 Two Unreprinted Short Stories 149 2 Introduction to The Country of the Blind 162 Notes 167 Bibliography 171 Index 173 Preface It is now thirty years since the publication of Bernard Bergonzi's pioneering work The Early H. G. Wells, the first study to subject Wells's short stories to detailed academic scrutiny. The intervening three decades have seen a significant growth in the field of Wells studies and the publication of a number of important biographical and critical works pertaining to his life and writings. As a result we now know far more about his methods of work than was understood during his lifetime and have a deeper understanding of his artistic concerns and the forces that shaped his temperament and attitude of mind. The present study is best seen as a companion volume to my H. G. Wells and the Modern Novel, published in 1988. In that book I ques­ tioned the received view that Wells was a novelist in the realist tradition and concluded that he can properly be regarded as a trans­ itional figure between realism and modernism. This study stems from my conviction that his short stories merit far closer critical attention than they have yet received and possess considerable psy­ chological and symbolic insight. Justly famous as a writer of short stories, for too long Wells's contributions in this field have earned him a reputation as a second Poe or a second Stevenson. The present study argues that in his short stories Wells was not simply emulating the styles and themes of his predecessors but making a distinctive contribution to the genre grounded firmly in his approach to fiction. Rejecting any attempts to circumscribe the short story within narrow definitions he proclaimed in the introduction to the Country of the Blind that 'insistence upon rigid forms and austere unities' was 'the instinctive reaction of the sterile against the fecund'. Through his deliberately fluid approach to the genre and willingness to experiment with a diversity of styles and themes, he produced some of the most memorable short tales in the English language. He was moreover giving fictional expression to drives and longings implicit in his own makeup. Throughout his life Wells sought unsuc­ cessfully to reconcile the conflicting drives within his personality towards, on the one hand, a love of order and security and, on the ix X Preface other, a craving for passion and adventure. This tension between classical and romantic elements fractured much of his work yet, paradoxically, proved to be one of his greatest strengths. Wells was a man who was haunted by an oppressive sense of man's animality and propensity towards evil yet was continually beckoned by vi­ sions of beauty and desire. The expression of these diverse tensions in his shorter fiction forms a fascinating study. An introductory chapter gives an overview of Wells's contribu­ tions to the genre and places them in their literary and biographiCal context. This is followed by a chapter examining his distinctive approach to the art of the short story, and a checklist of his short fiction. This introductory section is followed by seven chapters of 'case studies' focusing on a representative selection of the short stories and examining their language and imagery in closer detail. An appendix includes the text of two short stories now reprinted for the first time since their original publication. I would like to express my warm thanks to Gene K. Rinke!, Cura­ tor of Special Collections at the University of Illinois at Urbana­ Champaign, who has been unfailingly kind and helpful in respond­ ing to many tedious requests for information and for xerox copies of manuscripts. I also wish to place on record my thanks to the staff of the National Newspaper Library, Colindale, and the Local Studies Library, Bromley, for their courtesy and assistance over a long period. My final thanks must be to the members and officers of the H. G. Wells Society, not only for the great honour they have ren­ dered me in electing me as their President but for their constant encouragement and interest. J. R. HAMMOND Acknowledgements The extracts from the works of H. G. Wells are reproduced by per­ mission of the literary executors of the estate of H. G. Wells and the following copyright-holders: Faber & Faber Ltd and Little, Brown & Co., for the extracts from Experiment in Autobiography and H. G. Wells in Love. A. P. Watt Ltd, for the extracts from all other works by H. G. Wells. xi .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Plattner Story and Others
    THE PLATTNER STORY AND OTHERS Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE STOLEN BACILLUS THE WONDERFUL VISIT THE WHEELS OF CHANCE THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU THE TIME MACHINE THE PLATTNER STORY AND OTHERS BY H. G. WELLS METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. LONDON 1897 TO MY FATHER Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com CONTENTS PAGE THE PLATTNER STORY 2 THE ARGONAUTS OF THE AIR 29 THE STORY OF THE LATE MR. ELVESHAM 47 IN THE ABYSS 71 THE APPLE 94 UNDER THE KNIFE 106 THE SEA-RAIDERS 126 POLLOCK AND THE PORROH MAN 142 THE RED ROOM 165 THE CONE 179 THE PURPLE PILEUS 196 THE JILTING OF JANE 213 IN THE MODERN VEIN 224 A CATASTROPHE 239 THE LOST INHERITANCE 252 THE SAD STORY OF A DRAMATIC CRITIC 262 A SLIP UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 274 THE PLATTNER STORY HETHER the story of Gottfried Plattner is to be credited or not, is a pretty question in the value of W evidence. On the one hand, we have seven witnessesto be perfectly exact, we have six and a half pairs of eyes, and one undeniable fact; and on the other we havewhat is it?prejudice, common sense, the inertia of opinion. Never were there seven more honest-seeming witnesses; never was there a more undeniable fact than the inversion of Gottfried Plattners anatomical structure, andnever was there a more preposterous story than the one they have to tell! The most preposterous part of the story is the worthy Gottfrieds contribution (for I count him as one of the seven).
    [Show full text]
  • The Inventory of the H.G. Wells Collection #458
    The Inventory of the H.G. Wells Collection #458 Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Wells, Herbert George, 1866 - 1946 Purchi.se 1969 Box 1 Letters . 16 AIS, l postcard AIB, 3 holograph envelopes ✓1899 AIS 1899 N0 vember 27, Sandgate, Ken} to Harold Grost, Esq. ✓ 1900 AIS 1900 January 28, Sandgate, Kent, to "Connell" Conal 0 •Riordan 2 PPo ✓AIS 1900 October 19, Sandgate, Keny to 'lftMy Dear Sir" 3 PPo on l Marked "iBrivaten o V ALS 1900 November _22, Sandgate, Kent, to 11Dear Sir11 2 PP• on l Marked 11Private 11 ·v'Envelope holograph. Postmarked 1900 November 23. Addressed to William H. Maas, Esqo, Londono ✓1905 AIS 1905 April 30, Sandgate, to the Director of trre Natural History Museum~ ✓1914 ALS 1914 April 7, t,1ondonJ to «.DEar Sirs" ✓ 1922 AIS nodo, Dun.mow, to Mrs o Dawson Scott. Envelope holograph. Postli"..arked 1922, June 12, London. Addressed to Mrs. Dawson Scott. ✓ ALS n.d., London, to Mrs 0 Scotto Envelope holograph. Postmarked 1922, June 15, Londono Addressed to Mrs. Dawson Scott. ( 1924 AIS 1924 November 3, Dunmow, to Miss Hordero /1925 AIS 1925 June 8, Dunmow, to Miss H0 rdero v/1928 Postcard ALSo Postmarked 1928 January 21, London, to Mrs• Dawson Scotto V" 1935 ALS 1935 May 15, r.Londonl, to -Miss Hordero Wells, Herbert George 1866 - 1946 Page 2 AL5 November 15, n .y., r.London l to Lord Du...visa.ny. AL5 Ilodo [London] to 11 :My dear Sir" 4 PP• on 2 cards. Ats n.d. Dunmow to Mr. Ridling ?, 1 P• ' .AL5 n.d.
    [Show full text]
  • The Perfect Way by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland the Perfect Way Or the Finding of Christ
    The Perfect Way by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland The Perfect Way or The Finding of Christ by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland Published in 1888 Boston, Mass.: ESOTERIC PUBLISHING COMPANY, 478 Shawmut Avenue. (Revised and Enlarged Edition.) Page 1 The Perfect Way by Anna Bonus Kingsford and Edward Maitland AUTHORS’ EXPLANATION These lectures were delivered in London, before a private audience, in the months of May, June, and July, 1881. The changes made in this edition calling for indication, are, – the substitution of another Lecture for No. V., and consequent omission of most of the plates; the rewriting, in the whole or part, of paragraphs 6 - 8 and 28 in No. I.; 34 - 36 in No. II.; 5 - 8, 12, 13, 22, 23, 42, 43, 54, and 55, in No. IX. (the latter paragraphs being replaced by a new one); the lengthening of Appendices II, and VI; the addition of a new Part to Appendix XIII. (formerly No. IX); and the substitution of eight new Appendices for Nos:. VII., and VIII. The alterations involve no change or withdrawal of doctrine, but only extension of scope, amplification of statement, or modification of expression. A certain amount of repetition being inseparable from the form adopted, – that of a series of expository lectures, each requiring to be complete in itself, – and the retention of that form being unavoidable, – no attempt has been made to deal with the instances in which repetition occurs. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION In presenting an American edition of THE PERFECT WAY, or, The Finding of Christ, to the reading and inquiring public, we have been actuated by the conviction that a comprehensive textbook of the “new views,” or the restored wisdom and knowledge of the ages regarding religion or the perfect life, was imperatively required, wherein the subject was treated in a manner luminous, instructive, and entertaining, and which, without abridgement, or inferiority of material or workmanship, could yet be sold at a price that would bring the work within the means of the general public.
    [Show full text]
  • Professor Ernest Keppel Takes up the Idea in His Own Peculiar Fashion 90 7 8 Contents VI Opening Phases of the Great Eugenic Research IOJ
    Star-Begotten, $ r .7 5 ALSO BY H. G. WELLS $1.2 5 "Here is Wells at his best and when Wells writes at his best he produces a book that no reader in our 1nodern times can afford to ig­ nore." -WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE, Book-of­ the-Month Club News. "The old authentic magic of H. G. Wells." -N. Y. Herald Tribune Books. "A thriller of unusual power, gripping and gruesome as only Mr. Wells can make such a tale .... A social commentary, a very shrewd and biting one."-JoSEPH HENRY JACKSON, San Francisco Chronicle. "You would think it barely possible that there· was a new kind of ghost-story to be written, yet that is what Mr. Wells has suc­ ceeded in doing.... The reader will certainly be grateful to the author for a fable so bril­ liantly provocative."-RALPH STRAUS, Sun­ day Times, London. "Not since the day long ago when I was first enthralled and puzzled by Henry James's story The Turn of the Screw, have I been so much perplexed and entertained by any so­ called ghost story -as I have been by H. G. Wells's latest fiery particle." -The Providence Sunday Journal. "A blend of the early Wells horror story and the Wells of William Clissold . ... The Croquet Player is the old Wells book again." -The United Press. "Masterpiece of exact and dove-tailed nar­ rative ... Mr. Wells scatters ideas in profu­ sion. He provides material for a hundred argu­ ments and clarifies as many perplexities." - The Daily Mail, London. Tk VikUUJ j),,ee.,s_ 18 EAST 48 T H STREET, NEW YOR K Star..
    [Show full text]
  • Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris Emelyne Godfrey Editor Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H
    Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris Emelyne Godfrey Editor Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris Landscape and Space Editor Emelyne Godfrey London, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-137-52339-6 ISBN 978-1-137-52340-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52340-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016958207 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
    [Show full text]
  • HG Wells and the Metaphysics of Socialism
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo American Political Science Review (forthcoming). This is a pre-proof version of the essay. Pragmatism and Prophecy: H. G. Wells and the Metaphysics of Socialism Duncan Bell (University of Cambridge) All the great and important beliefs by which life is guided and determined are less of the nature of fact than of artistic expression. H. G. Wells, First and Last Things Introduction H. G. Wells (1866-1946) was one of the most famous political thinkers in the early twentieth century Anglophone world. Having made a name for himself writing “scientific romances” during the 1890s, he turned to elaborating a bold and idiosyncratic socialist vision. To his admirers he was a prophet, divining the contours of the future with unparalleled insight. To his critics he was either a dangerous radical, intent on smashing the established order, or a dreamer of hopeless dreams. Wells, Bertrand Russell observed, was “one of those who made Socialism respectable in England,” and he had a “very considerable influence upon the generation that followed him” (1956, 79). Even George Orwell, a fierce critic, acknowledged his impact. “Thinking people who were born about the beginning of this century,” he wrote in 1941, “are in some sense Wells’s own creation,” and nobody writing in English in the first two decades of the century “influenced the young so much” (1970, 172). Wells advocated a vanguardist cosmopolitan socialism. It was cosmopolitan insofar as it aimed to replace the system of sovereign states and empires with a world-state.
