SF Luminaries: H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells (1911)

"I beg your pardon, sir," he said in his rather thin cockney voice, "is this your book?"
"It doesn't matter at all," said Wimsey gracefully, "I know it by heart. I only brought it along with me because it's handy for reading a few pages when you're stuck in a place like this for the night. You can always take it up and find something entertaining."
"This chap Wells," pursued the red-haired man, "he's what you'd call a very clever writer, isn't he? It's wonderful how he makes it all so real, and yet some of the things he says, you wouldn't hardly think they could really be possible. ...

Dorothy L. Sayers: Hangman's Holiday (1933)

So begins the first story, "The Image in the Mirror", in Dorothy Sayer's detective story collection Hangman's Holiday. Lord Peter Wimsey's interlocutor goes on to discuss with him the implications of H. G. Wells's "The Plattner Story", an account of a schoolmaster who gets blown into the fourth dimension and comes back reversed: his left turned to right, his right to left.

The Short Stories of H. G. Wells (1927)

It's pretty clear that the book they're discussing is the then fairly recently published omnibus edition of The Short Stories of H. G. Wells. What I find most interesting about their conversation, though, is Wimsey's throwaway line about knowing it "by heart".

There was a time when this was my favourite book in the world, and I too knew it virtually by heart. In fact, I had a kind of ritual which involved trying to read the whole thing - all 1100-odd pages - in one day, but it's not an experiment I would really recommend.

H. G. Wells: Short Stories (1952)

By then the stories were so familiar to me that I could practically recite them, racing from The Time Machine:

The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.

... all the way through to "A Dream of Armageddon", with its wonderfully poetic last lines:

"Nightmares," he cried; "nightmares indeed! My God! Great birds that fought and tore."

H. G. Wells: Complete Short Stories (1970)

Although it was subsequently reprinted under the title The Complete Short Stories, the collection is by no means that - Wells, after all, had another two decades to live when it first appeared.

The 62 stories (and one essay) are divided into five sections, four of which reprint earlier stand-alone collections of Wells's:

• The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents [1895]
• The Plattner Story and Others [1897]
• Tales of Space and Time [1899]
• Twelve Stories and a Dream [1903]

The opening section, The Time Machine and Other Stories, never published separately in book form, contains some of his strongest stories, published piecemeal throughout the 1890s. There are also another five separate stories grouped between sections 4 and 5 (for fuller details, see my breakdown of the contents in the Bibliography below).

John Hammond, ed.: The Complete Short Stories of H. G. Wells (1998)

There is, however, another collection entitled The Complete Short Stories. This one was edited by John Hammmond in 1998. As well as all of the stories included in the 1927 collection - with the exception of the short novel The Time Machine - it includes another 22, most of them previously published in Hammond's 1984 collection The Man With a Nose and Other Uncollected Stories of H. G. Wells.

No doubt further stories will continue to surface from time to time (for more information, see the "H. G. Wells Bibliography" page on Wikipedia), but for all intents and purposes, these 84 stories might as well be thought of as the established canon.

As Dave, one of the commentators on this book on Goodreads, informs us:

This collection tied for 4th on the Arkham Survey for Basic SF titles ... behind “Seven Science Fiction Novels” by H. G. Wells (the winner), Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, and Olaf Stapledon’s “Last and First Men”. It also finished 19th on the 1952 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll.

H. G. Wells: Seven Science Fiction Novels (1934)

Those seven novels were very well chosen. They consist of:

1. The First Men in the Moon [1901]
2. The Island of Dr. Moreau [1896]
3. The War of the Worlds [1898]
4. The Invisible Man [1897]
5. The Time Machine [1895]
6. The Food of the Gods [1904]
7. In the Days of the Comet [1906]

It's hard to imagine a more influential set of titles. Between them they introduced virtually every standard trope of the SF genre as it would develop over the next hundred years: space travel, time travel, alien invasion, utopian futures, genetic manipulation ... pretty much everything except robots (which would be added to the mix by Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R in 1920).

Karel Čapek: R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) (2015)

The dazzling talent of the young Wells seemed destined to sweep everything before it. As C. S. Lewis once quipped, however, as time went on he increasingly "traded his birthright for a pot of message" (if you don't get the pun, it's probably because you weren't brought up on the Authorised Version of the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, Esau trades his birthright to Jacob "for a mess of pottage"). Har-de-har-har. Maybe you had to be there ...

His later work does seem to lack the zest of those remarkable works of his first decade as a writer, but he remains one of the great sages and pathfinders for all subsequent work in the field of Speculative Fiction. The fact that he moved so easily from social satire to straight science fiction to the fantastic and supernatural (something very few of his successors succeeded in doing) meant that he avoided being typecast as a 'genre' writer. Though the sheer clarity and power of his prose also had a lot to do with that.

In 1930 Odhams Press published a 12-volume edition of his selected fiction which covered most of his major work in that form:

Odhams: H. G. Wells Collection (1930)

The H. G. Wells Collection. 12 vols. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930]:

1. The Invisible Man / The Secret Places of the Heart / God the Invisible King (1897, 1922 & 1917)
2. Love and Mr Lewisham / Marriage (1900 & 1912)
3. The First Men in the Moon / The World Set Free (1901 & 1914)
4. Kipps / The Research Magnificent (1905 & 1915)
5. Tono-Bungay / A Modern Utopia (1909 & 1905)
6. The History of Mr Polly / The War in the Air (1910 & 1908)
7. The Sleeper Awakes / Men Like Gods (1910 & 1923)
8. The New Machiavelli / The Food of the Gods (1911 & 1904)
9. The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman / The Dream (1914 & 1924)
10. Mr Britling Sees it Through / In the Days of the Comet (1916 & 1906)
11. Joan and Peter: A Story of an Education / "The Country of the Blind" / "Jimmy Goggles the God" / "Mr Brisher’s Treasure" (1918, 1904, 1898 & 1899)
12. Collected Short Stories (1927)

H. G. Wells: The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)

I suppose, if I had to choose myself from this gallery of masterpieces, the one I would go for would be The Island of Doctor Moreau. It's been filmed - badly - on more than one occasion (most recently with Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando in the principal roles), but the book itself has a haunting, nightmarish quality which completely entranced me when I first read it as a teenager.

John Frankenheimer, dir.: The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996)

The figure of the mad scientist, tampering with God's work without fear or scruple, who consequently gets his comeuppance, comes to us straight from Frankenstein, of course. But the colonial setting transfers it into the morally compromised world of the early Conrad: Almayer's Folly (1895), say, or An Outcast of the Islands (1896).

Don Taylor, dir.: The Island of Doctor Moreau (1977)

There are many themes jostling for dominance in this strange early story of Wells's: colonialism and colonial exploitation principal - in my view, at least - among them. One could almost see it as a counterblast to Kipling's Jungle Books (1894-1895). The strange parodic chants the half-animals live by certainly recall some of the stories and songs of Mowgli and his various brethren.

Big Finish: The Island of Doctor Moreau (2017)

The colonial theme continues to recur in Wells's later fiction: in The First Men in the Moon (1901) and - perhaps most explicitly - Tono-Bungay (1909). I suppose the thing which makes Wells's early fiction so durable, in fact, is its refusal to simplify or avoid difficult questions of exploitation and brutality.

