Kipps / The History of Mr Polly

by H.G. Wells, Jonathan Wild (Annotations)

With an Introduction and Notes by Jonathan Wild, University of Edinburgh.

These comic novels will resonate with anyone who has ever felt trapped by circumstance. Their central characters, Artie Kipps and Alfred Polly, are prisoners of their modest social class, limited education, dull work, and sterile relationships. In Wells’ hands they break out of the cages that society has constructed for them, learning after bitter experience the truth that ‘if the world does not please you, you can change it’. This message, a revolutionary one in its day for the growing army of Edwardian clerks and drapers, is handled with a rich comedy and freshness that belies its deadly seriousness. Wells is at his very best here in exposing and satirising the unequal nature of British society while preparing the ground for its reformation.

Genres: Fiction

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

Herbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.

He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.

More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...

http://www.online-literature.com/well...

http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

Reviews

[Andrey Reshetnikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both stories are about people searching and finding their way in society with inevitable faux pas at the beginning. The characters are similar in their relative simplicity of nature which proves, however, far more complex than it seems at the first sight. They both struggle with life having little or no understanding of what they really want form it. They find their way at the end and become a lot happier for that reason.

Difference between Kipps and Mr Polly is a matter of personalities and a degree of deviation from what is considered to be an average norm for a low-middle class. If Kipps, for instance, has only absence of education precluding him from taking a higher rank in society, Mr Polly, in addition to that, has a slight cognitive disorder and bad stomach. This difference, however, far from making him dull (especially his aphasia), adds to his story more drama and colour.

[Charlene Carabott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although one cannot help feel sorry for the simple Mr Kipps and all he goes through, he does get his happy ever after it would seem. Also Mr Polly, (so many similarities to Mr Kipps), he suffered for a time but eventually found his happy place. Makes one feel hopeful :)

[Matthew McCreight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually my book is an older version -- just the Mr Kipps story (Collins Publishers 1966).

Excellent story and all the more enjoyable as the location is a familiar one!

[David Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur Kipps is an idiot and Alfred Polly is a fool in two novels which lack realism, overly rely upon deus ex machina to drive the narratives, and, not knowing quite what H.G. Wells intended, fall between the two stools of social satire and picturesque comedy. However, both are engagingly and wittily written, and are satisfactory as non-demanding entertainments, if one disregards the author's chippy and depressive worldview and focuses just upon the bumbling adventures of the two inane, everyman protagonists.