H. G. WELLS: Aspects o fa Life

by Anthony West ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 1984

A hate-letter to Mum, a love-letter to Dad--that's what this oddly structured biography/memoir ultimately bolls down to; but, even allowing for a distorting personal angle, there's intriguing, provocative material in West's wrestlings with the shadows of Rebecca West and H. G. Wells. In the book's first half, West focuses intensely on the years leading up to his own 1914 birth--which is given Nativity-like centrality. He sketches in the pre-WW I Wells: in a literary slump, offensively patronized by Henry James (a snide attack on Leon Edel here); still reeling from the scandalous 1909 affair with Amber Reeves, but holding fast to his comfy open-marriage arrangement with steadfast wife Jane. The off-and-on Wells/West liaison is detailed--with the emphasis on their incompatibility, on Rebecca's obsessive, ""inane"" refusal to accept the clearly established limitations of Wells' involvement. . . especially after baby Anthony's arrival. And the Rebecca here is thus a ""confirmed fabulist"" who consistently misrepresented her role in Wells' life, his character and behavior: while following his father's life through the Twenties, Thirties, and Forties, West relentlessly disputes Rebecca's versions of Wells' life-history--his supposed breakdown, the Hedwig Verena suicide attempt, etc.--and mocks the biographers who have failed to see through Rebecca's lies. (Many of West's own versions are largely speculative--partly because Rebecca's letters, which often exhibit a ""wild paranoia,"" have not yet been made public.) Then, however, in the book's second half, West goes back to offer a slightly more conventional, mildly psychoanalytic biography of Wells' early years: the ""rancorous atmosphere"" of his mismatched parents' home; the struggle for education and upscale career, despite his mother's determination to make him a draper's assistant; the half-intentional slide from teacher/journalist into novelist, with potboilers giving way to social/visionary tales (Tono-Bungay above all); his two marriages, his cheerful infidelities. And three biographical aspects receive special, not-always-cogent focus: Wells' friendship with sad George Gissing, traumatic with dark secrets; the battle with the Fabians, who (West believes) weren't worth Wells' valuable time; and Wells' affair with Dorothy Richardson--who, like Rebecca, can't be trusted as a source of biographical data. Somewhat skewed aspects of a life, then, and often off-putting (Wells is always ""my father,"" never ""Wells"")--but the insights can't be dismissed. . . and the bitter view of Rebecca will certainly surprise those who think of her as intellectual integrity personified.

Pub Date: May 2, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION