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The Young H.G. Wells: Changing The World
From acclaimed literary biographer Claire Tomalin, a complex and fascinating exploration of the early life of the influential writer and public figure H. G. Wells
Upon the death of H. G. Wells, in 1946, George Orwell remarked, If he had stopped writing in 1920 his reputation would stand quite as high as it does: if we knew him only by the books he wrote after that date, we should have rather a low opinion of him. For though Wells is remembered as the author of such influential books of science fiction as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds, and as a man whose visions of the future remain unsurpassed, his success as a writer of fiction stopped short in his forties. He remained famous, with an established reputation across England, America, and France, but, remarkably, never again equaled his early writing achievements.
Here for the first time, Claire Tomalin brings to life the early years of H. G. Wells, and traces his formation as a writer of extraordinary originality and ambition. Born in 1866, the son of a gardener and a housekeeper, Wells faced poverty and ill health from a young age. At 12, he was taken out of school, torment for a child with intellectual aspirations. Determined, Wells won scholarships and worked towards science degrees. Though he failed his final exams, he was soon writing text books, involving himself in politics, and contributing to newspapers. Still suffering from serious illness, as well as multiple physical breakdowns, Wells understood early on the impulse to escape - through books, art, and his imagination - and he began to make his name by writing short stories. But it wasn't until the publication of his first novel, The Time Machine, in 1895, that Wells attained the great success he had so longed for. His book, which transformed the way readers saw the world, was hailed as an extraordinary accomplishment.
Until the period leading up to the first world war, Wells wrote books at an almost unprecedented speed - about science, mysteries, and prophecies; aliens, planets, and space travel; mermaids, the bottom of the sea, and distant islands. He chronicled social change, and forecasted the future of technology and politics; formed friendships with Winston Churchill, Henry James, and Bernard Shaw, and shaped the minds of the young and old. His most famous works have never been out of print, and his influence is still felt today. In this unforgettable portrait of this complicated man, Tomalin makes clear his early period was crucial in making him into the great writer he became, and that by concentrating on the young Wells, we get the best of his life, and of his work.
Upon the death of H. G. Wells, in 1946, George Orwell remarked, If he had stopped writing in 1920 his reputation would stand quite as high as it does: if we knew him only by the books he wrote after that date, we should have rather a low opinion of him. For though Wells is remembered as the author of such influential books of science fiction as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds, and as a man whose visions of the future remain unsurpassed, his success as a writer of fiction stopped short in his forties. He remained famous, with an established reputation across England, America, and France, but, remarkably, never again equaled his early writing achievements.
Here for the first time, Claire Tomalin brings to life the early years of H. G. Wells, and traces his formation as a writer of extraordinary originality and ambition. Born in 1866, the son of a gardener and a housekeeper, Wells faced poverty and ill health from a young age. At 12, he was taken out of school, torment for a child with intellectual aspirations. Determined, Wells won scholarships and worked towards science degrees. Though he failed his final exams, he was soon writing text books, involving himself in politics, and contributing to newspapers. Still suffering from serious illness, as well as multiple physical breakdowns, Wells understood early on the impulse to escape - through books, art, and his imagination - and he began to make his name by writing short stories. But it wasn't until the publication of his first novel, The Time Machine, in 1895, that Wells attained the great success he had so longed for. His book, which transformed the way readers saw the world, was hailed as an extraordinary accomplishment.
Until the period leading up to the first world war, Wells wrote books at an almost unprecedented speed - about science, mysteries, and prophecies; aliens, planets, and space travel; mermaids, the bottom of the sea, and distant islands. He chronicled social change, and forecasted the future of technology and politics; formed friendships with Winston Churchill, Henry James, and Bernard Shaw, and shaped the minds of the young and old. His most famous works have never been out of print, and his influence is still felt today. In this unforgettable portrait of this complicated man, Tomalin makes clear his early period was crucial in making him into the great writer he became, and that by concentrating on the young Wells, we get the best of his life, and of his work.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
51 people are currently reading
585 people want to read
About the author
Claire Tomalin
31 books411 followersBorn Claire Delavenay in London, she was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
June 27, 2022
Writing a review for a three-star book is difficult—primarily because these books tend to leave me unmoved and indifferent.
The author lays out the facts. We learn of Well’s illnesses in his youth and his apprenticeships, his education, his family, friends and acquaintances, as well as his religious and political beliefs. There is a lot about his participation in the Fabian Society. His stories and books are adequately analyzed. His publishers are all spoken of too. His two wives, numerous mistresses and illegitimate children are reeled off one after the other. His character is not whitewashed.
So what’s wrong? Why don’t I want to give it more stars? Keep in mind that a three-star book is for me a good book, but not one that wows me. The central problem is this—I observe Well’s actions, but I don’t come close to his inner being, his soul, what made the guy tick. I have a very hard time comprehending how this guy could treat others as he did! I don’t understand him.
The book does not follow a straight timeline. It hops backwards and forwards all too much. Information is repeated.
There is almost as much information about others as there is about Wells. The extraneous information is interesting but is perceived as a filler. This is supposed to be a book about H.G. Wells not about all the other famous and important people he knew!
Leighton Pugh reads the audiobook very well The narration I am giving four stars. Every word is clearly spoken. It is simple to follow.
We are told that Well’s writing pulls a reader in. I will read one more of his books and see if this is true for me. I must see for myself. I will read Kipps next because its subject matter attracts me. Tono-Bungay is considered his best non science fiction work, but my dislike of the advertising world will I think end up annoying me too much.
It is important I add that I have preferred other books by Claire Tomalin more.
Given this book's wide scope, it has touched upon very many other books I have read. I will mention only The Housekeeper's Tale - The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House. Wells' mom is one of the housekeepers in the book!
********************************
*The History of Mr. Polly 3 stars
*Kipps TBR
*Tono-Bungay TBR
*The Young H.G. Wells: Changing The World by Claire Tomalin 3 stars
The author lays out the facts. We learn of Well’s illnesses in his youth and his apprenticeships, his education, his family, friends and acquaintances, as well as his religious and political beliefs. There is a lot about his participation in the Fabian Society. His stories and books are adequately analyzed. His publishers are all spoken of too. His two wives, numerous mistresses and illegitimate children are reeled off one after the other. His character is not whitewashed.
So what’s wrong? Why don’t I want to give it more stars? Keep in mind that a three-star book is for me a good book, but not one that wows me. The central problem is this—I observe Well’s actions, but I don’t come close to his inner being, his soul, what made the guy tick. I have a very hard time comprehending how this guy could treat others as he did! I don’t understand him.
The book does not follow a straight timeline. It hops backwards and forwards all too much. Information is repeated.
There is almost as much information about others as there is about Wells. The extraneous information is interesting but is perceived as a filler. This is supposed to be a book about H.G. Wells not about all the other famous and important people he knew!
Leighton Pugh reads the audiobook very well The narration I am giving four stars. Every word is clearly spoken. It is simple to follow.
We are told that Well’s writing pulls a reader in. I will read one more of his books and see if this is true for me. I must see for myself. I will read Kipps next because its subject matter attracts me. Tono-Bungay is considered his best non science fiction work, but my dislike of the advertising world will I think end up annoying me too much.
It is important I add that I have preferred other books by Claire Tomalin more.
Given this book's wide scope, it has touched upon very many other books I have read. I will mention only The Housekeeper's Tale - The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House. Wells' mom is one of the housekeepers in the book!
********************************
*The History of Mr. Polly 3 stars
*Kipps TBR
*Tono-Bungay TBR
*The Young H.G. Wells: Changing The World by Claire Tomalin 3 stars
November 2, 2022
First-rate short biography, that ended up covering his entire life. Consistently entertaining and amazing. Such as, in 1909, Bleriot flew a primitive airplane from Calais to Dover. Wells then published an eerily-prophetic preview of the aerial bombardment in the Battle of Britain. In this same general time (1903), Wells published "The Land Ironclads," a short story predicting the development of tanks and armored warfare. When indeed the first tanks fought, in WW1, Winston Churchill sent Wells a note, congratulating him on his gift of prophecy!
First you should read the publisher's preview above. It's an unusually good one.
Next, read the excellent NY Times review: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/bo...
Excerpt:
“There was a period when he was turning out 7,000 words a day,” writes Tomalin. “He kept working at what seems an impossible rate, producing stories so varied one might easily think they came from a team of writers.” Few writers will equal his worldwide impact on letters. With Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback, he invented the genre of science fiction. A crater on the moon’s far side is named after him. Nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Wells, the futurist, foresaw the coming of aircraft, tanks, the sexual revolution, the atomic bomb, and created the classic templates for every story that has been written about alien invasion (his inspiration for “The War of the Worlds,” says Tomalin, was “Tasmania, and the disaster the arrival of the Europeans had been for its people, who were annihilated”) and time travel ....
Wells was an incurable womanizer. His second wife was very accommodating about this, besides typing his manuscripts and bearing him two sons. She had agreed not to raise a fuss about the other women, but when Wells put up a photo of his latest, a 21 year-old college student, she threatened to destroy it. She didn't, and made her peace with the girl in due time....
So. 5-star read! If you have any interest in Wells, Britain in the early 20th century, and/or the British literary scene then, you really need to read this one. Plus, it's short!
Coda: You really, really need to read Adam Gopnik's wonderful commentary of this bio, HG Wells, and that zeitgeist at the NYer, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
First you should read the publisher's preview above. It's an unusually good one.
Next, read the excellent NY Times review: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/bo...
Excerpt:
“There was a period when he was turning out 7,000 words a day,” writes Tomalin. “He kept working at what seems an impossible rate, producing stories so varied one might easily think they came from a team of writers.” Few writers will equal his worldwide impact on letters. With Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback, he invented the genre of science fiction. A crater on the moon’s far side is named after him. Nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Wells, the futurist, foresaw the coming of aircraft, tanks, the sexual revolution, the atomic bomb, and created the classic templates for every story that has been written about alien invasion (his inspiration for “The War of the Worlds,” says Tomalin, was “Tasmania, and the disaster the arrival of the Europeans had been for its people, who were annihilated”) and time travel ....
Wells was an incurable womanizer. His second wife was very accommodating about this, besides typing his manuscripts and bearing him two sons. She had agreed not to raise a fuss about the other women, but when Wells put up a photo of his latest, a 21 year-old college student, she threatened to destroy it. She didn't, and made her peace with the girl in due time....
So. 5-star read! If you have any interest in Wells, Britain in the early 20th century, and/or the British literary scene then, you really need to read this one. Plus, it's short!
Coda: You really, really need to read Adam Gopnik's wonderful commentary of this bio, HG Wells, and that zeitgeist at the NYer, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
September 15, 2022
Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are.
This biography covers Wells’ early years beginning from his childhood, and portrays his visions, beliefs, ideas, successes and failures.
This biography covers Wells’ early years beginning from his childhood, and portrays his visions, beliefs, ideas, successes and failures.
May 24, 2022
H.G. was a truly remarkable force of nature, whose unrelenting passion for progressive politics, whose visionary novels and political tracts laid the foundations for the socialist ideas embedded across Europe since the end of the Second World War, were truly incredible for a man born in the 1860s. Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy is subtitled “the time-torn man”, a phrase that applies to Wells too, living the life of a man in the 1960s while battling the puritanism of the early 1900s. Tomalin was in her late eighties when she wrote this fairly speedy biography, which may explain the brevity and choice to pause halfway through Wells’ life, but Tomalin’s insights are as ever sharp, perspicacious, and swoony with admiration. Her thoughts on the relationship between Beatrice Webb and Wells are also intriguing, recasting the importance of Webb in taking him into the Fabian bosom, and the clash between her religious views and his outré attempts to practice free love with a succession of remarkable women, among them Rebecca West and Dorothy Richardson. No British writer has shaped our world more than H.G., so once more, I recommend you plunge lustfully into the colossal canon of this monumental genius.
November 3, 2021
What sort of person is behind the creative and far-flung sci-fi and fantasy of such classics as The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The War of the Worlds? I was curious, too, so I eagerly took up this latest of Claire Tomalin’s biographies to read about the early life of a man who is one of literature’s greatest.
Herbert George Wells nicknamed Buss and also Bertie was the third and last child and was born into a family that struggled with their shop in Bromley. By the time he came along, his father who lived for Cricket and time down at the pub and a tired out religious mother who wanted a girl baby didn’t have much interest in their children though it was never abusive and Buss loved both parents to their deaths. His older brothers were apprenticed off as drapers and young Buss attended the local school. He was encouraged to see himself as middle class by his mother and to look down on the poor kids though in truth the family was barely making it. A serious injury that laid him up for a long time was the big start to his interest in books and he wrote and finished a book when he was eleven. This first tale showed the promise of his later talent and the witty and creative mind behind it.
Further changes including deeper poverty for the family was to come, but HG Wells had a brilliant mind and that enabled him to keep going with school on scholarships and encounter influential and wealthy people. Meanwhile, he had decided his mother’s fervent admiration of Queen Victoria and the royal family as well as her strong religious bent were not for him. He also seemed to early on show a sexual interest in the opposite sex that would color the rest of his life when he married twice, but was always having an affair. His view of literature as a job that he loved rather than lofty art set him against several of his fellow contemporary authors and his political views earned him just as many heated encounters. Scholarly text books and histories along with philosophical society membership would show him to be a legit mind and able to become someone one who rubbed elbows with the big and influential names of the day, but was himself classless in the eyes of others.
So atheist, republican, hedonist, and socialist were tags he wears and all the while he is brilliant and one of the most influential writers of the late Victorian and early Edwardian ages. His futuristic sci-fi and fantasies were often scarily right on the nose and it was only after the Great War and the years leading into the second World War that he lost a bit of something in his writing though he was still prolific to his death.
I confess that I knew next to nothing about HG Wells when I picked up this book. I was equal parts interested in getting his story to see who came up with those amazing stories that came out of the Victorian period as well as finally try Claire Tomalin’s books. I’ve heard so much about other biographies she has done and want to delve into her backlist at some point.
But, HG Wells… he was a surprise. Not sure what I was expecting, but he was a daring one and didn’t conform to the social mores of his time. I guess someone who is willing to crossover lines and be open like that is exactly the sort who could write about airplanes before they existed, time travel, shape shifting, and aliens.
The biographic style of writing was straight forward and drew on several sources to give a well-rounded picture of HG Wells. I did bog down a bit in the philosophical stuff and preferred the life narrative. It doesn’t delineate his entire life and only detailed it out into his forties though the last chapter does sum up his later years and mostly his engagements and correspondence with famous fellow writers and his quirky love affairs. He seems to have really respected and loved his second wife though he couldn’t stop wanting and taking other women. Friend or foe, those who knew him admitted to his brilliance with the pen and his strong personality.
So, I have a much better picture of such a great classic writer and that his life was often as exciting as his books. This didn’t read swiftly and I had to stop for breaks now and then, but it was enlightening as well as had me eager to reach for an HG Wells book. I recommend the author for a well-written literary bio and I recommend this one if the reader wants a deep background of HG Wells.
I rec'd an eARC through Net Galley to read in exchange for an honest review.
Herbert George Wells nicknamed Buss and also Bertie was the third and last child and was born into a family that struggled with their shop in Bromley. By the time he came along, his father who lived for Cricket and time down at the pub and a tired out religious mother who wanted a girl baby didn’t have much interest in their children though it was never abusive and Buss loved both parents to their deaths. His older brothers were apprenticed off as drapers and young Buss attended the local school. He was encouraged to see himself as middle class by his mother and to look down on the poor kids though in truth the family was barely making it. A serious injury that laid him up for a long time was the big start to his interest in books and he wrote and finished a book when he was eleven. This first tale showed the promise of his later talent and the witty and creative mind behind it.
Further changes including deeper poverty for the family was to come, but HG Wells had a brilliant mind and that enabled him to keep going with school on scholarships and encounter influential and wealthy people. Meanwhile, he had decided his mother’s fervent admiration of Queen Victoria and the royal family as well as her strong religious bent were not for him. He also seemed to early on show a sexual interest in the opposite sex that would color the rest of his life when he married twice, but was always having an affair. His view of literature as a job that he loved rather than lofty art set him against several of his fellow contemporary authors and his political views earned him just as many heated encounters. Scholarly text books and histories along with philosophical society membership would show him to be a legit mind and able to become someone one who rubbed elbows with the big and influential names of the day, but was himself classless in the eyes of others.
