H. G. Wells in «Nature», 1893-1946: A Reception Reader

ISBN-13: 9783631571101 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 518 str.

John S. Partington

Opis

Since its foundation in 1869 Nature has consistently been the pre-eminent English-language science journal, and for a period of over fifty years, H. G. Wells was a central feature within its pages. In H. G. Wells in Nature , John S. Partington collects all of Wells s writings in Nature, all of the reviews of his works published by Nature, and all of the journal s reportage that featured him. In addition to this core material, however, Partington has included the many responses that these essays and reviews received, thereby offering the reader a uniquely contextualised history of Wells s reception in Nature. From the first review Wells received in 1893 to his obituary notice in 1946, this volume presents a fascinating history of Wells s work and thought as filtered through the prism of Nature. During his long career no other journal featured Wells within its pages so consistently, and with contributions by such eminent thinkers as Richard Gregory, E. Ray Lankester, J. S. Haldane, Lancelot Hogben, F. S. Marvin, A. Carr-Saunders, J. B. S. Haldane, Karl Pearson and Hilaire Belloc, Nature can truly be said to have played a key role in moulding opinion about Wells s work and thought.
-John S Partington has gone some way to making this side of his oeuvre better known with a tightly-packed volume that collects together not only Wells's own contributions to the prestigious science magazine Nature over more than half a century, but also responses to those contributions, as well as reviews of his books, and other items which include his name. An excellent introduction sets the scene generally and lucid and thorough section commentaries outline what Wells and his reviewers were saying, and the debates that he generated.- (Tom Ruffles, NTHPosition)"

Recenzje

«'H.G. Wells in Nature' is a treasure-trove of the multitude of ideas that Wells generated as a result of this forward-looking habit. It shows him as a genuinely Renaissance man, passionate about science, education, politics, history, sociology - not as separately boxed theoretical disciplines but as intimately interconnected facets of life, essential to our survival.» (Roslynn D. Haynes, The Wellsian: The Journal of the H.G. Wells Society)
«...this is an excellent volume that disinters a significant quantity of Wells's scientific writings and shows their progression over the course of a large part of his creative life.» (Tom Ruffles, Fortean Times)
«In his editing, Partington has performed an admirable job. In particular, he has been incredibly assiduous in nailing down the identities of a large number of more or less obscure persons mentioned in the text. One may legitimately bemoan the absence of an index. However, Partington is owed a debt of gratitude by Wellsians and by all those interested in the relationship between science and society.» (Richard Toye, The Critic as Critic)
«The title of this interesting and useful "reception reader" can be taken in more ways than one. Offering an annotated collection of the essays, reviews, and letters written by, in reply to, and about H. G. Wells in the journal Nature, this book also provides unique insights into his views of nature and natural knowledge and his ideas concerning the deeper possibilities of humans' existence as biological entities and culturally evolving beings "in" nature. Although these materials may be of most direct interest to scholars working in Victorian studies, popular and public science, literature and science, and, of course, science fiction, others will find many fascinating insights here (...).» (Pamela Gossin, ISIS)
«John S Partington has gone some way to making this side of his oeuvre better known with a tightly-packed volume that collects together not only Wells's own contributions to the prestigious science magazine Nature over more than half a century, but also responses to those contributions, as well as reviews of his books, and other items which include his name. An excellent introduction sets the scene generally and lucid and thorough section commentaries outline what Wells and his reviewers were saying, and the debates that he generated.» (Tom Ruffles, NTHPosition)
«With at least 15 articles, four edited volumes (anthologies and collections), and one monograph on H. G. Wells, Partington has become a major Wells scholar and established a foundation on which other scholars can open new lines of research and rejuvenate worn debates. At 514 pages, H. G. Wells in "Nature," 1893-1946: A Reception Reader is no small contribution to that foundation. The responses from so many disciplines broaden the appeal of this collection from science fiction to literary analysis, cultural studies, and the histories of science and education.» (Shawn Smolen-Morton, Kritikon Litterarum)

Spis treści

Contents: H. G. Wells - Nature - Science - Evolution - Education - Karl Pearson - Richard Gregory - E. Ray Lankester - Lancelot Hogben - J. S. Haldane - J. B. S. Haldane - Hilaire Belloc - Psychical research - 'The Discovery of the Future' - World encyclopaedia - The Time Machine - The War of the Worlds - The First Men in the Moon - Anticipations - A Modern Utopia - The Outline of History - Men Like Gods - The Science of Life - The Shape of Things to Come - Experiment in Autobiography - Things to Come - World Brain - Science fiction.

O autorze

The Editor: John S. Partington is the author and editor of several books on H. G. Wells, among them H. G. Wells's Fin-de-Siècle (2007). Between 1999 and 2008 he was the editor of The Wellsian, the journal of the H. G. Wells Society. He has also published on Arthur Conan Doyle, George Orwell, Woody Guthrie, Phoebe Cusden, Lorenzo Quelch and Paneuropa.