Last Books
Feb. 4th, 2023 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI bought a book called The Last Books of H.G. Wells. Is it a big, fat omnibus volume? No, it's a very, very thin one- because H.G. Wells' last two books weren't really books at all but pamphlets.
I've read the first of them. It's called A Happy Turning. There's a war on (it's 1943) and during daylight hours Wells is giving his mind to the awfulness of the war but at night he's escaping into a happy Dreamland. There's lots of splendiferous architecture (I can relate to that) also bishops on broomsticks and crowds of friendly people to talk to- including Wells' own personal Jesus- an eager young revolutionary type who considers himself to be one of history's failures. Wells is 75 (I think)- three years older than I am now- and he's given up trying to please his public and is writing whatever he damn well feels like writing. There are visions and grumbles, there is wisdom and immaturity. He spends (wastes) a whole section cursing sycamore trees- and fills up a couple of pages reprinting the universal commination of Deuteronomy 28. Would it be unfair (unkind) to say there are whiffs of senility?
The second book (pamphlet) is Mind at the End of its Tether. This has a fearsome reputation and I've long wanted to get my hands on a copy. I'll probably read it later today...
I've read the first of them. It's called A Happy Turning. There's a war on (it's 1943) and during daylight hours Wells is giving his mind to the awfulness of the war but at night he's escaping into a happy Dreamland. There's lots of splendiferous architecture (I can relate to that) also bishops on broomsticks and crowds of friendly people to talk to- including Wells' own personal Jesus- an eager young revolutionary type who considers himself to be one of history's failures. Wells is 75 (I think)- three years older than I am now- and he's given up trying to please his public and is writing whatever he damn well feels like writing. There are visions and grumbles, there is wisdom and immaturity. He spends (wastes) a whole section cursing sycamore trees- and fills up a couple of pages reprinting the universal commination of Deuteronomy 28. Would it be unfair (unkind) to say there are whiffs of senility?
The second book (pamphlet) is Mind at the End of its Tether. This has a fearsome reputation and I've long wanted to get my hands on a copy. I'll probably read it later today...
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Date: 2023-02-04 09:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-04 09:48 am (UTC)