So atheist, republican, hedonist, and socialist were tags he wears and all the while he is brilliant and one of the most influential writers of the late Victorian and early Edwardian ages. His futuristic sci-fi and fantasies were often scarily right on the nose and it was only after the Great War and the years leading into the second World War that he lost a bit of something in his writing though he was still prolific to his death.
I confess that I knew next to nothing about HG Wells when I picked up this book. I was equal parts interested in getting his story to see who came up with those amazing stories that came out of the Victorian period as well as finally try Claire Tomalin’s books. I’ve heard so much about other biographies she has done and want to delve into her backlist at some point.
But, HG Wells… he was a surprise. Not sure what I was expecting, but he was a daring one and didn’t conform to the social mores of his time. I guess someone who is willing to crossover lines and be open like that is exactly the sort who could write about airplanes before they existed, time travel, shape shifting, and aliens.
The biographic style of writing was straight forward and drew on several sources to give a well-rounded picture of HG Wells. I did bog down a bit in the philosophical stuff and preferred the life narrative. It doesn’t delineate his entire life and only detailed it out into his forties though the last chapter does sum up his later years and mostly his engagements and correspondence with famous fellow writers and his quirky love affairs. He seems to have really respected and loved his second wife though he couldn’t stop wanting and taking other women. Friend or foe, those who knew him admitted to his brilliance with the pen and his strong personality.
So, I have a much better picture of such a great classic writer and that his life was often as exciting as his books. This didn’t read swiftly and I had to stop for breaks now and then, but it was enlightening as well as had me eager to reach for an HG Wells book. I recommend the author for a well-written literary bio and I recommend this one if the reader wants a deep background of HG Wells.
I rec'd an eARC through Net Galley to read in exchange for an honest review.
August 5, 2022
The book loses steam and concurrently my interest as Wells moves into a more settled and successful life. Up until this happens there are some interesting facts and stories all of which I enjoyed reading.
January 16, 2022
Dashed-off, shallow and uninteresting.
January 25, 2022
Over the last few decades, I've learned that Claire Tomalin writes literary biographies so well that I'm sure to find them interesting. Even if, as with H. G. Wells, the subject of her latest volume, I've no interest in the author's output.
In H. G. Wells: Changing the World, Tomalin admits up front that her only interest in Wells lies in the early part of his life, when his fiction was fresh and interesting and before he and his writing fossilized into stodginess. It's an unusual approach for a biographer to reach someone's forties and say, "Yup, I'm pretty much over the guy at this point," but Tomalin's choice seems justified. After a youth largely comprised of class envy and a succession of gruesome hemorrhages, Wells' most revolutionary works arose from the years in which he was at his hungriest as an artist. Once he wrote to keep his bank accounts plump, his relevance dropped off accordingly.
Tomalin isn't shy about Wells' personal shortcomings: his multiple affairs, illegitimate children, and the pain he caused his wives, his ungenerous behavior with the men and women he thought of as friends, the grudge matches he carried out in public with rival authors and thinkers. It's almost unthinkable, how so vividly unpleasant a personality could have produced many of the speculative tropes that still influence the writing and entertainment of today—but in the end, perhaps that's what makes this narrative such a good read.
In H. G. Wells: Changing the World, Tomalin admits up front that her only interest in Wells lies in the early part of his life, when his fiction was fresh and interesting and before he and his writing fossilized into stodginess. It's an unusual approach for a biographer to reach someone's forties and say, "Yup, I'm pretty much over the guy at this point," but Tomalin's choice seems justified. After a youth largely comprised of class envy and a succession of gruesome hemorrhages, Wells' most revolutionary works arose from the years in which he was at his hungriest as an artist. Once he wrote to keep his bank accounts plump, his relevance dropped off accordingly.
Tomalin isn't shy about Wells' personal shortcomings: his multiple affairs, illegitimate children, and the pain he caused his wives, his ungenerous behavior with the men and women he thought of as friends, the grudge matches he carried out in public with rival authors and thinkers. It's almost unthinkable, how so vividly unpleasant a personality could have produced many of the speculative tropes that still influence the writing and entertainment of today—but in the end, perhaps that's what makes this narrative such a good read.
October 9, 2021
Claire Tomalin’s biography of the ‘young’ Wells offers a complicated man. His rich imagination gave us iconic novels. He developed his own political and social philosophy and lifestyle. He was a man who tried to do too much, curtailing his work from perfection, and he was a man I often did not like.
He had my sympathy when reading of his early years, the problems in his family and his struggles with ill health. Like so many of his generation, he took up socialism as a vehicle for reform, and also ideas of equality and free love. And there is where I did not care for him, his seeking personal sexual satisfaction without responsibility to his mistresses (and resulting children). Yet, he seemed to be irresistible to women of intelligence and social standing, attracted to his fame or personal charisma.
Unlike other biographies I have recently read, I did not feel the author demonstrated an attachment to her subject. His life is competently laid out, the details of his writing and publishing life, his relationships with family, fellow writers, and women, his internal life and thoughts are all there. I did not feel the love and respect some writers allow to show about their subject.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
He had my sympathy when reading of his early years, the problems in his family and his struggles with ill health. Like so many of his generation, he took up socialism as a vehicle for reform, and also ideas of equality and free love. And there is where I did not care for him, his seeking personal sexual satisfaction without responsibility to his mistresses (and resulting children). Yet, he seemed to be irresistible to women of intelligence and social standing, attracted to his fame or personal charisma.
Unlike other biographies I have recently read, I did not feel the author demonstrated an attachment to her subject. His life is competently laid out, the details of his writing and publishing life, his relationships with family, fellow writers, and women, his internal life and thoughts are all there. I did not feel the love and respect some writers allow to show about their subject.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
November 21, 2021
Wells is a writer who overcame childhood adversity to achieve what he did, and this book, which covers in depth his first and most productive relationship 45 years and summarises the rest, is a good account of his most famous futuristic and social novels .
Wells is firmly located in the literary climate of his time and we see much of his relationships with literary modernist movements and with fellow writers - who, it must be said , he was good at falling out with over bad reviews. Nevertheless, the books portrayal of Wells in his literary time is fascinating .
Important to his work are his political views . His socialism led him to the Fabian society before he broke with them too over views on some female issues and over his own behaviour , and to the more politically mixed co- efficients. The Fabians took their name from a Roman general good at delaying battles till absolutely necessary and believed in gradual reform rather than revolution. Bernard Shaw was among their number.
Wells was often an unfaithful husband and his ( second ) wife gave care to some girls that he got into trouble ,which was more than he deserved . But he was a caring comrade- the account of his care for dying writer George Gissing redeems him somewhat . His early attempts to lose his virginity to anyone who’d do the honours are a bit tedious but make him humanly relatable. In this regard it’s interesting that his later fictional utopias would encompass different views on sexuality from free love to abstention as ideals .
Perhaps an unlikely ally was Churchill, who despite his reactionary stances on many things was passionately committed to social reform in other areas , and liked Wells’ views . Churchill also liked his views on future weaponry and would later point out how right Wells had been on tanks and aerial warfare.
This book , is an effective warts and all portrait of an important Visionary , even handed despite his many faults. It opens the reader to perhaps trying some of his less known books alongside the classics, and gives good space to all his work. A fascinating read that I didn’t want to end .
Wells is firmly located in the literary climate of his time and we see much of his relationships with literary modernist movements and with fellow writers - who, it must be said , he was good at falling out with over bad reviews. Nevertheless, the books portrayal of Wells in his literary time is fascinating .
Important to his work are his political views . His socialism led him to the Fabian society before he broke with them too over views on some female issues and over his own behaviour , and to the more politically mixed co- efficients. The Fabians took their name from a Roman general good at delaying battles till absolutely necessary and believed in gradual reform rather than revolution. Bernard Shaw was among their number.
Wells was often an unfaithful husband and his ( second ) wife gave care to some girls that he got into trouble ,which was more than he deserved . But he was a caring comrade- the account of his care for dying writer George Gissing redeems him somewhat . His early attempts to lose his virginity to anyone who’d do the honours are a bit tedious but make him humanly relatable. In this regard it’s interesting that his later fictional utopias would encompass different views on sexuality from free love to abstention as ideals .