Later, of course, when he became a sage, he seems to have felt a responsibility to the 'left' in general which put him in strange company: co-authoring a book with Josef Stalin is not something most of us would want on our CV. Expediency and responsibility choked the initial outrage he felt - as a writer - at injustice and cruelty, just as personal prosperity gradually robbed his social satire of its edge.

The important thing about H. G. Wells, though, is not so much that he went off the rails a bit in his later years, as the extraordinary heights he had to fall from. I would argue strongly that the best place to start is by reading the original edition of The Stories of H. G. Wells, in any of its innumerable reprints. After that, the Seven Science Fiction Novels of 1934 will supply most of the rest of his truly durable work.

H. G. Wells: The History of Mr Polly (1910)

Mind you, this leaves out a number of excellent contemporary novels - Kipps and The History of Mr Polly, for instance. The Sleeper Awakes and The War in the Air should probably have been included among the best of his early Science Fiction novels, too.

Henri Lanos: When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)

•


H. G. Wells Memorial Coin (2021)

The recent news that the Royal Mint has just issued a special coin commemorating 75 years since H. G. Wells's death certainly confirms his continuing importance in British (and world) culture. On the other hand, certain errors on the coin - documented at length by various critics - show how little accurate knowledge of his work people actually have:

As the name suggests, the tripod only had three legs in Wells' novel. "How many people did this have to go through? Did they know how to count? Do they know what the "tri" prefix means??" artist Holly Humphries asked on Twitter.

The War of the Worlds (2018)
[Note the three legs and flexible limbs in the illustration above]

Not only this, but the portrait of the 'invisible man' on the coin has also drawn criticism:

Fans were also disappointed by the appearance of a top hat, supposedly in homage to Wells' book "The Invisible Man." The scientist Griffin, the titular Invisible Man, "was no gentleman, and did not wear a top hat," [Adam Roberts, vice-president of the H.G. Wells Society,] said.
"I suspect the designer has been influenced consciously or otherwise by DC Comics' 'Gentleman Ghost' - but he had nothing to do with Wells."

The Invisible Man (1897)

Here, however, I would have to take issue with the critics, whose knowledge of Victorian mores may not be quite so profound as they think. The original drawing above, by Wells himself, in a presentation copy of the book's first edition, clearly shows the invisible man in a top hat.

To complete the hat-trick, another flaw was spotted by Roberts, who said:

"The legend written around the rim of the coin, 'GOOD BOOKS ARE THE WAREHOUSES OF IDEAS', is (though it's sometimes attributed to Wells by various internet quote-sites) not an actual quotation by Wells."

Chris Costello, the coin's designer, remains defiant, insisting that "he was intentionally reinterpreting imagery from Wells' works for a modern audience."

"The characters in 'War of the Worlds' have been depicted many times, and I wanted to create something original and contemporary," he said.
"My design takes inspiration from a variety of machines featured in the book - including tripods and the handling machines which have five jointed legs and multiple appendages. The final design combines multiple stories into one stylized and unified composition that is emblematic of all of H.G. Well's (sic) work and fits the unique canvas of a coin."

I'll certainly grant that the choice of a four-legged tripod is "original" (though possibly somewhat misguided), and I don't think any responsibility can be laid at Costello's door for the probably spurious quotation, so I suppose the whole affair remains more a cause for celebration than carping criticism. I do wish, though, that artists would make a point of always - not just sometimes - reading the books they've been asked to illustrate.

Bernard Bergonzi: The Early H. G. Wells (1961)

•


George Charles Beresford: H. G. Wells (1920)

Herbert George Wells
(1866-1946)

Novels:


1. The Time Machine (1895)
   • The Short Stories of H. G. Wells. 1927. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1952.
2. The Wonderful Visit (1895)
3. The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
   • The Island of Doctor Moreau. 1896. A Magnum Easy Eye Book. New York: Lancer Books, Inc., 1968.
4. The Wheels of Chance (1896)
5. The Invisible Man (1897)
   • The Invisible Man / The Secret Places of the Heart / God the Invisible King. 1897, 1922 & 1917. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
6. The War of the Worlds (1898)
   • The War of the Worlds. 1898. Penguin Science Fiction. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963.
7. When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)
   • When the Sleeper Wakes. 1899. London: Macmillan & Co. Limited, 1906.
8. Love and Mr Lewisham (1900)
   • Love and Mr Lewisham / Marriage. 1900 & 1912. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
   • Love and Mr Lewisham. 1900. Introduction by Frank Wells. 1954. Collins Classics. London & Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1959.
9. The First Men in the Moon (1901)
   • The First Men in the Moon / The World Set Free. 1901 & 1914. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
   • The First Men in the Moon. 1901. Introduction by Frank Wells. Fontana Books. London: Collins Clear-Type press, 1966.
10. The Sea Lady (1902)
    • The Sea Lady: A Tissue of Moonshine. 1902. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1948.
11. The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904)
    • The Food of the Gods. 1904. Introduction by Ronald Seth. Collins Classics. London & Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1955.
12. Kipps (1905)
    • Kipps / The Research Magnificent. 1905 & 1915. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
13. A Modern Utopia (1905)
    • Tono-Bungay / A Modern Utopia. 1909 & 1905. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
14. In the Days of the Comet (1906)
    • Mr Britling Sees it Through / In the Days of the Comet. 1916 & 1906. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
15. The War in the Air (1908)
    • The History of Mr Polly / The War in the Air. 1910 & 1908. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
16. Tono-Bungay (1909)
    • Tono-Bungay / A Modern Utopia. 1909 & 1905. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
17. Ann Veronica (1909)
    • Ann Veronica. 1909. Penguin Books 2887. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968.
18. The History of Mr Polly (1910)
    • The History of Mr Polly / The War in the Air. 1910 & 1908. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
    • The History of Mr Polly. 1910. Ed. A. C. Ward. The Heritage of Literature Series. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1959.
19. The Sleeper Awakes (1910)
    • The Sleeper Awakes / Men Like Gods. 1910 & 1923. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
20. The New Machiavelli (1911)
    • The New Machiavelli. 1911. Penguin Books 575. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1946.
21. Marriage (1912)
    • Love and Mr Lewisham / Marriage. 1900 & 1912. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
22. The Passionate Friends (1913)
    • The Passionate Friends. 1913. London: George Newnes, Limited, n.d.
23. The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
    • The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman / The Dream. 1914 & 1924. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
24. The World Set Free (1914)
    • The First Men in the Moon / The World Set Free. 1901 & 1914. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
25. Bealby: A Holiday (1915)
    • Bealby: A Holiday. 1915. London: George Newnes, Limited, n.d.
26. [as Reginald Bliss] Boon (1915)
27. The Research Magnificent (1915)
    • Kipps / The Research Magnificent. 1905 & 1915. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
28. Mr Britling Sees It Through (1916)
    • Mr Britling Sees it Through / In the Days of the Comet. 1916 & 1906. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
29. The Soul of a Bishop (1917)
30. Joan and Peter: The Story of an Education (1918)
    • Joan and Peter: A Story of an Education / The Country of the Blind / Jimmy Goggles the God / Mr Brisher’s Treasure. 1918, 1904, 1898 & 1899. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
31. The Undying Fire (1919)
32. The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)
    • The Invisible Man / The Secret Places of the Heart / God the Invisible King. 1897, 1922 & 1917. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
33. Men Like Gods (1923)
    • The Sleeper Awakes / Men Like Gods. 1910 & 1923. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
34. The Dream (1924)
    • The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman / The Dream. 1914 & 1924. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
35. Christina Alberta's Father (1925)
36. The World of William Clissold (1926)
37. Meanwhile (1927)
38. Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
    • Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1928.
39. The Autocracy of Mr. Parham (1930)
40. The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
41. The Shape of Things to Come (1933)
    • The Shape of Things to Come. 1933. Corgi SF Collector’s Library. London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1974.
42. Things to Come: A Film Story Based on the Material Contained in His History of the Future “The Shape of Things to Come.” (1936)
    • Things to Come: A Film Story Based on the Material Contained in His History of the Future “The Shape of Things to Come.” 1935. London: The Cresset Press, 1936.
43. The Croquet Player (1936)
44. Brynhild (1937)
45. Star Begotten: A Biological Fantasia (1937)
    • Star Begotten: A Biological Fantasia. 1937. Sphere Science Fiction. London: sphere Books Ltd., 1977.
46. The Camford Visitation (1937)
47. Apropos of Dolores (1938)
48. The Brothers (1938)
49. The Holy Terror (1939)
50. Babes in the Darkling Wood (1940)
51. All Aboard for Ararat (1940)
52. You Can't Be Too Careful (1941)