    [Show full text]
  • The Plattner Story and Others by the Same Author
    /ELLS IERKEIEY OF CALIFORNIA THE PLATTNER STORY AND OTHERS BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE STOLEN BACILLUS THE WONDERFUL VISIT THE WHEELS OF CHANCE THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU THE TIME MACHINE THE PLATTNER STORY AND OTHERS BY H. G. WELLS METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. LONDON 1897 TO MY FATHER 864 CONTENTS PAGE THE PLATTNER STORY ...... 2 THE ARGONAUTS OF THE AIR . .29 THE STORY OF THE LATE MR. ELVESHAM . .47 IN THE ABYSS ........ 71 THE APPLE ....... 94 UNDER THE KNIFE ...... IO6 THE SEA-RAIDERS ...... 126 POLLOCK AND THE PORROH MAN . .142 THE RED ROOM . .165 THE CONE ....... 179 THE PURPLE PILEUS ...... 196 THE JILTING OF JANE ...... 213 IN THE MODERN VEIN . .224 A CATASTROPHE ...... 239 THE LOST INHERITANCE . 252 THE SAD STORY OF A DRAMATIC CRITIC . 262 A SLIP UNDER THE MICROSCOPE .... 274 THE PLATTNER STORY the story of Gottfried Plattner is WHETHERto be credited or not, is a pretty question in the value of evidence. On the one hand, we have seven witnesses to be perfectly exact, we have six and a half pairs of eyes, and one undeniable fact; and on the other we have what is it? prejudice, common sense, the inertia of opinion. Never were there seven more honest-seeming wit- nesses ; never was there a more undeniable fact than the inversion of Gottfried Plattner's anatomical struc- ture, and never was there a more preposterous story than the one they have to tell ! The most preposterous part of the story is the worthy Gott- fried's contribution (for I count him as one of the seven).
    [Show full text]
  • H. G. WELLS: EDUCATIONIST by F
    H. G. WELLS: EDUCATIONIST by F. H. DOUGHTY JONATHAN CAPE ' 30 BEDFORD SQUARE H. G. WELLS: EDUCA TIO:\lST GENERAL survey of the lines along which Mr. Wells' educational ideas have Ade,·eloped, and a criticism of these ideas. Mr. Wells has always regarded education in the broadest light-never as a narrow ae~demic or scholastic afFair, but as a process that touches life at all points. Education in this wider aspect has, therefore, assumed so great an importance in his work as a whole, that a survey such as this amounts to a more or less complete review of his philosophy. While therefore, the book appeals first to the _ edue~tionist, it is also of value for the general · reader, particularly those who regard. Mr. Wells as one of the most signi6e~nt fi2ures in modern literature. H. G. WELLS: EDUCATIONIST By the Same Author * EDUCATION AND THE SPIRIT Ho Go WELL§ EDUCATIONIST by F. H. DOUGHTY LONDON: JONATHAN CAPE LTD. F I R S T P U B L I S H -l_D I N M C M X X V I MADE ~ PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BUTLER ~ TANNER LTD FROME AND LONDON Tp E. A. D. K. F. W. D. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGB I PROPHET OR QUACK? I 3 II FROM 1THE TIME MACHINE' TO 1JOAN AND PETER' 23 III PROGRESS AND CHANGE 38 IV THE AGE OF CONFUSION 55 V THE MAKING OF MAN 77 VI THE MIND OF MAN 94 VII ETHICS AND THE WORLD STATE 107 VIII A PRELIMINARY SURVEY 119 IX NEW SCHOOLS FOR OLD 132 X THE ULTIMATE REALITY 154 XI CONCLUSION 162 APPENDICES A.
    [Show full text]
  • Issn 0017-0615 the Gissing Newsletter
    ISSN 0017-0615 THE GISSING NEWSLETTER “More than most men am I dependent on sympathy to bring out the best that is in me.” – George Gissing’s Commonplace Book ********************************** Volume XVIII, Number 1 January, 1982 ********************************** Who are all these good-looking and happy people? The best-dressed group of 1981? No, they are participants at the Gissing Symposium held at Wakefield last September. STANDING (left to right): John Halperin, Gillian Tindall, John Goodchild, Peter Keating, C. J. Francis, Frank Woodman, Mr. Bird, Jacob Korg, Malcolm Allen, Pierre Coustillas, Michel Ballard, Ros Stinton, David Dowling, David Grylls, Patrick Parrinder, Douglas Hallam, Kate Taylor, Terry Wright, Francesco Badolato, John Harrison, Rick Allen, Clifford Brook. SITTING (left to right): Anne Peel, Elizabeth Foster, Cynthia Korg, Chris Kohler, Kelsey Thornton, Tricia Grylls, Maria Chialant, Mabel Ferrett, M. Clarke, P. Clarke. -- 2 -- The National Weekly: A Lost Source of Unknown Gissing Fiction Robert L. Se1ig Purdue University Calumet Undiscovered Gissing fiction most certainly awaits whoever can find an 1877 file of the National Weekly. This highly ephemeral Chicago publication at times carried the alternate titles of Carl Pretzel’s Weekly or Carl Pretzel’s Illustrated Weekly. The only library known to possess any holdings of it, the library of the Chicago Historical Society, has one issue apiece from 1875, 1876, 1878, and 1880 but none from the year when Gissing lived in that Midwestern American city. His only extant story from the National Weekly – “A Terrible Mistake” (5 May 1877, p. 10) – survives in a page of the paper kept by Gissing himself. In Notes and Queries of October 7, 1933, the bookseller M.