Perhaps an unlikely ally was Churchill, who despite his reactionary stances on many things was passionately committed to social reform in other areas , and liked Wells’ views . Churchill also liked his views on future weaponry and would later point out how right Wells had been on tanks and aerial warfare.
This book , is an effective warts and all portrait of an important Visionary , even handed despite his many faults. It opens the reader to perhaps trying some of his less known books alongside the classics, and gives good space to all his work. A fascinating read that I didn’t want to end .
October 19, 2021
The name H.G. Wells is more widely known than the names of other literary masters of the same era, if but for the movies based on H.G. Wells’ titles. He was a science fiction writer whose works The Time Machine and War of the Worlds offer readers escapism, thrills, and enough scientific foundation to have made him qualify as a visionary. Tomalin demonstrates Wells’ hold on the young in her preface by describing how George Orwell, as a boy at boarding school, kept borrowing (sometimes without permission) his friend Cyril Connolly’s (editor and essayist) copy of a book by Wells.
Tomalin prepares us in her remark that the boys did not know (as we may not know) that Wells was an atheist, a socialist and a republican. It did not matter to them because his futuristic scientific world full of possibilities seized upon the imagination. We can relate.
The young Wells’ history is unexpected and endears him to us, which is important, for his treatment of others—particularly lovers and wives—can gall. The highly successful 19th century white male writer was the rock star of his day, so he could get away with behavior that would not brand him as a cad and a bounder in his time. (Although it did, actually, and for a long time Beatrix Webb could not see him socially.) His treatment of his long-suffering wife, Jane, is quite interesting. Tomalin speaks well of her, but would anyone want such a fate for a daughter or herself? Yet still spouses put up with such neglect and dismissal if only to pay their bills.
In some ways, this might as well be a biography of significant writers and thinkers of the late 19th/turn of the 20th century, for the portrait Tomalin paints of Beatrice Webb (née Potter) is as fascinating as the one she colors in of Wells. I loved Tomalin's apology for following the “young” Wells all the way to his death. Her excuse was the adolescent behavior that gripped him throughout his life. Agreed.
It is charming to find Wells a hypocrite. Such creativity cannot be without flaw. If you are a reader of 19th century writers, you will value Tomalin’s exposé of the ever-transmuting relationships that existed between Wells, Shaw, Tolstoy, Henry James and more. My one critique is with the sub-title. To show how he “chang[ed] the world” would entail more of a textual analysis whereas this is a biography of success, ego and relationships.
Tomalin prepares us in her remark that the boys did not know (as we may not know) that Wells was an atheist, a socialist and a republican. It did not matter to them because his futuristic scientific world full of possibilities seized upon the imagination. We can relate.
The young Wells’ history is unexpected and endears him to us, which is important, for his treatment of others—particularly lovers and wives—can gall. The highly successful 19th century white male writer was the rock star of his day, so he could get away with behavior that would not brand him as a cad and a bounder in his time. (Although it did, actually, and for a long time Beatrix Webb could not see him socially.) His treatment of his long-suffering wife, Jane, is quite interesting. Tomalin speaks well of her, but would anyone want such a fate for a daughter or herself? Yet still spouses put up with such neglect and dismissal if only to pay their bills.
In some ways, this might as well be a biography of significant writers and thinkers of the late 19th/turn of the 20th century, for the portrait Tomalin paints of Beatrice Webb (née Potter) is as fascinating as the one she colors in of Wells. I loved Tomalin's apology for following the “young” Wells all the way to his death. Her excuse was the adolescent behavior that gripped him throughout his life. Agreed.
It is charming to find Wells a hypocrite. Such creativity cannot be without flaw. If you are a reader of 19th century writers, you will value Tomalin’s exposé of the ever-transmuting relationships that existed between Wells, Shaw, Tolstoy, Henry James and more. My one critique is with the sub-title. To show how he “chang[ed] the world” would entail more of a textual analysis whereas this is a biography of success, ego and relationships.
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March 14, 2022Short biography of first half of Wells' life which author believes is the best half. Tomalin admits to growing up reading Wells and being a fan of his books. This does not inhibit her critical sense. Wells' youth was sickly, he suffered from TB and frequent bouts of bleeding from the lungs. At least once he came close to death. Ordinary life and a desk job were never going to satisfy him. He pushed and pushed himself to be a writer-and this early discipline paid off. He produced an enormous range of work in several genres. Frequently he was working on two or three books/stories at the same time. Tomalin is likely best on Wells' attitude toward women. He was a serial philanderer all the while married to a woman who was a dutiful wife to him. Tomalin shows great forebearance for this failing without minimizing it. Tomalin believes Wells' best work still reads well today. Does one dare test this by reading 'The Time Machine', 'Kipps', or 'Tono-Bungay'?
July 31, 2023
Just as you would expect from Claire Tomalin a very well written and constructed book that tells the story of the first 40 years of his life. This is the period of his best novels, two wives, and several children. It does not always show him as the most stable and secure of men and certainly, he treated his two wives badly through his infidelity. However, his writing output was terrific even through bouts of ill health.
An enjoyable and informative read. 4 stars.
An enjoyable and informative read. 4 stars.
June 30, 2023
A fascinating man - his background, writing, politics, views on sex, etc. And the biography, which is heavy on his involvement with the Fabians, as a Fabian, an organization focused on socialism in Britain, moves along at a good clip. Strangely, I've read no Wells at all, but now have a short list of a few of his novels I might try.
October 2, 2022
Much more readable than Wells' own books
May 15, 2022
When I picked this up from the library I wondered why Ms. Tomalin chose to only provide a partial biography concentrating on "Young" Wells as opposed to tackling a "Life". It was only about ten pages from the end that I fully understood her reasoning.
Her approach as promulgated in the opening was that Wells' only worthwhile writing was that undertaken in his early life; especially if one consider him primarily a novelist. I read that and considered it an odd approach to a "full" life regardless of quality output in his cannon but as mentioned by the final pages it was clear there wasn't much of a life to discuss after his mostly biographical novels were concluded. In other words while he had an amazing early life striving for knowledge and education in difficult circumstances (very interesting!), his later life was little more than skipping from mistress to mistress and feeling guilty about neglecting his long-suffering wife. Yes! he produced quality "histories" and efforts at "scientific" papers but his creative writing days were well behind him...as was a meaningful life it would appear!
I eat up Ms. Tomlin's biographical works and I don't think I have missed one however this is not her best. Her focus on "early" life sometimes becomes unwieldy as she must cast forward to bring things into some context and thereby the timeline jumps around quite a bit, especially as it relates to his circle in the Fabians and other writers. His involvement in the Fabian Society is a large part of this book and that alone is all over the map.
I feel I know more about H.G. but unlike most biographies there is something unfinished about the whole work. Do I wish to know more of this chap?.....the answer is no!! Fascinating early like and then he morphed into a bit of a hedonist in the guise of a socialist and social reformer. Was the liberation of women more to do with his obvious fleshy desires or true wish for emancipation? I feel it is the former.
His work ethic from the years covered here was commendable but apart from his Fabian attachments he appears to have done little else for social reform other than to trumpet prophetic ideas. Overall I was underwhelmed ...but am I speaking of the book or the surprisingly selfish character of Wells? I conclude ....well....both, I guess.
Her approach as promulgated in the opening was that Wells' only worthwhile writing was that undertaken in his early life; especially if one consider him primarily a novelist. I read that and considered it an odd approach to a "full" life regardless of quality output in his cannon but as mentioned by the final pages it was clear there wasn't much of a life to discuss after his mostly biographical novels were concluded. In other words while he had an amazing early life striving for knowledge and education in difficult circumstances (very interesting!), his later life was little more than skipping from mistress to mistress and feeling guilty about neglecting his long-suffering wife. Yes! he produced quality "histories" and efforts at "scientific" papers but his creative writing days were well behind him...as was a meaningful life it would appear!
I eat up Ms. Tomlin's biographical works and I don't think I have missed one however this is not her best. Her focus on "early" life sometimes becomes unwieldy as she must cast forward to bring things into some context and thereby the timeline jumps around quite a bit, especially as it relates to his circle in the Fabians and other writers. His involvement in the Fabian Society is a large part of this book and that alone is all over the map.