Short Stories:


53. The Short Stories. 1927. London: Ernest Benn, 1948:
    
    The Time Machine and Other Stories
    
    
    1. The Time Machine
    2. The Empire of the Ants
    3. A Vision of Judgement
    4. The Land Ironclads
    5. The Beautiful Suit
    6. The Door in the Wall
    7. The Pearl of Love
    8. The Country of the Blind
    
    The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents [1895]
    
    
    9. The Stolen Bacillus
    10. The Flowering of the Strange Orchid
    11. In the Avu Observatory
    12. The Triumphs of a Taxidermist
    13. A Deal in Ostriches
    14. Through a Window
    15. The Temptation of Harringay
    16. The Flying Man
    17. The Diamond Maker
    18. Æpyornis Island
    19. The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes
    20. The Lord of the Dynamos
    21. The Hammerpond Park Burglary
    22. The Moth
    23. The Treasure in the Forest
    
    The Plattner Story and Others [1897]
    
    
    24. The Plattner Story
    25. The Argonauts of the Air
    26. The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham
    27. In the Abyss
    28. The Apple
    29. Under the Knife
    30. The Sea-Raiders
    31. Pollock and the Porroh Man
    32. The Red Room
    33. The Cone
    34. The Purple Pileus
    35. The Jilting of Jane
    36. In the Modern Vein: An Unsympathetic Love Story
    37. A Catastrophe
    38. The Lost Inheritance
    39. The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic
    40. A Slip Under the Microscope
    
    
    41. The Reconciliation
    42. My First Aeroplane
    43. Little Mother Up the Mörderberg
    44. The Story of the Last Trump
    45. The Grisly Folk
    
    Tales of Space and Time [1899]
    
    
    46. The Crystal Egg
    47. The Star
    48. A Story of the Stone Age
    49. A Story of the Days to Come
    50. The Man Who Could Work Miracles
    
    Twelve Stories and a Dream [1903]
    
    
    51. Filmer
    52. The Magic Shop
    53. The Valley of Spiders
    54. The Truth About Pyecraft
    55. Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland
    56. The Inexperienced Ghost
    57. Jimmy Goggles the God
    58. The New Accelerator
    59. Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation
    60. The Stolen Body
    61. Mr. Brisher's Treasure
    62. Miss Winchelsea's Heart
    63. A Dream of Armageddon


54. The Complete Short Stories. Ed. John Hammmond. 1998. London: Phoenix, 1999:
    
    The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents [1895]
    
    
    1. The Stolen Bacillus
    2. The Flowering of the Strange Orchid
    3. In the Avu Observatory
    4. The Triumphs of a Taxidermist
    5. A Deal in Ostriches
    6. Through a Window
    7. The Temptation of Harringay
    8. The Flying Man
    9. The Diamond Maker
    10. Æpyornis Island
    11. The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes
    12. The Lord of the Dynamos
    13. The Hammerpond Park Burglary
    14. The Moth
    15. The Treasure in the Forest
    
    The Plattner Story and Others [1897]
    
    
    16. The Plattner Story
    17. The Argonauts of the Air
    18. The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham
    19. In the Abyss
    20. The Apple
    21. Under the Knife
    22. The Sea-Raiders
    23. Pollock and the Porroh Man
    24. The Red Room
    25. The Cone
    26. The Purple Pileus
    27. The Jilting of Jane
    28. In the Modern Vein: An Unsympathetic Love Story
    29. A Catastrophe
    30. The Lost Inheritance
    31. The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic
    32. A Slip Under the Microscope
    
    Tales of Space and Time [1899]
    
    
    33. The Crystal Egg
    34. The Star
    35. A Story of the Stone Age
    36. A Story of the Days to Come
    37. The Man Who Could Work Miracles
    
    Twelve Stories and a Dream [1903]
    
    
    38. Filmer
    39. The Magic Shop
    40. The Valley of Spiders
    41. The Truth About Pyecraft
    42. Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland
    43. The Inexperienced Ghost
    44. Jimmy Goggles the God
    45. The New Accelerator
    46. Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation
    47. The Stolen Body
    48. Mr. Brisher's Treasure
    49. Miss Winchelsea's Heart
    50. A Dream of Armageddon
    
    The Door in the Wall and Other Stories
    
    
    51. The Door in the Wall
    52. The Empire of the Ants
    53. A Vision of Judgment
    54. The Land Ironclads
    55. The Beautiful Suit
    56. The Pearl of Love
    57. The Country of the Blind
    58. The Reconciliation
    59. My First Aeroplane (Little Mother series #1)
    60. Little Mother Up the Mörderberg (Little Mother series #2)
    61. The Story of the Last Trump
    62. The Grisly Folk
    
    Uncollected Stories
    
    
    63. A Tale of the Twentieth Century: For Advanced Thinkers
    64. Walcote
    65. The Devotee of Art
    66. The Man with a Nose
    67. A Perfect Gentleman on Wheels
    68. Wayde's Essence
    69. A Misunderstood Artist
    70. Le Mari Terrible
    71. The Rajah's Treasure
    72. The Presence by the Fire
    73. Mr Marshall's Doppelganger
    74. The Thing in No. 7
    75. The Thumbmark
    76. A Family Elopement
    77. Our Little Neighbour
    78. How Gabriel Became Thompson
    79. How Pingwill Was Routed
    80. The Loyalty of Esau Common: A Fragment
    81. The Wild Asses of the Devil
    82. Answer to Prayer
    83. The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper
    84. The Country of the Blind (revised version)

