Source:McConnell, Frank. Science Fiction of H.G. Wells

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Source The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells
Author McConnell, Frank
Coverage
Place England
Year range 1866 - 1946
Surname Wells
Subject Biography
Publication information
Type Book
Publisher Oxford University Press, Inc.
Date issued 29 Jan 1981
Place issued New York
Periodical / Series name Science Fiction Writers Series
Citation
McConnell, Frank. The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells. (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 29 Jan 1981).
Repositories
Fort Bragg Library823.912 WELLSArchive/Library
WorldCathttps://www.worldcat.org/title/science-fiction-o..Other

Summary

H.G. Wells has been called the father of science fiction, its one authentic genius, and even the Shakespeare of the genre.... (continued)

Review

In an articles entitled, "Frank McConnell, The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science," reviewer Patrick Parrinder, University of Reading, relates the self-critical testimony the author gave about his lack of full knowledge of Wells's works at the time he wrote the biographical narrative.[1]

References

  1. Quoted extract of article: "It is true that being a generalist has its dangers. McConnell’s most successful academic book is probably his definitive study of The Science Fiction of H. G. Wells (1981). Nevertheless, my first, unforgettable, encounter with him was at a conference in Champaign, Illinois in 1986, when he burst upon a small group of Wells specialists with the announcement that ‘I’m the guy who edited that critical edition of The War of the Worlds—and I f***ed it up!’ It was true, alas, and we all knew it. He had published the edition with Oxford some years earlier, unaware that he had taken as copy-text a version of Wells’s novel which had been lightly abridged and bowdlerised for use in schools. A reviewer in Science-Fiction Studies had pointed out his mistake at great and unforgiving length. Frank, it was evident, had taken scholarly humiliation in his stride, but it may have played a small part in foregrounding the broad metaphysical themes that crop up almost obsessively in his later writing: the inhospitable nature of the universe, the centrality of death to human existence, and the necessity of storytelling to give meaning to our lives and to keep up our spirits."