Tono-Bungay: H.G. Wells

[poliphilo]

Two modern types: Uncle Ponderevo, the silly little fat man with the Napoleon complex- who can never quite bring himself to acknowledge that his business empire is based on fraud- and his nephew George (our narrator) a clear-sighted technocrat, who knows he's gipping the public but does it anyway.  Both are criminals: Uncle Ponderevo is a  forger, George is a murderer.  These two will inherit the earth. 

Uncle Ponderevo gets busted, but there are thousands like him to carry forward the inane good work of the consumer society. George (whose overseas exploits are a perfect little parable of imperialism) gets away with everything. The last we see of him he is designing warships.

Wells is best known for his science fiction. This- his most carefully crafted novel, perhaps his best- is also in its way- a prophecy, even though it never trespasses out of its own time. We still live in the world of the Ponderevos: the one exploiting our weaknesses at home, the other stealing- and killing- abroad.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Thanks ever so much for this and looks like I shall be reading Wells, soon. Also, looks like I might have to start paying close attention to Mencken's other favored novels. As I recall, he was fond of Dreiser and -- somewhat curiously -- James Branch Cabell, too.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I was responding to your prompt. :) Tonay-Bungay is a damn good book.

And now I'm reading The Sleeper Awakes.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, I can scare-up a hard copy of this one. I have a digital copy, but just don't care too much for reading books that way -- odd, considering the amount of time I spend online.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't be difficult. I read it in the Penguin Classics edition.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Many thanks.

[sovay]

Both are criminals: Uncle Ponderevo is a forger, George is a murderer. These two will inherit the earth.

This sounds marvelous.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a great, neglected masterpiece of English fiction.

[tispity.livejournal.com]

Thanks for writing about this, Tono-Bungay is a neglected masterpiece. I wrote on it for my MA some years ago now (even though Wells is deeply unfashionable in academic circles) and truly believe it's his greatest novel.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I lost my respect for academic fashion when a lecturer dismissed Kipling- who I'll bet he'd never read- as, "Such a coarse soul!"