Non-Fiction:


55. Text-Book of Biology (1893)
56. [with R. A. Gregory] Honours Physiography (1893)
57. Certain Personal Matters (1897)
58. Anticipations of the Reactions of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901)
59. Mankind in the Making (1903)
60. The Future in America (1906)
61. This Misery of Boots (1907)
62. Will Socialism Destroy the Home? (1907)
63. New Worlds for Old (1908)
64. First and Last Things (1908)
65. Floor Games (1911)
66. The Great State (1912)
67. Thoughts From H. G. Wells (1912)
68. Little Wars (1913)
69. The War That Will End War (1914)
70. An Englishman Looks at the World (1914)
71. The War and Socialism (1915)
72. The Peace of the World (1915)
73. What is Coming? (1916)
74. [as 'D. P.] The Elements of Reconstruction (1916)
75. God the Invisible King (1917)
    • The Invisible Man / The Secret Places of the Heart / God the Invisible King. 1897, 1922 & 1917. H. G. Wells Collection. London: Odhams Press Limited, [1930].
76. War and the Future (1917)
77. Introduction to Nocturne (1917)
78. In the Fourth Year (1918)
79. [with Viscount Edward Grey, Lionel Curtis, William Archer, H. Wickham Steed, A. E. Zimmern, J. A. Spender, Viscount Bryce & Gilbert Murray] The Idea of a League of Nations (1919)
80. The Outline of History (1920)
81. Russia in the Shadows (1920)
82. [with Arnold Bennett & Grant Overton] Frank Swinnerton (1920)
83. The Salvaging of Civilization (1921)
84. A Short History of the World (1922)
    • A Short History of the World. 1922. Rev. ed. A Pelican Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1938.
85. Washington and the Hope of Peace (1922)
86. Socialism and the Scientific Motive (1923)
87. The Story of a Great Schoolmaster: Being a Plain Account of the Life and Ideas of Sanderson of Oundle (1924)
88. A Year of Prophesying (1925)
89. A Short History of Mankind (1925)
90. Mr. Belloc Objects to "The Outline of History" (1926)
91. Wells' Social Anticipations (1927)
92. The Way the World is Going (1928)
93. The Book of Catherine Wells (1928)
94. The Open Conspiracy (1928)
95. [with Julian S. Huxley & G. P. Wells] The Science of Life (1930)
96. Divorce as I See It (1930)
97. Points of View (1930)
98. The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931)
99. The New Russia (1931)
100. Selections From the Early Prose Works of H. G. Wells (1931)
101. What Should be Done — Now: A Memorandum on the World Situation (1932)
102. After Democracy (1932)
103. [with J. V. Stalin] Marxism vs Liberalism (1934)
104. Experiment in Autobiography (1934)
     • Experiment in Autobiography: Discoveries and Conclusions of a Very Ordinary Brain (Since 1886). 1934. 2 vols. Jonathan Cape Paperback JCP 64-65. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1969.
105. The New America: The New World (1935)
106. The Anatomy of Frustration (1936)
107. World Brain (1938)
108. The Fate of Homo Sapiens (1939)
109. The New World Order (1939)
110. Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water (1939)
111. The Common Sense of War and Peace (1940)
112. The Rights of Man (1940)
113. The Pocket History of the World (1941)
114. Guide to the New World (1941)
115. The Outlook for Homo Sapiens (1942)
116. The Conquest of Time (1942)
117. [with Lev Uspensky] Modern Russian and English Revolutionaries (1942)
118. Phoenix: A Summary of the Inescapable Conditions of World Reorganization (1942)
119. Crux Ansata: An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church (1943)
120. '42 to '44: A Contemporary Memoir (1944)
121. [with J. B. S. Haldane & Julian S. Huxley] Reshaping Man's Heritage (1944)
122. The Happy Turning (1945)
123. Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945)
124. Early Writings in Science and Science Fiction (1975)

Secondary:


125. Bergonzi, Bernard. The Early H. G. Wells: A Study of the Scientific Romances. Manchester, 1961.
126. Dickson, Lovat. H. G. Wells: His Turbulent Life and Times. 1969. London: Readers Union Limited / Macmillan and Company Limited, 1971.
127. Ray, Gordon N. H. G. Wells & Rebecca West. 1974. London: Macmillan London Limited, 1974.
128. West, Anthony. H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life. 1984. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985.

•


Anthony West: H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life (1984)

SF Luminaries: Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke (1965)

I wonder if this preamble is as familiar to you as it is to me?

Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980)

... Mysteries from the files of Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001 and inventor of the communications satellite. Now in retreat in Sri Lanka, he ponders the mysteries of this and other worlds.

Bookwig: Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980)

There are a number of interesting leads in there. What better way to usher in this long-awaited new year, 2021, than by unpacking a few of them?

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The Utah Monolith (2016-20)

"author of 2001"

The Utah monolith is a metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah. ... It was unlawfully placed on public land between July and October 2016, and stood unnoticed for over 4 years until its discovery and removal in late 2020. The identity of its makers, and their objectives, are unknown.

In the weeks after the discovery of the Utah pillar, dozens of similar metal columns were erected in other places throughout the world, including elsewhere in North America and various countries in Europe and South America. Many were built by local artists as deliberate imitations of the Utah monolith.

- Wikipedia

The Gingerbread Monolith (25/12/20)

The culmination of all these efforts was undoubtedly the Gingerbread monolith which appeared in a San Francisco park on Christmas Day, 2020.

When asked if he would be removing it, Phil Ginsburg, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department general manager, said that he had no such plans, "as it seemed to bring some joy and amusement to the community":

“Looks like a great spot to get baked. We will leave it up until the cookie crumbles ... We all deserve a little bit of magic right now.”

Joe Fitzgerald: "the cookie has crumbled" (27/12/20)

It's pretty good going if a reference to the central image of a film first released in 1968 makes immediate sense to people fifty years later. The famous black monolith from Kubrick & Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey was, of course, rectangular rather than triangular in form, but it's nice to know that it can still evoke such awe and perplexity after all this time.

Redbubble: Earth Monolith Greeting Card

It's harder to guess if the other, more subtle reference embedded in Phil Ginsburg's remark is intentional or not: "We all deserve a little bit of magic right now." It seems like a reference to Clarke's third law (discussed in more detail in my earlier post on his friend and rival Isaac Asimov) but perhaps I'm overreading it.

But then again, given the fact that the aptly named Ginsburg (albeit with a 'u' rather than an 'e') is an official of America's hippest city, San Francisco, maybe not.

Clarke's Three Laws

•


Peter Menzel: Arthur C. Clarke scuba-diving (2000)

"in retreat in Sri Lanka"

For many years the official reason given for Clarke's 1956 shift from the UK to Sri Lanka's tropical shores was his passion for scuba-diving, which was indeed the subject of a great many of his later books (cf. the selected bibliography at the end of this post).

