H. G. Wells's «Fin-De-Siècle»: Twenty-First Century Reflections on the Early H. G. Wells- Selections from «The Wellsian»

ISBN-13: 9783631571118 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 150 str.

Schenkel, Elmar

Opis

The essays contained in this collection focus on the early H. G. Wells, the scientific romancer, the comic novelist and the young author discovering the literary elite. Written at the crossroads of a new century, the authors of these essays use their own fin-de-siecle experiences to look back one hundred years and critically assess the writings of an earlier fin-de-siecle. With seven chapters dealing with The Time Machine, The Wheels of Chance, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds, Tono-Bungay and The History of Mr Polly, readers receive a detailed overview of Wells s literary output between 1895 and 1910. Two further chapters treat Wells s literary friendships, assessing his personal and professional relationships with the Victorian realist, George Gissing, and the pioneering modernist, Joseph Conrad, while the final chapter reveals Wells as a time traveller, employing poststructuralist techniques fifty years before that expression was coined."

Recenzje

«This volume, which John Partington has edited very creditably, is well printed and deserves a place on the shelves of all readers interested in the turn of the nineteenth century. The 14-page bibliography will prove useful.» (Pierre Coustillas, The Gissing Journal)
«All in all, the collection provides an excellent overview of recent trends in scholarship dealing with Wells's early works.» (Genie Babb, Utopian Studies)
«These essays (...) set a standard that I hope the twenty-first century Wellsian will continue to live up to.» (Patrick Parrinder, The Wellsian)
«En un mot, merci à Partington pour son choix remarquable car tous ces travaux scientifiques sont vraiment dignes d'être publiés à nouveau !» (Annie Escuret, Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens)
«This collection reveals not only the wide range of topics that Wells dealt with as a writer and the often innovative literary techniques he employed, but it also sketches his important position within the literary world of late Victorian and early Edwardian Britain. It will be useful not only for Wellsscholars but also for those who may be familiar with Wells's scientific romances but not with his less well known works. Thus this volume represents a much needed and accessible collection for specialist and non-specialist readers alike.» (Richard Nate, Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch)

Spis treści

Contents: John S. Partington: Introduction - Katrina Harack: Limning the Impossible: Time Travel, the Uncanny and Destructive Futurity in H. G. Wells's The Time Machine - Nick Redfern: Abjection and Evolution in The Island of Doctor Moreau - Kimberly Jackson: Vivisected Language in H. G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau - Brett Davidson: The War of the Worlds Considered as a Modern Myth - Hiroshi So: The Wheels of Chance and the Discourse of Improvement of Health - Barbara Bond: H. G. Wells's Tono-Bungay as a Reflection of Its Time - Kevin Swafford: Aesthetics, Narrative and the Critique of Respectability in The History of Mr Polly - Simon J. James: 'The Truth About Gissing': Reassessing the Literary Friendship of George Gissing and H. G. Wells - Linda Dryden: H. G. Wells and Joseph Conrad: A Literary Friendship - Sylvia Hardy: H. G. Wells the Poststructuralist.

O autorze

The Editor: John S. Partington is the editor of The Wellsian, the journal of the H. G. Wells Society. He is also the author of Building Cosmopolis: The Political Thought of H. G. Wells, and the editor of The Wellsian: Selected Essays on H. G. Wells and (with Patrick Parrinder) The Reception of H. G. Wells in Europe. He is currently editing H. G. Wells in Nature, 1893-1946 and David C. Smith's The Definitive Bibliography of Herbert George Wells.