New-York tribune., 1906-10-13

N THE DAYS OF THE COMET. BY H. g. Wells.
Emo, pp. wifi, 372 The Century Company
AS Mr.. welIs's preoccupation with the future
grows upon him. he deals less with concrete
things and more with ideas. Considering the
character Of the pivotal event In his latest
book IN the Days Of the Comet" we hesitate
to describe it as a novel devoid Of incident: yet
such a description would. on the whole, be rea-
sonable Hitherto. when this author has let his
imagination play over the possibilities OF the
NEXT few hundred years. he has had a good deal
m saw about the details o. living. and has been
nicturescue IN his sketches Of a refurnished
world In such books when the Sleeper
Wakes he has made US the more willing to lis
ten 70 his Utopian speculations through oeguii-
ing US with all manner Of strange Inventions
I'm the Days OF the Comet dispenses with all
these lures We are treated to one stupendous
,mproba bility, and for the rest we are offered
pa ges and~ pages OF talk about the difference
between mans inhumanity TO man in the pres
ent age. and mans adoption OF grand spirit OF
brotherhood a long time hence For novel By
Mr.. Wells. this is. indeed, singularly free from
sururises The narrative rubs along with moth
inc in Il 10 excite our interest save a young
man in suuaIid circumstances whose love affair
goes wrong With g heart uptorn by the elope-
rnent Of the woman he loves with man he
hates. and with brain set afiame by defects IN
the social system. he starts out to commit mur-
der Just then a comet which has for some
time hung like q threat in the heavens, comes
into collision with the earth. and, amid over
whelmlng green vapors, mankind goes TO sleep
for few hours. It wakes regenerated-
This Is a tall order, and though upon muny
an occasion M-. Wells has been wonderfully
skiIful in winning his readers confidence we
cannot feel that he has this time worked the
III bfs ad The aXDla-
nation lies in the fact that his widest imagn-
iogs have until now been set forth either with
inspiring audacity or with extraordinarily
shrewd assumption Of scientific ingenuity In
the present volume simply asked 10 be
ueve that a bolt from the blue might turn the
world upside down and make II all over again.
The yarn goes down only with a gulp. and
makes US the more dsinclined to accept the
Dict,1re that follows. It is indeed rather
feebly drawn. Mr.. Wells struggles between the
/ claims of his love story and his theory of
/ future state OF civilization, and leaves. when
all is said. a rather confused impression. We
chiefly gather that after the comet shook the
/ world I'D everybody was filed with love for his
4 naighbor and life became like dream OF para
disc II is a pretty vision but vague and we
miss the vivid, tangible sort Of thing which has
so often made Mr.. weIs's fantseticalties worth
while.
We must regret. TOO, the maudtin twist given
., the romance Of I'm the Days of the Comet"
/ -. the end The hero acquiesces when the her
/ o,ra chooses to in her lot with another
r,sn but he goes on loving her. and though.
| ~, snd by, he takes another woman for his
/ nartner. he and his old love revive their pas
- 70 the satisfaction OF every one concerned
,.-o,,airg the fortunate rival who had ORIGINALLY
oa,.ad go much trouble. 1--WE four" says the sup
/ ro.,,i,tous narrator. from that time were very
! a1osa vou understand; we were friends. helpers
personal lovers in a world of lovers" The man in
+ta .n,lozue who listens TO these words is in
le ~ suspect himself of ignoble coarsenes,
u,ta- bA shrinks from what the hero tells him.
nv wells as we have recently noted. has pro-
+as,ed ,,ahenently against the criticism passed
mon ,he curious situation arrived at in his novel
Ne ts esneciaIly concerned 10 have it understood
tbst The ideas in the book are advanced by a
ut.r,ct.- :, If and not by himself. II does not
matter. The situation TO which ve refer is
none the less unedifytng.