Arthur C. Clarke: The Treasure of the Great Reef (1964)

It seems, in retrospect, very sad that his homosexuality had to remain a secret for so long - though it's hardly suprising, given Britain's archaic laws on the subject. Male homosexuality wasn't actually decriminalised until the Sexual Offences Act of 1967. Nor was that the end of the matter. In his 2017 Guardian article on the subject, Peter Tatchell explains:

The 1967 legislation repealed the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for anal sex. But it still discriminated. The age of consent was set at 21 for sex between men, compared with 16 for sex between men and women; a decision that pandered to the homophobic notion that young men are seduced and corrupted by older men. The punishment for a man over 21 having non-anal sex with a man aged 16-21 was increased from two to five years.

Small wonder that so many British writers and artists sought refuge elsewhere in the world. Clarke never did 'come out' precisely - but he made increasingly little secret of his sexuality in his later years.

Until the scandal of his aborted knighthood, that is.

In 1998, the Sunday Mirror reported that he paid Sri Lankan boys for sex, leading to the cancellation of plans for Prince Charles to knight him on a visit to the country. The accusation was subsequently found to be baseless by the Sri Lankan police and was retracted by the newspaper. Journalists who enquired of Clarke whether he was gay were told, "No, merely mildly cheerful."

- Wikipedia

Clarke was knighted for services to literature two years later, in 2000.

Leslie Ekanayake & Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke died in 2008. He is buried in Sri Lanka beside Leslie Ekanayake, whom he called his "only perfect friend of a lifetime" in the dedication to his only novel to be set on the island, The Fountains of Paradise (1979).

Arthur C. Clarke & Leslie Ekanayake

In one of his three "posthumous poems," printed for the first time in his Collected Poems (1977), W. H. Auden remarked:

When one is lonely (and You
My Dearest, know why,
as I know why it must be),
steps can be taken, even
a call-boy can help.

- W. H. Auden, 'Minnelied' (c.1967)

W. H. Auden & Chester Kallman (Venice, 1950s)

Clarke's partner, Leslie Ekanayake, died young, in 1977, at the age of thirty (he was killed in a motorcyle accident); Auden's, Chester Kallman, outlived the poet by two years, but had a tumultuous private life which definitely precluded monogamy.

Christopher Isherwood & W. H. Auden (1938)

Auden's own escape from the homophobia of his native England went back as far as the 1920s, though, when he and his friend Christopher Isherwood chose to move to the more tolerant atmosphere of pre-Nazi Berlin.

So why did Clarke continue to keep his sexuality a secret? No doubt he knew that he would probably not have had access to so many circles of scientific and political influence if the fact had been revealed publicly. On the other hand, as Michael Moorcock recalled:

Everyone knew he was gay. In the 1950s, I'd go out drinking with his boyfriend. We met his protégés, western and eastern, and their families, people who had only the most generous praise for his kindness. Self-absorbed he might be and a teetotaller, but an impeccable gent through and through.

"Everyone knew" - but they didn't have to know it officially. Auden and Isherwood were (latterly, at least) far more upfront about their sexuality, but I don't really think it's a subject anyone else not under the same pressure can offer a meaningful opinion on - given the obvious consequences of such an admission at the time.

Rohan de Silva: Clarke on Hikkaduwa beach (2009)

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Steven Spielberg, dir. Close Encounters of the Three Kinds (1977)

"the mysteries of this and other worlds"

In his TV series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Clarke defines the following three types of mystery:

1. Mysteries of the First Kind: Something that was once utterly baffling but is now completely understood, e.g. a rainbow.
2. Mysteries of the Second Kind: Something that is currently not fully understood and can be in the future.
3. Mysteries of the Third Kind: Something of which we have no understanding.

I guess the most memorable thing about the series - and its two successors, Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers (1985) and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious Universe (1994) - is the scoffing incredulity with which the hard-headed Clarke, with his clipped, Somerset accent, shot down each new 'mystery' in its tracks.

The Goodies: Big Foot (1982)

Perhaps, in fact, the only real reason to remember those goofy British comedians the Goodies is because of their brilliant parody of Clarke in the "Big Foot" episode of their eponymous TV show. A yeti can be clearly seen on coming in and out of shot as Clarke is seen pontificating in the foreground, declaring the complete lack of any evidence for its existence. "Vewy, vewy wisible", as another group of contemporary comedians were wont to say.

Newgrange, Ireland (1977)

The series as a whole exercised a strange fascination over me and my contemporaries. The main reason I felt compelled to visit the 5,000-year-old Newgrange tomb in Ireland in the late 1980s was as a result of having seen those haunting pictures of the light breaking into its dusty interior at Winter solstice dawn in Episode 8: "The Riddle of the Stones". It did not disappoint.

Winter Solstice, Newgrange

There were strange stories of poltergeists, lake monsters, missing apemen, and - perhaps best of all - Episode 7: "The Great Siberian Explosion", about the then-not-so-well-known Tunguska event of 1908. A great deal of original footage from the the 1930 Kulik expedition to the site was assembled very usefully here, which makes it, still, one of the best accounts of this particularly weird occurrence to date.

The Tunguska Explosion (1908)

In retrospect, it must have been the sheer wet blanket effect of his relentless scepticism which made the series so memorable. If it can get past him, we were more-or-less subtly conditioned to think, there really must be something in it. The fact that one or two of the mysteries stumped even Clarke seemed a powerful argument for their possible validity.

Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980)

•


Arthur C. Clarke: "Extraterrestrial relays" (Wireless World, 1945)

"inventor of the communications satellite"

Really? If you ask the question online, you'll soon discover that some doubt has been thrown on this assertion in recent years:

He wasn't the original source for the idea/actual inventor of the concept but starting with the article [above] ... he was a big proponent of the uses you could put geostationary satellites to. ...

The idea for geostationary satellites originally was published by Herman Potočnik in 1928 in his book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor):

A partial translation to English, containing most of the essential chapters, was made as early as 1929 for the American magazine Science Wonder Stories and was issued in three parts (July, August and September 1929) and credited to "Captain Hermann Noordung, A.D., M.E., Berlin." The article was also published in Science Wonder Stories' sister publication Air Wonder Stories at the same time.

However, Wikipedia's article on Potočnik states the idea was "first put forward by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky."

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

Despite these quibbles, the Wikipedia "Communications satellite" article continues to accord Clarke the distinction:

The concept of the geostationary communications satellite was first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke, along with Vahid K. Sanadi building on work by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. In October 1945, Clarke published an article titled "Extraterrestrial Relays" in the British magazine Wireless World. The article described the fundamentals behind the deployment of artificial satellites in geostationary orbits for the purpose of relaying radio signals. Thus, Arthur C. Clarke is often quoted as being the inventor of the communications satellite and the term 'Clarke Belt' employed as a description of the orbit.

I guess the reason for belabouring the point is that there certainly was a fair measure of bigheadedness about Clarke. His later books, in particular, are full of skiting about various distinctions he's earned, asteroids he's had named after him, important people he's met ... It's hard to know, in a contest for greatest Sci-fi / Pop Science Gasbag, whether he or Asimov would gain the prize: let's call it a tie.

Unfortunately this fact can lead one to dismiss his actual importance and influence on many fields. Inventor of the Communications Satellite may be a bit of a stretch, but not by much. The problem, really, was that, like his predecessor H. G. Wells, he outlived his vogue - and the works of his maturity - by a number of decades.

