Wells HG
Full Name: Herbert George Wells
Nickname/Alias: H.G. Wells
Achievements: Major early science fiction writer
Born: September 21, 1866; Bromley, England
Died: August 13, 1946; London, England (Aged 79)
Field & Discipline: Literature; Writer
Education: Morley's Commercial Academy and Midhurst Grammar School, Sussex, England;
Normal School (later the Royal College), London
Major Work:
"The Time Machine"
Life & Times:
Wells went from job to job:- a teacher, a chemist's assistant, and a draper's apprentice, until he quit after two years. At college his biology teacher was scientist [taught by] TH Huxley*. His three years at the school were years of enormous intellectual growth and happiness. He helped found the "Science Schools Journal" and became its first editor. He also wrote frequent humorous and satirical essays for it.
When he was 22, the journal published the original draft of "The Time Machine," under the title "The Chronic Argonauts." Wells began to attend socialist gatherings, some at ]a follower of] William Morris*' home in Hammersmith and others under Fabian Society auspices. At one of these meetings he met [met] Shaw* .
After leaving the College in 1888, he became an assistant master in a school at Holt, near Wrexham, North Wales. The next year, he took a teaching post at Henley House School, Kilburn, London, run by the father of writer [taught] A.A. Milne*, then a pupil. Studying on his own, he earned a degree in zoology at the University of London, and then left Henley House School to join the University Correspondence College as a biology tutor.
In 1895, his first novel, "The Time Machine", was an immediate success, the first in a brilliant series of science-fiction novels that established his reputation as a writer of extraordinary imagination. The year 1895 also saw the publication of "Select Conversations with an Uncle", "The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents", a collection of short stories, and a second novel, "The Wonderful Visit". Then came one popular novel after another, including "The Island of Doctor Moreau" (1896), "The Invisible Man" (1897), and "The War of the Worlds" (1898).
Wells became a member of the socialist Fabian Society in 1903, but became disenchanted with the way it was run. In 1906, he tried to take control from Shaw and [row with] Sidney and Beatrice Webb*, then resigned in 1908.
Wells befriended writer [a pal of] Ford Madox Ford*, editor of the "English Review", who published several of Wells' essays in 1908-09.
In the early years of the century, Wells decided to abandon science- fiction for comic novels of lower middle-class life, most notably "Love and Mr. Lewisham" (1900), "Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul" (1905), and "The History of Mr. Polly" (1910). Wells's later novels are mainly discussions of social or political themes that show little concern for the novel as a literary form. He told American novelist [knew] Henry James*, who had tried to put him back on a more literary track, "I would rather be called a journalist than an artist."
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 proved to be crucial in Wells' outlook. "Mr. Britling Sees It Through" (1916) gives a brilliant picture of the English in the First World War. Wells became increasingly more vocal on the need for world unification.
For Wells, this entailed the creation of world institutions to enforce disarmament, conserve natural resources, co-ordinate transport, etc. His "The Outline of History" (1920; revised 1931) and "A Short History of the World" (1922) tried to show it was possible to relate "the human adventure" to a single continuous narrative.
"The Science of Life" (1931), co-written with Julian Huxley and G.P. Wells, his elder son by his second wife, and "The Work, Wealth, and Happiness of Mankind" (1932) were conceived as companion volumes.
After the First World War, until 1933, Wells spent his winters in the south of France where he wrote "The World of William Clissold", a long novel, in which his gifts of narrative and dialogue give way almost entirely to polemics.
As the years rolled by, young men who had grown up with Wells' science-fiction novels, now were becoming renowned scientists and many attributed their choice of career to Wells' imaginative books, including rocket scientists [influenced] Oberth* and [influenced] Goddard*.
After the death of his wife in 1927, Wells produced six further novels.. Two of the more imaginative were the Utopian "The Shape of Things to Come" (1933) and "Star Begotten" (1937).
He wrote two successful film scenarios, "Things to Come" (1935) and "The Man who Could Work Miracles". He also wrote many articles for periodicals and lectured around the world, including the United States and Australia.
In 1937, Wells settled in an elegant house in London and remained there through the years of the Second World War, in spite of air raids. In "The Fate of Homo Sapiens" (1939) and "The Commonsense of War and Peace" (1940), he spoke out again for world order and an end to national sovereignty.
From 1944, Wells' health deteriorated rapidly. He became increasingly pessimistic and some of his later novels contain much bitter satire. In "Mind at the End of its Tether" (1945), he depicts a bleak vision of a world in which nature has rejected, and is destroying, humankind.
Extra Connections:
In 1921, Wells was sent to Russia to interview
[interviewed] Lenin*; in 1934, he was sent to Russia to interview[ interviewed] Stalin*.
He may have been inspired by [inspired by] Bellamy*
He was attacked by [attacked by] Belloc*
Was published in [published by] Henley’s* “National Observer.”
A friend of writers [a pal of] Jerome K Jerome*, [a pal of] Meredith* ,[a pal of] JB Priestley* and [a pal of]H.G.Wells*, as well as strategist [a pal of] Mackinder*.
Wrote with [collaborated with] Sickert* for Shaw’s “New Age.”
[work disliked by] Woolf* was critical of his work.
He met Lady Ottiline [met] Morell*
Met [met] Pavlov*
He was influenced by [influenced by] Verne*
He wrote to Scientific American criticizing the eugenics work of [criticized eugenic theories of] Galton*
He knew the English painter Sir William [knew]Rothernstein*
Assessment: Behind Wells' inventiveness lay a passionate concern for man
and society.
Oneliner: HG Wells, great science fiction author
Bibliography:
- Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Hammond, J. R., An H.G. Wells Companion, London: Macmillan, 1979.
Language: English
Father: Joseph Wells
Mother: Sarah Neal
Siblings: Fanny; Frank; Frederick
Spouse: 1) Isabel Mary Wells (cousin); 2) Amy Catherine ("Jane") Robbins
Children: George Philip and Frank Richard