Love And Mr Lewisham: H.G. Wells

[poliphilo]

Love and Mr Lewisham is Wells' first stab at a mainstream novel. It contains a lot of autobiography and a measure of self-contempt. It begins in exuberant light comedy and closes in grimy realism - reflecting the central character's journey from romance to responsibility.  The stand-out character is Chaffery- the fraudulent spirit medium- a self-aware and cheerfully amoral man.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Actually, as I recall, that was part of Mencken's criticism, that under the spell of evangelism the later Wells was just dull and tiresome. Also, though he had little to say about it, HLM loved, The History of Mr Polly.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think Wells got bored with fiction for its own sake. He had, after all, written a dozen or more very good novels. I suspect he was also running out of material. Mr Polly, good though it is, runs over much the same territory as Kipps.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

That Wells may have grown bored with fiction would explain it rather neatly. A dozen solid novels and literary immortality should be enough for anyone.