Arthur C. Clarke: Selected titles

It's his early work that will endure - those brilliantly exciting, yet still scientifically plausible thrillers such as A Fall of Moondust or Rendezvous with Rama; those breathtakingly imaginative fantasies such as The City and the Stars or Childhood's End. His short stories, too, taken as a whole, combine the best slambang features of the pulp era with the more urbane prose of contemporaries such as John Wyndham or C. S. Lewis.

Arthur C. Clarke: The View from Serendip (1977)

Of the 'Big Three', it may actually be Clarke's works which will last best. The "View from Serendip" - the name of one of his many collections of reflective essays - seems to have served him well. British by birth, his intimate involvement with his place of residence, Sri Lanka, made his viewpoint not quite that of a Westerner - and the difference shows.

Perhaps I'm just sentimental, but the many happy hours I've spent reading and rereading his books makes me want to send him good thoughts wherever he may be now.

Tod Mesirow: Arthur C. Clarke (1995)

•


Arthur C. Clarke: Astounding Days (1989)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke
(1917-2008)

Series:

A Space Odyssey:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey: A Novel. Based on the Screenplay by Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick. 1968 (London: Arrow Books Ltd., 1974)
2. 2010: Odyssey Two. 1982 (London: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1983)
3. 2061: Odyssey Three. 1987. Voyager (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997)
4. 3001: The Final Odyssey. 1997. Voyager (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997)

Rama:
5. Rendezvous with Rama. 1972 (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1973)
6. [with Gentry Lee] Rama: The Omnibus. The Complete Rama Story. Rendezvous with Rama; Rama II; The Garden of Rama; Rama Revealed. 1972, 1989, 1991, 1993. Gollancz (London: Orion Publishing Group, 1973)

A Time Odyssey:
7. [with Stephen Baxter] Time's Eye (2003)
8. [with Stephen Baxter] Sunstorm (2005)
9. [with Stephen Baxter] Firstborn (2007)

Other Novels:


10. The Lion of Comarre & Against the Fall of Night. 1948, 1953, 1968. Corgi SF Collector’s Library (London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1975)
11. Prelude to Space [aka Master of Space & The Space Dreamers]. 1951 (London: Pan Books, 1954)
12. The Sands of Mars. 1951. Sphere Science Fiction Classics (London: Sphere Books Limited, 1972)
13. Islands in the Sky. 1952. Introduction by Patrick Moore. Puffin Books (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973)
14. Childhood's End. 1953. Pan Science Fiction (London: Pan Books, 1973)
15. Earthlight. 1955. Pan Science Fiction (London: Pan Books, 1973)
16. The City and the Stars. 1956. Corgi SF Collector’s Library (London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1975)
17. The Deep Range. 1957. Pan Science Fiction (London: Pan Books, 1973)
18. A Fall of Moondust. 1961. Pan Books (London: Pan Books, 1971)
19. Dolphin Island: A Story of the People of the Sea. 1963. Illustrated by Robin Andersen. Piccolo Science Fiction (London: Pan Books, 1976)
20. Glide Path. 1963 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1980)
21. Imperial Earth: A Fantasy of Love and Discord. 1975 (London: Pan Books, 1977)
22. The Fountains of Paradise. 1979 (London: Pan Books, 1980)
23. The Songs of Distant Earth. 1986. Grafton Books (London: Collins, 1987)
24. [with Gentry Lee] Cradle (1988)
25. [with Gregory Benford] Beyond the Fall of Night (1990)
26. The Ghost from the Grand Banks. 1990. An Orbit Book (London: Macdonald & Co. Publishers Ltd., 1991)
27. The Hammer of God (1993)
28. [with Mike McQuay] Richter 10 (1996)
29. [with Michael P. Kube-McDowell] The Trigger (1999)
30. [with Stephen Baxter] The Light of Other Days (2000)
31. [with Frederik Pohl] The Last Theorem (2008)

Stories:


32. Expedition to Earth. 1953 (London: Sphere Books, 1968)
33. Reach for Tomorrow (New York: Ballantine Books, 1956)
34. Venture to the Moon (1956)
35. Tales from the White Hart. 1957 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1973)
36. The Other Side of the Sky. 1958. Corgi SF Collector’s Library (London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1974)
37. Tales of Ten Worlds. 1962. Corgi Books (London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1971)
38. The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
39. Of Time and Stars (1972)
40. The Wind from the Sun: Stories of the Space Age. 1972. A Signet Book. New American Library, 1973)
41. The Lost Worlds of 2001 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972)
42. The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1971 (London: Sphere Books Limited, 1973)
43. The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1955 (1976)
44. The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1956-1972 (1977)
45. The Sentinel (1983)
46. Tales From Planet Earth (1990)
47. More Than One Universe (1991)
48. The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. 2000. Gollancz (London: Orion Publishing Group, 2001)

Non-fiction:


49. Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950)
50. The Exploration of Space. 1951. Rev ed. 1959. A Premier Book (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1960)
51. The Exploration of the Moon. Illustrated by R.A. Smith (1954)
52. The Young Traveller in Space [aka Going Into Space & The Scottie Book of Space Travel]. 1954 (1957)
53. The Coast of Coral. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. Blue Planet Trilogy 1 (1956)
54. The Reefs of Taprobane: Underwater Adventures around Ceylon. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. Blue Planet Trilogy 2 (1957)
55. The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program (1957)
56. Boy Beneath the Sea. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke (1958)
57. Voice Across the Sea (1958)
58. The Challenge of the Space Ship: Previews of Tomorrow’s World. 1959. New York: Ballantine Books, 1961.
59. The Challenge of the Sea (1960)
60. The First Five Fathoms. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke (1960)
61. Indian Ocean Adventure. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke (1961)
62. Profiles of the Future: an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. 1962. Rev. ed. 1973 (London: Pan Books, 1976)
63. [with the editors of Life] Man and Space (1964)
64. Indian Ocean Treasure. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke (1964)
65. The Treasure of the Great Reef. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. Blue Planet Trilogy 3 (1964)
66. Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age. 1966. London: Mayflower Books Ltd., 1969.
67. The Promise of Space (1968)
68. [with Robert Silverberg] Into Space: a Young Person’s Guide to Space (1971)
69. Beyond Jupiter: The Worlds of Tomorrow. Paintings by Chesley Bonestell. Text by Arthur C. Clarke (1972)
70. Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations. 1972. Corgi SF Collector’s Library (London: Transworld Publishers Ltd., 1973)
71. The View from Serendip. 1977 (London: Pan Books, 1979)
72. [with Peter Hyams] The Odyssey File. 1984. Panther Books (London: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1985)
73. 1984, Spring: A Choice of Futures (1984)
74. Ascent to Orbit, A Scientific Autobiography: The Technical Writings of Arthur C. Clarke (1984)
75. 20 July 2019: Life in the 21st Century (1986)
76. Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography (London: Victor Gollancz, 1989)
77. How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village [aka How the World Was One: Towards the Tele-Family of Man] (1992)
78. By Space Possessed (1993)
79. The Snows of Olympus - A Garden on Mars (1994)
80. Childhood Ends: The Earliest Writings of Arthur C. Clarke (1996)
81. Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Works 1934–1988 (1999)