I feel I know more about H.G. but unlike most biographies there is something unfinished about the whole work. Do I wish to know more of this chap?.....the answer is no!! Fascinating early like and then he morphed into a bit of a hedonist in the guise of a socialist and social reformer. Was the liberation of women more to do with his obvious fleshy desires or true wish for emancipation? I feel it is the former.
His work ethic from the years covered here was commendable but apart from his Fabian attachments he appears to have done little else for social reform other than to trumpet prophetic ideas. Overall I was underwhelmed ...but am I speaking of the book or the surprisingly selfish character of Wells? I conclude ....well....both, I guess.
February 14, 2022
Finally, a Claire Tomalin book to which I can award four stars! I was beginning to feel a bit queasy, having given no less than three of her wonderful books five stars in previous years, but this one definitely felt a little thinner. It’s almost a relief not to give her five stars yet again, as that would have placed her above Tolstoy or Dickens in my personal pantheon; and that can’t be right.
In many respects, it’s more of the same from her in terms of quality. Her prose is as silky and understated as in the Pepys or Hardy or Dickens biographies, and it is as ever a pure pleasure to read. In fact, I need to admit shiftily that I have never read any HG Wells and read this biography more for Claire Tomalin than for him: which puts it all into a kind of perspective.
That said, her account is thoroughly absorbing. Ignorant as I am, I had little idea that HG Wells had achieved such extraordinary impact in his long lifetime. That sounds odd at one level - everyone, but everyone, has heard of The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man and Mr Polly and so on - but I was not fully prepared for the sheer volume of notable material he churned out in those early years. CT has clearly read them all, or at least studied them carefully, because she gives insightful, intelligent thumbnails of each one as she goes along. You can’t help but be tempted to read at least some of them.
I’m not sure I’d say the same for HG Wells himself. It is fascinating to trace his development both as a writer and as a social thinker, and CT lays it all out with her customary calm and style. But there’s no mistaking what an odd, and probably nasty, man he was. I don’t necessarily mean his sexual beliefs and appetites, which were remarkable to say the least; but I certainly mean the direction which they took him, not least in his treatment of his hapless but constant second wife. Unlike CT’s other biography subjects who came across as fascinating in their way, I doubt whether I would have wanted to spend much time with HG Wells.
I was tempted to think that CT rather bailed out towards the end, and her “final” chapter claims that she had planned only to deal with Wells’ early life. Possibly, but the book does seem to slither to a slightly abrupt halt at that point. Perhaps the second half of his life truly wasn’t that interesting. On the other hand, I had not realised that she was nearly 90 by the time she wrote this book: she can surely be forgiven for wanting to call it a day. Nonetheless, as a glimpse of a world now vanished, it’s a marvellous piece of work.
In many respects, it’s more of the same from her in terms of quality. Her prose is as silky and understated as in the Pepys or Hardy or Dickens biographies, and it is as ever a pure pleasure to read. In fact, I need to admit shiftily that I have never read any HG Wells and read this biography more for Claire Tomalin than for him: which puts it all into a kind of perspective.
That said, her account is thoroughly absorbing. Ignorant as I am, I had little idea that HG Wells had achieved such extraordinary impact in his long lifetime. That sounds odd at one level - everyone, but everyone, has heard of The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man and Mr Polly and so on - but I was not fully prepared for the sheer volume of notable material he churned out in those early years. CT has clearly read them all, or at least studied them carefully, because she gives insightful, intelligent thumbnails of each one as she goes along. You can’t help but be tempted to read at least some of them.
I’m not sure I’d say the same for HG Wells himself. It is fascinating to trace his development both as a writer and as a social thinker, and CT lays it all out with her customary calm and style. But there’s no mistaking what an odd, and probably nasty, man he was. I don’t necessarily mean his sexual beliefs and appetites, which were remarkable to say the least; but I certainly mean the direction which they took him, not least in his treatment of his hapless but constant second wife. Unlike CT’s other biography subjects who came across as fascinating in their way, I doubt whether I would have wanted to spend much time with HG Wells.
I was tempted to think that CT rather bailed out towards the end, and her “final” chapter claims that she had planned only to deal with Wells’ early life. Possibly, but the book does seem to slither to a slightly abrupt halt at that point. Perhaps the second half of his life truly wasn’t that interesting. On the other hand, I had not realised that she was nearly 90 by the time she wrote this book: she can surely be forgiven for wanting to call it a day. Nonetheless, as a glimpse of a world now vanished, it’s a marvellous piece of work.
June 13, 2024
Kada je prije nekoliko godina Stiven Hoking izjavio da bi valjalo da se okanemo ćorava posla prizivanja vanzemaljaca, mislio je da je moguće da igrom slučaja ipak stupimo u kontakt sa agresivnom rasom koja će nas izbrisati sa planete... ili je pak iskoristiti za svoja kapitalna žitna polja kao, recimo, u romanu Tomasa Diša Genocidi (1965). Koncept koji je Hoking imao na umu seže još od Velsa koji je vidio nepobitnu prijetnju od bijelog kolonijaliste u Aziji i Africi. Primjera radi, danas se samo za britanske avanture u Indiji vezuje okvirna cifra od 46 triliona funti u pokradenim resursima.
Rat svjetova (1898) je i sâm dio literarnog trenda koji je u Britaniji trajao dugo vremena – o potencijalnoj vojnoj invaziji Njemaca na britansko ostrvo; samo što je Vels odlučio da napiše roman upozorenja, gdje je pred nepoznatom vojnom stihijom Britanija jednostavno bila nemoćna.
„Naučne romanse“ mladog Velsa – sedam romana publikovanih u periodu 1895-99. – predstavljaju odista značajno postignuće u istoriji književnosti. Borhesu su mnogo značili, zajedno sa djelima Luisa Kerola i R.L. Stivensona, i nije zgorega pomenuti da je u eseju „Novo opovrgavanje vremena“ o Velsu napisao da će njegovi “rani radovi biti priključeni, poput bajki o Tezeju i Artakserksu, u generalno sjećanje ljudske vrste u tolikoj mjeri, da će, štaviše, transcedentovati slavu njihovog tvorca ili odumiranje jezika na kome su zapisane.”
Sve ovo je lijepo i krasno, međutim gotovo ništa od ovoga nećemo zateći u generalno lapidarnoj i možda zbrzanoj, ali svejedno korisnoj biografiji poznate britanske spisateljice Kler Tomalin (Dikens; Hardi; Semjuel Pips...); ona priznaje da nije ni mogla sanjati o kompleksnostima Velsovog života.
Nećemo čak naći ni riječ-dvije o sporečkavanju sa Žilom Vernom, gdje je Vels – za razliku od Verna – optužen da piše nenaučne i, samim tim, infantilne fantazije. Mišljenja sam da bi to bio interesantan podatak, ništa manje nego što je to fakat da su u jednom trenutku – 1900. godine – Vels, Krejn, Konrad, Ford i Džejms bili komšije, a da su nedaleko od njih živjeli Golzvorti, Kipling i V.H. Hadson.
No, barem ćemo pročitati da je Vels bio kum drugom Konradovom djetetu i da su dva pisca ništili svoje prijateljstvo zbog negativne kritike. Tu će biti i pojedinost o kršenju drugog prijateljstva, sada sa Henrijem Džejmsom, kad je Vels objavio Boon (1915), gdje je uspješno imitirao raspojasani stil svojeg prijatelja. Džejms je, razočaran, umro naredne godine.
Nije da Tomalinova nipošto ne govori o Velsovim radovima. Saznaćemo, recimo, gdje je dobio ideju za Rat svjetova: u konverzaciji sa bratom dok su razmatrali Tasmanijce u momentu dolaska Evropljana.
„Uživao je“, piše Tomalinova, „u smještanju dolaska Marsovaca nedaleko od kuće u Vokingu, gdje su momentalno živjeli on i Džejn [njegova druga supruga i najveća mučenica od svih Velsovih žena], a Elizabeti Hili [ljubavnici] je vragolasto napisao da je odlučio da 'potpuno urnišem Voking, i pobijem sve moje komšije na vrlo bolne i neobične načine – a onda da istu patnju, preko Kingstona i Rimonda, ustrijemim na London, kojeg ću da opustošim, s tim da ću Južni Kensington da podvrgnem osobitim iživljavanjima'.“
U formi pamfleta, Rat svjetova se za dva mjeseca prodao u 110,000 primjeraka, dok je serijska prava Vels izdavaču prodao za 200 funti u eri kad je za godinu dana predavanja nauke u školi mogao da uzme 300, a da kuću iznajmi za 30 funti. Za ovakve tehničke informacije moramo se već okrenuti Književnom životu H.Dž. Velsa Adama Robertsa iz 2019 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Roberts, i sâm pisac SF romana i profesor književnosti na Londonskom univerzitetu, na svom sajtu je recenzirao svako djelo H.Dž. Velsa, fikciju i nebeletristiku. Kuća Palgrave Macmillan je od toga napravila skoro dvaput veću knjigu od Tomalinine koja joj, u isto vrijeme, može biti perfektni addendum. Ovdje tome priključimo i jedan od boljih romana Dejvida Lodža, Čovjek iz dijelova (A Man of Parts, 2011), fikciju baziranu na istinitim zgodama.
Tomalin predstavlja polovinu Velsovog života od rođenja 1866. pa do 1911. A čim kaže „mladi“ onda misli na Velsa kome književna karijera počinje tek 1895, u 29. godini, mada je, na taj način, mogla otići i pet godina naprijed kad je Vels, ako je pitati kritičare, objavio posljednju valjanu prozu, Mr Britling Sees It Through – rijedak roman o Velikom ratu gdje Njemci nisu prikazani kao zvijeri.
Biografija počinje time koliko je čovjek uticao na različite pisce poput Džordža Orvela i Sirila Konolija, a koji ga otkrivaju kao fascinirani jedanaestogodišnjaci, 1914, posredstvom pripovijetke „Zemlja slijepih“. Potom ide preko Velsovog siromaštva (majka mu je bila „viša“ služavka), nemogućnosti da se domogne dobrog obrazovanja i konstantno lošeg zdravlja; te kako mu se objavljivanjem prvog romana, Vremeplov, život korijenito mijenja.
Konstantnim druženjem sa vrlo obrazovanim ženama, Vels će vremenom upoznati socijalizam, emancipaciju žena, brak (a ubrzo i zdravu i gotovo ideološku netrpeljivost prema istom), „slobodnu ljubav“, svjetsku politiku i pacifizam – i uvijek će biti raspoložen za seks.
Rebeka Vels (Crno jagnje i sivi soko) napisala je prijatelju:
„Dragi moj H.Dž. bio je đavo, upropastio mi je život, izgladnjivao me je, bio je moj nepresušni izvor ljubavi i prijateljstva punih 30 godina, nikada se nismo trebali upoznati, bila sam jedina osoba koju je želio vidjeti na kraju, osjećam se napuštenom zato što ga nema.“
Tomalinova navodi da je veza sa Vestovom trajala 10 godina i da je zatrudnjela i da joj je Vels obećavao tušta i tma, ali, primjera radi, ne bilježi da mu je rodila sina Entonija.
Na kraju biografije se ne postavlja pitanje kao što je to uradio Roberts: ako izuzmeno naučnu-fantastiku, kojoj je svojim tropima i premisama doslovno udario moderne temelje (ne, to nije uradio Vern), kakva je zapravo reputacija Velsa kao političkog mislioca i pisca mejnstrima, i koliko se danas on uopšte čita?
Ne odveć jaka, zaključuje Roberts, jer je čovjekov uticaj počeo opadati već nakon smrti, 1946. Svejedno nije praktično tek tako zanemariti desetak njegovih romana iz književnosti glavnog toka. Radilo se o potpunom autoru: pisao je žanr, kritiku, visoku književnost, satiru, istorijske studije, političke traktate o socijalizmu i uputstva za vječiti mir u svijetu.
Vels će pomenuti Crnogorce u dvotomnoj Istoriji svijeta (Outline of History, 1920), kao zemlju prisajedinjenu Kraljevstvu Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca uz “ne odveć glasno protivljenje stanovništva” – podatak koji se rijetko sreće, ili zaboravlja, u stranoj istoriografiji tog doba.
To je inače jedan od rijetkih naslova pronađenih u Aušvicu među malom kolekcijom knjiga koje su skrivali zatvorenici; malo prije toga, 1933, nacisti su naveliko spaljivali čovjekov opus zajedno sa Zolom, Dostojevskim, Prustom, Hajneom, Hemingvejem i, između ostalih, Lorensom. Dabome da se Vels naročito ponosio time. A ko ne bi?
September 17, 2021
Despite Tomalin's clear appreciation for Wells the writer, Wells the human doesn't come across as at all likeable in this. Tomalin presents a thorough portrait of an entitled hedonist who's completely oblivious to those who have to deal with him. Very, very detailed. Not in a graphic way, but there's enough here to present the idea that the man wasn't as good as his books. Can't blame Tomalin for what's presented if that's what she had to work with.
Only negatives about the bio for me were that the front end seemed to go a bit and it seems to get tangential when discussing his social club.
Reviewed for Net Galley.
Only negatives about the bio for me were that the front end seemed to go a bit and it seems to get tangential when discussing his social club.
Reviewed for Net Galley.
January 21, 2022
HG Wells, best known for writing The Time Machine and The war of the Worlds, was a very prolific author, both in science fiction and in political books. This was learned from this biography. He was also a very flawed man, which made this book painful to read. He mistreated his wife, not physically, but through multiple sexual indiscretions, a few of them resulting in children. He wasn't always kind to his friends or publishers. I found him easy to dislike, which is somewhat strange, since the author says he was very likable. At least this was an honest look at his life and not sugar-coated.
February 11, 2022
I couldn’t finish this. Disappointing in many ways, not the least of which is that not a word from Wells’ works or how he came about them is offered.
June 21, 2022
Someone once told me that they could never again enjoy Harry Potter because they disagreed with the author's political/cultural views. This was just after Rowling publishing an essay that has since become controversial, which I suspect most of the people who malign have never bothered to read, since it does not say most of what people claim it says - it's a thoughtful piece struggling with a complex topic to which anyone with a modicum of wisdom or thought in their heads should admit there is no easy answer - but that is somewhat beside the point. My point is how sad it is that anyone would deny themselves good writing because of a non-topical disagreement with the author. It's one thing for someone to dislike Ayn Rand's books because they disagree with objectivism, since that philosophy forms the core of her books, but to dislike a fantasy series (that you previously enjoyed) because of completely unrelated politics?
No, I think that one need not like an author or their views in order to like their books, which is a good thing, because after reading Tomalin's biography of HG Wells, he's definitely not my favorite person. He was arrogant, entitled (ironic, considering his background), and had a massive chip on his shoulder, not to mention his relations with women. Still, plenty of people found him charming, including the author of this biography, who claims that she started off trying to write a biography of his youth, but was so fascinated by him that she decided to write his whole life, though for some reason she kept the title.
To read Tomalin's writing, you would think that Wells could do no wrong, even excusing his abhorrent treatment of his first wife, and his debatably worse treatment of his second, not to mention many of his questionable affairs. In his youth, he ran away or refused to work on apprenticeships to which he was contracted, which Tomalin also seems to believe was perfectly justified. She also lauds his prolific writing of as many as seven thousand words a day. Is that supposed to be impressive? I've written seven thousand words in a day, and I have a day job. For a professional author to find that impressive makes me wonder how long she must take to finish her books.
Maybe that explains why this biography, for all that it covers much more than just the youthful portrait of HG Wells its title would indicate, feels incomplete. I might be spoiled by reading Chernow biographies, but this one was erratic, jumping about in time and place, without effective transitions or a linking narrative. Usually when I read a biography, I am swept up in the subject's life, sympathize with them, understand them, and am sorry to reach the end, since they always die at the end, but that wasn't the case with The Young HG Wells. No, I looked forward to reaching the end, so that I could read something else.
You know I don't like to give negative reviews, but this book failed to scratch the itch I had to learn more about one of the grandfathers of science fiction. Perhaps that is in part because HG Wells, I learned, was not as much of a science fiction writer as I had believed. I've read books like The Time Machine (not this one), War of the Worlds, The War in the Air, The Invisible Man, but after those he took a more literary and/or political bent. Which is his right, but I have little interest in reading his other pieces, although a few of his short stories intrigue me.
Between the lackluster biographical writing, and my realization of my distaste for Wells' views and choices, I'm afraid that I cannot recommend this book. I wish that the author had spent more time exploring how he came up with ideas for his famous stories, instead of explaining the autobiographical nature of his less famous ones. Still, I don't intend to allow any of that to detract from my enjoyment of those Wells titles which do interest me, like the book that will be the subject of next week's review, The Island of Doctor Moreau.
January 15, 2022
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3846282.html
I've read a couple of other books about Wells - David Lodge's novel A Man of Parts and Adam Roberts' H.G. Wells: A Literary Life. This is better than either of them. Tomalin goes into considerable detail on Wells' childhood and early youth, and takes the story up to roughly 1911; both Lodge and Roberts looked at the way in which Wells' love life is reflected in his novels, but Tomalin takes it in the right order, explaining the history of Wells' many relationships, and then turning to the writing to explain how he used the raw material of his own life for his fiction, most obviously in Tono-Bungay, Kipps and Ann Veronica (of the books I have read so far).
A couple of other points that jumped out at me. First, that Wells' love of reading was boosted by a couple of spells of prolonged ill-health as a teenager and young man; his parents were not bookish and didn't really understand what he was up to, but lying in bed all day for months, books gave him an escape route which he retained access to for the rest of his life.
The success of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine was a complete game-changer. He and his wives had struggled economically until then; after that, his struggle was with maintaining his delivery on his various writing commitments. Poor Jane got to do all the typing up of his handwritten manuscripts while he went out with other women.
Tomalin comments a couple of times on the incredible energy he showed in the first decade of the twentieth century - continuing his output of fiction and non-fiction, heavy engagement in the Fabian Society and nascent Labour movement (while also cultivating friendships with Balfour and Churchill), and still pursuing numerous emotional entanglements (if we are being polite about it). Some of his behaviour was frankly foolish.
There's a lot here, with some pleasing pen and ink illustrations of the buildings where Wells lived as well as the usual clutch of photographs. I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite of the Claire Tomalin biographies I've read (Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft) but this is certainly their equal.
I've read a couple of other books about Wells - David Lodge's novel A Man of Parts and Adam Roberts' H.G. Wells: A Literary Life. This is better than either of them. Tomalin goes into considerable detail on Wells' childhood and early youth, and takes the story up to roughly 1911; both Lodge and Roberts looked at the way in which Wells' love life is reflected in his novels, but Tomalin takes it in the right order, explaining the history of Wells' many relationships, and then turning to the writing to explain how he used the raw material of his own life for his fiction, most obviously in Tono-Bungay, Kipps and Ann Veronica (of the books I have read so far).
A couple of other points that jumped out at me. First, that Wells' love of reading was boosted by a couple of spells of prolonged ill-health as a teenager and young man; his parents were not bookish and didn't really understand what he was up to, but lying in bed all day for months, books gave him an escape route which he retained access to for the rest of his life.
The success of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine was a complete game-changer. He and his wives had struggled economically until then; after that, his struggle was with maintaining his delivery on his various writing commitments. Poor Jane got to do all the typing up of his handwritten manuscripts while he went out with other women.
Tomalin comments a couple of times on the incredible energy he showed in the first decade of the twentieth century - continuing his output of fiction and non-fiction, heavy engagement in the Fabian Society and nascent Labour movement (while also cultivating friendships with Balfour and Churchill), and still pursuing numerous emotional entanglements (if we are being polite about it). Some of his behaviour was frankly foolish.
There's a lot here, with some pleasing pen and ink illustrations of the buildings where Wells lived as well as the usual clutch of photographs. I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite of the Claire Tomalin biographies I've read (Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft) but this is certainly their equal.
April 9, 2022
A book I was given as a birthday present, and have finally finished. Claire Tomalin, a journalist turned biography writer clearly enjoys research as she does so much of it! Quite where she discovers the myriad nuggets of information is a mystery, but there is ample evidence of rigorous detective work. I've read two of her other biographies: Dickens and Hardy, and also enjoyed them very much.
The writing is clear, straightforward, and makes an attempt to be impartial regarding Wells's behaviour. Where speculation or opinion is given, it is clear that we are getting the author's viewpoint but this does not dominate. Though the title is 'the YOUNG Wells' we are in fact taken right through to the end of WWII when Wells died, though the focus of the book is on his childhood and early success up to the age of 40.
There are intriguing sections about his relationships with other well-known people such as George Bernard Shaw, and his association with the Fabians. Probably most interesting are the sections that deal with his rise from obscurity and the considerable set-backs he faced in terms of background and severe health problems. I would have liked to hear more about his writings, but we hear more about the reviews than about the actual content. Perhaps that is because we can easily read those for ourselves. The only plot she describes in any detail is that of Tono-Bungay, a novel I hadn't heard of before (and now want to read).
Tomalin's tone remains detachedly neutral as she describes the 40-year-old Wells's affair with an 18 year old student - the daughter of two friends. The affair did lead to significant social fallout, which is all related in detail as well. And though at pains to be impartial, Tomalin cannot help but give her verdict in the end that the hero of the book is Wells's long-suffering wife, Jane.
I'm not sure I would have liked Wells in person. From the behaviours described, he does seem incredibly selfish and thoughtless. There again, many who did know him enjoyed his company very much because of his humour, vitality and wit.
Overall, a good biography which will have you ratching around second hand bookshops for those HG Wells classics and short stories you never realised you needed to read.
The writing is clear, straightforward, and makes an attempt to be impartial regarding Wells's behaviour. Where speculation or opinion is given, it is clear that we are getting the author's viewpoint but this does not dominate. Though the title is 'the YOUNG Wells' we are in fact taken right through to the end of WWII when Wells died, though the focus of the book is on his childhood and early success up to the age of 40.
There are intriguing sections about his relationships with other well-known people such as George Bernard Shaw, and his association with the Fabians. Probably most interesting are the sections that deal with his rise from obscurity and the considerable set-backs he faced in terms of background and severe health problems. I would have liked to hear more about his writings, but we hear more about the reviews than about the actual content. Perhaps that is because we can easily read those for ourselves. The only plot she describes in any detail is that of Tono-Bungay, a novel I hadn't heard of before (and now want to read).
Tomalin's tone remains detachedly neutral as she describes the 40-year-old Wells's affair with an 18 year old student - the daughter of two friends. The affair did lead to significant social fallout, which is all related in detail as well. And though at pains to be impartial, Tomalin cannot help but give her verdict in the end that the hero of the book is Wells's long-suffering wife, Jane.
I'm not sure I would have liked Wells in person. From the behaviours described, he does seem incredibly selfish and thoughtless. There again, many who did know him enjoyed his company very much because of his humour, vitality and wit.
Overall, a good biography which will have you ratching around second hand bookshops for those HG Wells classics and short stories you never realised you needed to read.
February 9, 2024
I'm a bit toren about this biography. It's fair this is only about the young HG Wells so certain details aren't covered so much. It's fair this is only a short biography. I also learned some stuff about Wells that I never knew before (I assume it's fairly accurate) and I really liked that Claire Tomalin did not shy from Wells's dark side. This is what I would say is the best point of the book. His flaws are there for all to see and she doesn't try to build him into a hero. He's brilliant but he had failures in his writing, he had values that would probably be looked down on today and he did not treat his wives or other races in a way that would be considered very admirable today despite being an influrential writer who helped many think further into the future.
I found though that the book seemed to skim on some of the more interesting areas and got bogged down in what seeme to be the author's pet areas (for instance look at the different amounts assigned to the different books he writes, she doesn't seem nearly so interested in his earlier and more influential books even though this is meant to be about the younger Wells and those are the books you'd assume the main audience would be more interested in.
The book does taper off and the insertion of Tomalin herself at the end seems a bit odd.
Tomalin does seem to lose interest and feel a bit detached, when at the beginning she seems far more engrossed in her topic. I felt that the book told me a lot of facts but did not come so much alive for me especially later in the book. But it did interest me to begin with giving me insight into a Wells I didn't know.
I found though that the book seemed to skim on some of the more interesting areas and got bogged down in what seeme to be the author's pet areas (for instance look at the different amounts assigned to the different books he writes, she doesn't seem nearly so interested in his earlier and more influential books even though this is meant to be about the younger Wells and those are the books you'd assume the main audience would be more interested in.