    [Show full text]
  • Countries of the Blind: Blindness and the Creation of Other Worlds in “The Country of the Blind”, “The Black Grippe” and the Day of the Triffids
    Countries of the Blind: Blindness and the Creation of Other Worlds in “The Country of the Blind”, “The Black Grippe” and The Day of the Triffids. by Andi C. R. Buchanan A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Victoria University of Wellington 2014 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4 Chapter 1: The Country of the Blind ...................................................................... 17 Chapter 2: The Black Grippe ................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3: The Day of the Triffids .......................................................................... 65 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 100 Works Cited ............................................................................................................ 108 1 Abstract This thesis examines the depiction of mass blindness in three works: H.G. Wells’s “The Country of the Blind”, Edgar Wallace’s “The Black Grippe” and John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids. In their description of a near-universal
    [Show full text]
  • 5· Experiment in Autobiography, Ch. 8, V, P. 623. 2. William Paley, Evidences of Christianity (1794) and Natural Theology (1802
    Notes INTRODUCTION 1. George Orwell, 'Wells, Hitler and the World State' in Collected Essays (London, 1961), P· !64. 2. George Steiner, 'Imagining science', Listener, LXXXVI, No. 2225 (18 Nov. 1971), p. 686. 3· M. R. Hillegas, The Future as Nightmare (New York, 1967), pp. 5, 34· 4· E. I. Zamyatin, Herbert Wells (St Petersburg, 1922), p. 54· 5· Experiment in Autobiography, Ch. 8, v, p. 623. I. THE CONVERSION TO SCIENCE 1. Huxley, well known as an agnostic, if not an atheist, was highly amused at his title. He wrote to Sir john Donnelly, 'I am astonished that you don't know that a letter to a Dean ought to be addressed, "The Very Revd." I don't generally stand much upon etiquette, but when my sacred character is touched I draw the line.' Leonard Huxley, Life and Letters rif Thomas Henry Huxley (New York, 1901), II, P· 38. 2. William Paley, Evidences of Christianity (1794) and Natural Theology (1802). 3· T. H. Huxley, 'Mr Darwin's critics', Contemporary Review, xvm (Nov. 1871), 443· 4· H. G. Wells, 'Huxley', Royal College rif Science Magazine, XIII (Apr. 1901 ), 21 1. 5· Experiment in Autobiography, Ch. 5, i, pp. 201, 204. 6. Ibid., Ch. 5, ii, p. 210. 7· Ibid., pp. 220-1. 8. Ibid., Ch. 6, vi, pp. 356-7. 9· VanWyck Brooks, The World of H. G. Wells (London, 1915). 10. Short Stories (London, 1929), p. 1076. 11. Marriage, m, Ch. 4, vi, pp. 514-15. 12. Short Stories, vol. x, p. 570. 13. Love and Mr. Lewisham, Ch. 1, p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories, by H. G. Wells
    The Country of the Blind, And Other Stories, By H. G. Wells 1 INTRODUCTION The enterprise of Messrs. T. Nelson & Sons and the friendly accommodation of Messrs. Macmillan render possible this collection in one cover of all the short stories by me that I care for any one to read again. Except for the two series of linked incidents that make up the bulk of the book called Tales of Space and Time, no short story of mine of the slightest merit is excluded from this volume. Many of very questionable merit find a place; it is an inclusive and not an exclusive gathering. And the task of selection and revision brings home to me with something of the effect of discovery that I was once an industrious writer of short stories, and that I am no longer anything of the kind. I have not written one now for quite a long time, and in the past five or six years I have made scarcely one a year. The bulk of the fifty or sixty tales from which this present three-and-thirty have been chosen dates from the last century. This edition is more definitive than I supposed when first I arranged for it. In the presence of so conclusive an ebb and cessation an almost obituary manner seems justifiable. I find it a little difficult to disentangle the causes that have restricted the flow of these inventions. It has happened, I remark, to others as well as to myself, and in spite of the kindliest encouragement to continue from editors and readers.
    [Show full text]