Edited & Introduced:


82. [Ed.] Time Probe: The Sciences in Science Fiction (1966)
83. [Ed.] The Coming of the Space Age: Famous Accounts of Man's Probing of the Universe (1967)
84. [Foreword] John Fairley & Simon Welfare. Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World. 1980 (London: Collins, 1986)
85. [Ed., with George Proctor] The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Three: The Nebula Winners 1965–1969 (1982)
86. [Foreword] John Fairley & Simon Welfare. Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers. 1984 (London: Collins, 1990)
87. [Foreword] John Fairley & Simon Welfare. Arthur C. Clarke’s Chronicles of the Strange & Mysterious (London: Guild Publishing, 1987)
88. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 1: Breaking Strain (1987)
89. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 2: Maelstrom (1988)
90. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 3: Hide and Seek (1989)
91. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 4: The Medusa Encounter (1990)
92. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 5: The Diamond Moon (1990)
93. [Ed.] Project Solar Sail (1990)
94. [Afterword] Paul Preuss. Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime, Vol. 6: The Shining Ones (1991)
95. [Foreword] John Fairley & Simon Welfare. Arthur C. Clarke’s A-Z of Mysteries: From Atlantis to Zombies. Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke (London: Book Club Associates, 1993)
96. [Introduction] Gentry Lee. Bright Messengers (1995)
97. [Introduction] James Randi. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural [aka The Supernatural A-Z: The Truth and the Lies] (1995)
98. [Tribute] Isaac Asimov. The Roving Mind: New Edition (1997)
99. Keith Allen Daniels, ed. Arthur C. Clarke & Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence (1998)
100. [Foreword] David G. Stork. Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer As Dream and Reality (1998)
101. [Foreword] Simon Welfare and John Fairley. Arthur C. Clarke's Mysteries (1998)
102. [Foreword] Victoria Brooks, ed. Literary Trips 2: Following in the Footsteps of Fame (2001)
103. [Foreword] Dan Richter. Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2002)
104. Ryder W. Miller, ed. From Narnia to A Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis (2003)
105. [Preface] Anthony Frewin, ed. Are We Alone?: The Stanley Kubrick Extraterrestrial Intelligence Interviews (2005)
106. [Foreword] Dr. Gary Westfahl, ed. Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits (2005)

Cinema & TV:


107. 2001: A Space Odyssey, dir. Stanley Kubrick, writ. Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick (based on 'The Sentinel' by Arthur C. Clarke) - with Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood - (UK/USA, 1968)
108. 2010: The Year We Make Contact, dir. & writ. Peter Hyams (based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke) - with Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea - (USA, 1984)
109. Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World, narrated by Gordon Honeycombe, prod. John Fanshawe & John Fairley, dir. Peter Jones, Michael Weigall & Charles Flynn (UK, 1980). 2-DVD set.
110. Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers, narrated by Anna Ford, prod. John Fairley, dir. Peter Jones, Michael Weigall & Charles Flynn (UK, 1985). 2-DVD set.
111. Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious Universe, narrated by Carol Vorderman, prod. John Fairley, dir. Peter Jones, Michael Weigall & Charles Flynn (UK, 1994). 4-DVD set.

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Arthur C. Clarke: The Collected Stories (2001)

SF Luminaries: Mary Shelley

Richard Rothwell: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1840)

"I write bad articles which help to make me miserable — but I am going to plunge into a novel and hope that its clear water will wash off the mud of the magazines."

- Mary Shelley, Letter to Leigh Hunt

Theodor von Holst: Frontispiece to Frankenstein (1831)

There's a section in an 2016 post of mine entitled "Movies about Writers" which includes some remarks on a subgenre I've called "Byron-'n'-Shelley-'n'-Mary-Shelley" films: ones which concentrate on the infamous "haunted summer" of 1816, which she and her husband Percy spent mostly on the shores of Lake Geneva, hob-nobbing with Lord Byron and his hapless companion Dr. Polidori.

Kenneth Branagh, dir.: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to charting the influence of that rather disturbing meeting of minds on popular culture: fiction as well as cinema. I mentioned there Brian Aldiss's SF novel Frankenstein Unbound (1973), Liz Lochead's Dreaming Frankenstein (1984), and Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard (1989). (I might also have added Christopher Priest's The Prestige (1995) - though this is far more notable in the novel than in Christopher Nolan's 2006 film version).

Michael Sims: Frankenstein Dreams: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Science Fiction (2017)

There's also (now) Peter Ackroyd's The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2009) to be considered, along with Stephanie Hemphill's Hideous Love (2013) and Jon Skovron's Man Made Boy (2015). Michael Sims, editor of Frankenstein Dreams: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Science Fiction (2017), mentions these and various other titles in his own 2018 article "8 Books that wouldn't exist without Mary Shelley's Frankenstein".

Leslie S. Klinger, ed.: The New Annotated Frankenstein (2017)

When it comes to movies and TV shows based on the book, it's hard to know exactly where to begin. There's a reasonably complete filmography in Leslie S. Klinger's New Annotated Frankenstein, which takes you all the way from James Whale's classic Frankenstein (1931) and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935) to that curious film Gods and Monsters (1998), which purports to recreate Whale's own last days.

The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015-17)

On the small screen, as well as two series of the UK TV series The Frankenstein Chronicles, there have been three series of that strange amalgam of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray, John Logan's Penny Dreadful ...

Penny Dreadful (2014-16)

All of which brings us to the crucial question: what exactly is Frankenstein? I don't mean that perennial confusion about who the title actually refers to: Victor Frankenstein or Frankenstein's monster (the former, of course). I mean, what kind of a book is it?

Peter Fairclough, ed. Three Gothic Novels (1983)

Mario Praz, author of The Romantic Agony (1933), who contributed an introduction to the edition above, is in no doubt. It's a Gothic novel, and offers all of the seductive attributes of that genre. As the article on Gothic fiction on Wikipedia so succinctly puts it:

Gothic fiction tends to place emphasis on both emotion and a pleasurable kind of terror, serving as an extension of the Romantic literary movement ... The most common of these "pleasures" among Gothic readers was the sublime — an indescribable feeling that "takes us beyond ourselves."

"The genre had much success in the 19th century," the article goes on to say, "as witnessed in prose by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [my emphasis] and the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Edgar Allan Poe ... and in poetry in the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge."

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary Shelley, Vol 1 (2010)

The collection above leaves no doubt what area of the literary firmament they see Mary Shelley as inhabiting: the supernatural and weird.

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary Shelley, Vol 2 (2010)

But there is, of course, a dissentient vein of opinion on this point. It's hard to say who really started this particular hare, but it's certainly strongly associated with Brian Aldiss, a prolific SF author in his own right, and author of the 1973 history of the genre Billion Year Spree (updated in 1986 as Trillion Year Spree). In a speech made at the launch of a new edition of Frankenstein in 2008, he summarised his views as follows:

Brian Aldiss Billion Year Spree (1973)

... when I was attempting to write [Billion Year Spree], I had to begin at the beginning – as one does. At the same time, there were a lot of people who were very eager to find out who was the ‘Father’ of science fiction, and I was very happy to proclaim that Mary Shelley was the Mother of Science Fiction. It caused a lot of bad blood at the time, but happily it’s been spilt and mopped up now.

... In making this claim, which I took care to buttress with examples, I wanted not only to retrieve the book to current attention in a way that my readers might at first resent but would ultimately profit from, but also to retrieve it from the hands of Universal Studios’ horrific Boris Karloff, because I saw that it was so much more than a horror tale. It had mythic quality ...

The fantastical had been in vogue long before Shakespeare. It was eternally in vogue. Aristophanes’ The Birds creates a cloud cuckoo land between earth and heaven ... Then there’s Lucian of Samosata in the first century of our epoch, who describes how the King of the Sun and the King of the Moon go to war over the colonization of – can you guess? – the colonization of Jupiter ...

Christendom was full of angels and lots of fibs about the planets being inhabited. One’s knee deep in these discarded fantasies, but it was Mary Shelley, poised between the Enlightenment and Romanticism, who first wrote of life – that vital spark – being created not by divine intervention as hitherto, but by scientific means; by hard work and by research.

That was new, and in a sense it remains new. The difference is impressive, persuasive, permanent.

Mary Shelley: The Last Man (1826)

In a sense the whole argument comes down to The Last Man. This dystopian futuristic fantasy is the only other significant exhibit to consider when attempting to decide whether to weight the scales towards "Gothic novelist" or "Mother of Science Fiction" for Mary Shelley. Brian Aldiss, once again, is in no doubt:

As if to prove this unsuspected truth in the same way that a scientist doesn’t announce his discovery until he can repeat it, Mary later wrote another futurist novel, The Last Man.

... [In it] we are asked, for instance: “What are we, the inhabitants of this globe, least amongst the many people that inhabit infinite space? Our minds embrace infinity. The visible mechanism of our being is subject to merest accident.”

None of the rest of her seven novels shows any particular elements of speculative fiction: most of them are historical in inspiration, and the others (such as Mathilda, unpublished in her lifetime) tend to be more preoccupied with the complexities of sexual politics.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Jules Verne (1828-1905)

H. G. Wells (1866-1946)

Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967)

Science Fiction has certainly been gifted with quite a number of fathers: Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Hugo Gernsback, to name just the usual suspects. I suppose that I would feel happier to embrace Brian Aldiss's hypothesis if it weren't for the hyper-Gothic tone of Frankenstein in both the 1818 and 1831 versions.

H. G. Wells: The Island of Dr Moreau (1896)

But then, the same could be said of Wells's Island of Doctor Moreau, or - for that matter - almost all of Poe's fictional output.

It it were just a matter of Frankenstein itself, I think I might still see it as a bit exaggerated - but The Last Man, direct ancestor of such novels as Richard Matheson's I am Legend (1954), George R. Stewart's Earth Abides (1949), Susan Ertz's Woman Alive (1935), and M. P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud (1901), does lend potent support to Aldiss's argument.

John Martin: The Last Man (1849)

Admittedly John Clute's magisterial Encyclopedia of Science Fiction complicates the issue somewhat by describing the complex backstory of the idea:

Early treatments, often in verse, include Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville's The Last Man: or, Omegarus and Syderia: A Romance in Futurity (1805; trans 1806); Lord Byron's "Darkness" (1816); "The Last Man" (1823), a poem by Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) which inspired John Martin's mezzotint "The Last Man" (1826); The Last Man (1826), an operatic scena by William H Callcott (1807-1882); "The Last Man" (1826), a poem by Thomas Hood (1799-1845) ...

All of these before even mentioning Mary Shelley's novel!

One thing's for certain, Frankenstein seems fated to remain one of those very few works of fiction which transcends the genre it was written in, which taps into some mythic layer of the collective unconscious. Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - they keep on being revised, revisited, reinvented in a constant cycle of desire. Whatever their authors envisaged for them, it's impossible they could have foreseen such a relentless need for this among all the other products of their pen.

Mary Shelley was undoubtedly a genius. Even given her extraordinary background: daughter of two brilliant and intellectually revolutionary parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; married to another genius, Percy Bysshe Shelley; no-one could really have predicted the heights of renown she would reach.

If SF has to have a single ancestor, why shouldn't it be Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley? The extent of her influence on the genre then and now certainly makes her well worthy of the honour.

Leonard Wolf, ed.: The Annotated Frankenstein (1977)

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Reginald Easton: Mary Shelley (1857)

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
(1797-1851)

Novels:


1. Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus. 3 vols. London: Printed for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, 1818.
   • Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole; Vathek, by William Beckford; Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. 1764, 1786, & 1818. Ed. Peter Fairclough. Introduction by Mario Praz. 1968. Penguin English Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.
   • The Annotated Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. Leonard Wolf. Art by Marcia Huyette. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977.
   • The New Annotated Frankenstein: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818. Rev. ed. 1831. Ed. Leslie S. Klinger. Introduction by Guillermo del Toro. Afterword by Anne K. Mellor. Liveright Publishing Corporation. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2017.
   • Making Humans: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein / H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau: Complete Texts with Introduction. Historical Contexts. Critical Essays. 1818 & 1896. Ed. Judith Wilt. New Riverside Editions. Ed. Alan Richardson. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
2. Valperga: Or, the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca. 3 vols. London: Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823.
3. The Last Man. 3 vols. London: Henry Colburn, 1826.
   • The Last Man. 1826. Introduction by Brian Aldiss. Hogarth Fiction. London: the Hogarth Press, 1985.
4. The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, A Romance. 3 vols. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830.
5. Lodore. 3 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1835.
6. Falkner. A Novel. 3 vols. London: Saunders and Otley, 1837.
7. Mathilda. 1819. Ed. Elizabeth Nitchie. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959.

Travel narratives:


8. [with Percy Bysshe Shelley] History of a Six Weeks' Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland: with Letters Descriptive of a Sail round the Lake of Geneva, and of the Glaciers of Chamouni. London: T. Hookham, Jun.; and C. and J. Ollier, 1817.
9. Rambles in Germany and Italy, in 1840, 1842, and 1843. 2 vols. London: Edward Moxon, 1844.

Children's books:


10. [with Percy Bysshe Shelley] Proserpine & Midas. Two unpublished Mythological Dramas by Mary Shelley. 1820. Ed. A. H. Koszul. London: Humphrey Milford, 1922.
11. Maurice, or The Fisher’s Cot. 1820. Ed. Claire Tomalin. 1998. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.

Journals & Letters:


12. The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814–44. Ed. Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
13. The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. 3 vols. Ed. Betty T. Bennett. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.

Secondary:


14. Holmes, Richard. Shelley: The Pursuit. 1974. London: Quartet Books, 1976.
15. St Clair, William. The Godwins and the Shelleys: The Biography of a Family. 1989. London: Faber, 1990.
16. Trelawny, Edward John. Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author. 1878. Ed. David Wright. 1973. Penguin English Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.

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Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)