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Product Description
Product Description
A successful author and Liberal MP with a loving and benevolent wife, Richard Remington appears to be a man to envy. But underneath his superficial contentment, he is far from happy with either his marriage or the politics of his party. The New Machiavelli describes the disarray into which his life is thrown, when he meets the young and beautiful Isabel Rivers and becomes tormented by desire. At first, he struggles to resist and remain focused upon his familiar political, personal and social life. But as he soon learns, it is harder than he could have imagined to turn his back on love.
About the Author
H.G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist, who published more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and programmes for world regeneration. Wells's prophetic imagination was first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. His controversial views on sexual equality and the shape of a truly developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was, in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.
Michael Foot is a former Leader of the Labour Party. He has written many books, including works on H.G. Wells, Aneurin Bevan and Jonathan Swift.
Simon J. James is Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Durham. He has written on, and edited works by, George Gissing, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens.
John Partington is the author of many books and essays on H.G. Wells' political thought and science fiction, including Building Cosmopolis. He is the editor of The Wellsian, the annual journal of the H.G. Wells Society.
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First Sentence
Since I came to this place I have been restless, wasting my energies in the futile beginning of ill-conceived books. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Since I came to this place I have been restless, wasting my energies in the futile beginning of ill-conceived books. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Reading H G Wells is like being driven in an old Rolls Royce, it probably isn't the vehicle you would choose for yourself, but it's impossible not to be thrilled by the experience. This is an author who can really write, and there is no page in this book without deftly packaged ideas and sentiments. Wells really knows his world and his people and expertly invites the reader inside.
Briefly, this is the story of the rise and disgrace of a politician in early Edwardian Britain (i.e. around 1910). It's intended as something semi-autobiographical and therefore includes the hidden identity of many of Wells' friends. Alongside this bit of theatre the plot covers the bigger themes of women's lib, the placing of the mother at the heart of society and, to cap everything, a scandalous affair involving a Member of Parliament - this must have been a very daring book at the time.
Unfortunately, the issues and passions of the Edwardian political world have long since passed away. As a result Well's new political frontier doesn't have the same glamour as it must have done at the time of publication. What is left is an autobiography where the reader isn't interested in the auto, which is fatal to modern enjoyment of the book. The narrator, Richard Remington, sets out his childhood, his youth, his schooling and university before becoming a politician, and then his career through the political ranks. It's accurate but frustrating because the extra marital downfall is advertised but ever so many pages away. A modern author with the same material would time shuttle the chapters to keep the suspense up, but H G Wells didn't have a time machine in his writing laboratory.
Wells conjures up life as a prospective and actual MP with delightful verisimilitude, but the passionate nature of politics at the time is completely antique compared to the glorious love story at the heart of the book. The politicians' rants about the Empire, votes for women and similar ancient battles are of interest only to students of the period. What's left is Remington's passion for his young research assistant Isabel and the abandonment of his blossoming career for her passion, but this is tremendously well done, so that their separation is an absolute tearjerker.
There is much of interest in this book about politics and people but it is too well set into its contemporary surroundings to speak across the generations. Wells is such a brilliant author that it would be dreadful if anyone were to be put off his work by reading this and so I suggest that you leave this one and pick any of his other works.
Briefly, this is the story of the rise and disgrace of a politician in early Edwardian Britain (i.e. around 1910). It's intended as something semi-autobiographical and therefore includes the hidden identity of many of Wells' friends. Alongside this bit of theatre the plot covers the bigger themes of women's lib, the placing of the mother at the heart of society and, to cap everything, a scandalous affair involving a Member of Parliament - this must have been a very daring book at the time.
Unfortunately, the issues and passions of the Edwardian political world have long since passed away. As a result Well's new political frontier doesn't have the same glamour as it must have done at the time of publication. What is left is an autobiography where the reader isn't interested in the auto, which is fatal to modern enjoyment of the book. The narrator, Richard Remington, sets out his childhood, his youth, his schooling and university before becoming a politician, and then his career through the political ranks. It's accurate but frustrating because the extra marital downfall is advertised but ever so many pages away. A modern author with the same material would time shuttle the chapters to keep the suspense up, but H G Wells didn't have a time machine in his writing laboratory.
Wells conjures up life as a prospective and actual MP with delightful verisimilitude, but the passionate nature of politics at the time is completely antique compared to the glorious love story at the heart of the book. The politicians' rants about the Empire, votes for women and similar ancient battles are of interest only to students of the period. What's left is Remington's passion for his young research assistant Isabel and the abandonment of his blossoming career for her passion, but this is tremendously well done, so that their separation is an absolute tearjerker.
There is much of interest in this book about politics and people but it is too well set into its contemporary surroundings to speak across the generations. Wells is such a brilliant author that it would be dreadful if anyone were to be put off his work by reading this and so I suggest that you leave this one and pick any of his other works.
Format:Paperback
It is true that the political ideas in this novel haven't worn as well as those of, for example, Tono-Bungay or Ann Veronica, and it is quite hard to fathom from this distance (it was published in 1911) why Richard Remington, the narrator who sacrifices his political career for love, leaves the Liberals for the Conservatives in the belief that they will be more progressive concerning education, scientifc research and the promotion of literature. It is also hard not to be sceptical about his insistence on the need for fine people and love. The book is rather unbalanced, with long sections of dense political and philosophical reflection giving way finally to the passionate, and much pre-figured, love story towards the end. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to see Wells again attempting to write a different style of novel. If on the whole it doesn't quite resonate with us, there are still brilliant passages to savour in nearly every chapter.
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