Herbert George Wells Book Reviews
Herbert George Wells by J.D. Beresford Book Summary
In his Preface to the Unpleasant Plays, Mr Shaw boasts his possession of "normal sight." The adjective is the oculist's, and the application of it is Mr Shaw's, but while the phrase is misleading until it is explained to suit a particular purpose, it has a pleasing adaptability, and I can find none better as a key to the works of Mr H.G. Wells.
We need not bungle over the word "normal," in any attempt to meet the academic objection that it implies conformity to type. In this connection, the gifted possessor of normal sight is differentiated from his million neighbours by the fact that he wears no glasses; and if a few happy people still exist here and there who have no need for the mere physical assistance, the number of those whose mental outlook is undistorted by tradition, prejudice or some form of bias is so small that we regard them as inspired or criminal according to the inclination of our own beloved predilection. And no spectacles will correct the mental astigmatism of the multitude, a fact that is often a cause of considerable annoyance to the possessors of normal sight. That defect of vision, whether congenital or induced by the confinements of early training, persists and increases throughout life, like other forms of myopia. The man who sees a ball as slightly flattened, like a tangerine orange too tightly packed (an "oblate spheroid" would be the physicist's brief description), seeks the society of other men who share his illusion; and the company of them take arms against the opposing faction, which is confirmed in the belief that the ball is egg-shaped, that the bulge, in fact, is not "oblate" but "prolate."
I will not elaborate the parable; it is sufficient to indicate that in my reading of Mr Wells, I have seen him as regarding all life from a reasonable distance. By good fortune he avoided the influences of his early training, which was too ineffectual to leave any permanent mark upon him. His readers may infer, from certain descriptions in Kipps, and The History of Mr Polly, that Wells himself sincerely regrets the inadequacies of that "private school of dingy aspect and still dingier pretensions, where there were no object lessons, and the studies of book-keeping and French were pursued (but never effectually overtaken) under the guidance of an elderly gentleman, who wore a nondescript gown and took snuff, wrote copperplate, explained nothing, and used a cane with remarkable dexterity and gusto." But, properly considered, that inadequate elderly gentleman may be regarded as our benefactor. If he had been more apt in his methods, he might have influenced the blessed normality of his pupil, and bound upon him the spectacles of his own order. Worse still, Mr Wells might have been born into the leisured classes, and sent to Eton and Christchurch, and if his genius had found any expression after that awful experience, he would probably, at the best, have written polite essays or a history of Napoleon, during the intervals of his leisured activity as a member of the Upper House.
Happily, Fate provided a scheme for preserving his eyesight, and pitched him into the care of Mr and Mrs Joseph Wells on the 21st September 1866; behind or above a small general shop in Bromley. Mrs Wells was the daughter of an innkeeper at Midhurst and had been in service as a lady's maid before her marriage. Joseph Wells had had a more distinguished career. He had been a great Kent bowler in the early sixties, and it must have been, I think, only the year before the subject of our essay appeared at Bromley that his father took four wickets with consecutive balls and created a new record in the annals of cricket. The late Sir Francis Galton might have made something out of this ancestry; I must confess that it is entirely beyond my powers, although I make the reservation that we know little of the abilities of H.G. Wells' mother. She has not figured as a recognisable portrait in any of his novels.
Book Name | Herbert George Wells |
Genre | Biographies & Memoirs |
Author | J.D. Beresford |
Published | 02 March 2019, Saturday |
Language | English |
E-Book Size | 342.61 KB |
Herbert George Wells (J.D. Beresford) Book Reviews 2024
We transfer money over €4 billion every month. We enable individual and business accounts to save 4 million Euros on bank transfer fees. Want to send free money abroad or transfer money abroad for free? Free international money transfer!
Did you know that you can earn 25 USD from our site just by registering? Get $25 for free by joining Payoneer!
Download Link | Book Format |
herbert-george-wells-ebook.pdf | |
herbert-george-wells-ebook.epub | EPUB |
herbert-george-wells-ebook.kindle | KINDLE |
Herbert George Wells E-book (PDF, PUB, KINDLE) Download
Herbert George Wells ebook herbert-george-wells (342.61 KB) download new links will be update!
Herbert George Wells Similar Books
Book Name | Score | Reviews | Price |
The Confessions of St. Augustine | 4/5 | 323 | Free |
Down the Rabbit Hole | 4.5/5 | 4,428 | $16.99 |
Spare | 4.5/5 | 5,676 | $17.99 |
American Sniper | 4.5/5 | 5,081 | $9.99 |
Eat Pray Love | 4.5/5 | 2,478 | $12.99 |
Enhance sleep, vision, cognition, flexibility, energy, long-range health and more. Performance Lab CORE Formulas support all aspects of human performance, across all walks of life. Boosts work performance and productivity with nootropics for focus, multitasking under stress, creative problem-solving and more.
Book Name | Score | Reviews | Price |
H. G. Wells | 0/5 | 0 | $2.99 |
H.G. Wells | 0/5 | 0 | $4.99 |
The Hampdenshire Wonder | 0/5 | 0 | $1.99 |
Goslings | 0/5 | 0 | $1.99 |
The Wonder | 0/5 | 0 | $0.99 |
Summary of Herbert George Wells by J.D. Beresford
The Herbert George Wells book written by J.D. Beresford was published on 02 March 2019, Saturday in the Biographies & Memoirs category. A total of 116 readers of the book gave the book 0 points out of 5.
Book Name | Author | Price |
South Atlantic Sojourn | Richard Cousens & Christopher Cousens | Free |
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains | Charles Alexander Eastman | Free |
La misionera de China | Monique Villen | Free |
De Profundis | Oscar Wilde | Free |
The Life of St. Paul | James Stalker | Free |
Coinbase is the world's most trusted place to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Open an account today, and if you buy or sell $100 or more of crypto, you'll receive $10 worth of free Bitcoin!
Book Name | Author | Price |
Alive | Piers Paul Read | $1.99 |
Worthy | Jada Pinkett Smith | $14.99 |
Walk Through Fire | Sheila Johnson | $14.99 |
Born a Crime | Trevor Noah | $14.99 |
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober | Catherine Gray | $6.99 |
Jasper is the generative AI platform for business that helps your team create content tailored for your brand 10X faster, wherever you work online.
Please wait! Herbert George Wells book comments loading...
J.D. Beresford - Herbert George Wells Discussions & Comments
Have you read this book yet? What do you think about Herbert George Wells by J.D. Beresford book? Ask the bookpedia.co community a question about Herbert George Wells!