The book does taper off and the insertion of Tomalin herself at the end seems a bit odd.
Tomalin does seem to lose interest and feel a bit detached, when at the beginning she seems far more engrossed in her topic. I felt that the book told me a lot of facts but did not come so much alive for me especially later in the book. But it did interest me to begin with giving me insight into a Wells I didn't know.
January 28, 2022
Subtitle: Changing the World
H.G. Wells is best known for his novels, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and many others. Because most of his best known works were written at a relatively young age, author Tomalin chose to focus this biography of Wells on his younger years.
H.G. Wells was an extremely prolific author, but in his early years he was also a scholar, a teacher, a political activist, and (even though the term did not exist at the time) a futurist. During his lifetime he met and often befriended a who’s who of literary giants, beginning with A.A. Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame, who was one of Wells’ students. Politically, Wells was a socialist and a member of Great Britain’s Fabian Society, which pressed for reforms such as a national health care system.
In his writing, Wells was an incredible multi-tasker. He skipped from project to project in fiction, non-fiction, book reviews, and political articles while somehow not losing track of what he had in the works. In fact, maybe the hardest part of following along while reading this book was due to the fact that he seemed to be working on some books for a decade or more because of all the project hopping he did.
I gave The Young H.G. Wells five stars on Goodreads. Ever since reading The War of the Worlds back in 2020, I had been looking for a good Wells biography. While this book focused on his younger life, it didn’t totally ignore his older years. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in Wells life and works, or in literary biographies in general.
H.G. Wells is best known for his novels, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and many others. Because most of his best known works were written at a relatively young age, author Tomalin chose to focus this biography of Wells on his younger years.
H.G. Wells was an extremely prolific author, but in his early years he was also a scholar, a teacher, a political activist, and (even though the term did not exist at the time) a futurist. During his lifetime he met and often befriended a who’s who of literary giants, beginning with A.A. Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame, who was one of Wells’ students. Politically, Wells was a socialist and a member of Great Britain’s Fabian Society, which pressed for reforms such as a national health care system.
In his writing, Wells was an incredible multi-tasker. He skipped from project to project in fiction, non-fiction, book reviews, and political articles while somehow not losing track of what he had in the works. In fact, maybe the hardest part of following along while reading this book was due to the fact that he seemed to be working on some books for a decade or more because of all the project hopping he did.
I gave The Young H.G. Wells five stars on Goodreads. Ever since reading The War of the Worlds back in 2020, I had been looking for a good Wells biography. While this book focused on his younger life, it didn’t totally ignore his older years. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in Wells life and works, or in literary biographies in general.
April 29, 2023
I was sent this book as part of a wonderful Christmas present where you receive a paperback book each month for a year from Daunts bookshop. I don’t like HG Wells as an author, so I was tempted to send it back and ask for something else for this month. However, Claire Tomalin is an excellent biographer, and, on opening the book, I saw HG Wells grew up in Bromley, two miles away from where I lived from the age of 9-18. So I decided to read it. I'm pleased I did. The book has some fascinating insights into the lives and ideas of the intelligentsia at the turn of the century. I didn't find Wells a likeable man. He was self-opinionated, emotionally selfish and immature and had a very undisciplined brain. He had few scruples or morals. And yet he was clearly good company, attractive to many women, highly intelligent and with some very creative ideas which were ahead of their time.
The book has two main themes: the women in his life and his books. These themes don't always work as a chronology of events or work in an interconnected way, so there is some repetition. Sometimes that works, other times not. I came away thinking how much I would dislike Wells and that for me the heroine of his life was his long suffering wife Jane. I would love a biography of her life, or better still to read her diaries, if they existed. Why did she stay and put up with this man for all those years? Why did she invest so much of her life in him?
This is not a keeper but I'm pleased I read it.
The book has two main themes: the women in his life and his books. These themes don't always work as a chronology of events or work in an interconnected way, so there is some repetition. Sometimes that works, other times not. I came away thinking how much I would dislike Wells and that for me the heroine of his life was his long suffering wife Jane. I would love a biography of her life, or better still to read her diaries, if they existed. Why did she stay and put up with this man for all those years? Why did she invest so much of her life in him?
This is not a keeper but I'm pleased I read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2021
Claire Tomalin is a brilliant literary biographer. I also really admire H G Wells' writing and his socialism. I always thought it was surprising that his short stories were on my O Level English Lit curriculum with Shakespeare but it didn't stop me really enjoying them and many more of his books.
But there is something curious about this biography. Most obviously although its the 'young Wells' because almost all his good work comes from that period, Tomalin can't resist giving us glimpses of him until his death. Secondly, she really seems far too kind about the man and possibly the writer too. He certainly triumphed over a very tough start in life and narrowly escaped death a number of times. His ill health fuelled his manic productivity, but he also cut corners in a determination to keep as many plates spinning as possible. And it really is hard not to conclude he was a cad, albeit a charismatic one, in his behaviour to so many women as well as to his friends in the argumentative worlds of socialism and literature (as well as being very kind and generous on many occasions too).
Its always said of the historian Andrew Roberts that he falls in love with his subjects and it is hard not to come to the same conclusion on this occasion about Tomalin.
But there is something curious about this biography. Most obviously although its the 'young Wells' because almost all his good work comes from that period, Tomalin can't resist giving us glimpses of him until his death. Secondly, she really seems far too kind about the man and possibly the writer too. He certainly triumphed over a very tough start in life and narrowly escaped death a number of times. His ill health fuelled his manic productivity, but he also cut corners in a determination to keep as many plates spinning as possible. And it really is hard not to conclude he was a cad, albeit a charismatic one, in his behaviour to so many women as well as to his friends in the argumentative worlds of socialism and literature (as well as being very kind and generous on many occasions too).
Its always said of the historian Andrew Roberts that he falls in love with his subjects and it is hard not to come to the same conclusion on this occasion about Tomalin.
February 20, 2022
Claire Tomalin, a longtime biographer of 19th century British writers, takes a stab at the first 40 years of Wells life. Best remembered for his sci-fi stories, "War of the Worlds", "The Time Machine" etc. Wells was a prodigious writer of short stories and nonfiction too.
Wells (whom I went in knowing little about) was quite a conundrum -- brilliant, but beseeched all his life by bad decisions. So many ironies too -- a prodigious worker and a long time socialist (in that golden era of theory before any government put it into practice) but he was publishing books as fast as possible that were good, but could have been great if he'd spent more time on them .... because he wanted to make money as fast as possible. He wrote of the need for gender equality and respect for women in society while treating the women in his life terribly. He didn't like his second wife's given name "Amy Catherine" so he told her he would just call her "Jane" because he liked it better and while he stayed married to her until her death, he left a litany of illegitimate children across England and the continent with his very public affairs.
Very interesting book, but I confess I wasn't a fan of the biography's style -- it jumped around a lot, and made for a bit of a disjointed read.
Wells (whom I went in knowing little about) was quite a conundrum -- brilliant, but beseeched all his life by bad decisions. So many ironies too -- a prodigious worker and a long time socialist (in that golden era of theory before any government put it into practice) but he was publishing books as fast as possible that were good, but could have been great if he'd spent more time on them .... because he wanted to make money as fast as possible. He wrote of the need for gender equality and respect for women in society while treating the women in his life terribly. He didn't like his second wife's given name "Amy Catherine" so he told her he would just call her "Jane" because he liked it better and while he stayed married to her until her death, he left a litany of illegitimate children across England and the continent with his very public affairs.
Very interesting book, but I confess I wasn't a fan of the biography's style -- it jumped around a lot, and made for a bit of a disjointed read.
February 7, 2022
It is rather odd to read a biography because you love the biography's author, not its subject. I just love Claire Tomalin's writing and bought this book on that and because up until about age 22 or 23, I was so much rooting for H.G. Wells who struggled so hard to be able to get an education and prove he could earn a living as a writer. But as soon as he married his adored sweetheart, he began a cheating way of life. I found him utterly despicable in his great extramarital romances while his wife stayed home with the kids. What kept me going was also the marvelous portrait of his times. I read that Claire Tomalin has said that this will be her last biography because she is now 88 years old. I cannot imagine the work to do this! Researching historical fiction is hard enough!
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