Evening star., 1930-12-09
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C. M.

| saw him at all. Then, at a certain
rounded corner, there he was. H. G.
Wells. And he looked the part which,
! by the way, Is a thing that almost no
one ever does-to look the role to which
he is cast. Here, however, it was diff
, ferent. This was the very man who
could, and did, create new worlds for
old, who did project fresh and bet
| ter fitting Utopia for the wider reaches
/ of the modern day, who did supplant
the old Machiavelh with @ more timely
exponent Of diplomacy and statecraft.
And who did, besides, bring to active
and partaking life a host of personals
ties, significant men and women who
behave much as we do and who are,
therefore, direct account to us.
Al you doubt that any one can look
al this-turn to page 130 Of this book.
| There he Is.
The early part Of MFR. Vests study
fails to reveal the H. G. Wells whom
readerS know. For the very good reason
tnat TINS boy and man are in retreat.
engaged In the hateful business of
going to school and later, In the equally
distasteful occupation OF teaching school.
A sluggard at learning, this fellow? Not
a DIT OF 1t. On the contrary, one of
the most prying and curious and In
satla6le youngsters imaginable about a
Worio OF interesting and important
room. The trouble appeared to be chat.
neither by direct plan nor happy chance,
old any OF these beckoning interests 0et
inside the schools. Futile schools
shabby in their ideas Of education
superficial in their purposes, made
quate In every respect. Wells hated it
an from the start He would. Yet, like
millions OF others along the wav. he
! himself became a teacher because this
! onered the nearest open door to q ca
reer, to a livelihood even.
! In effect, the first section of this
study, The Man in the Making is
tne education Of the day set out in the
Terms OF young Wells engagement with
II, In the terms of his protest against II.
10 be sure. glimpses Of the lad and the
youtn appear, as they must, but these
we know. -' 'A-0'
another word about education. It is
interesting that many years later Mr.,
Weiis oenberately produced a text book
on history. This, clearly, in a spirit Of
succor, Of rescue. Having earned and
won MS title to public homage as an
ldealist In politics, as an indefatigable
student, as scientist of no mean
measure. as a novelist of uncommon
originality and power, his mind went
PACK, naturally, to those early days of
scnolaStic vacuity. He said, as we all
40, the children must be taught reaU-
Ties about the world, about its Journey
through time, about its failures and its
triumphS brought together in
their true relations, one continuing ex-
pertinent In existence. So he made his
book for the schools, and for everv-
pody, The Outline of History" And
dld the pedagogue rush out gladly to
receive this book of good intent and
flne substance? He did not. Doubtless
ne tinkled bell somewhere. And
forthwith the. Schoolmasters all came
running each armed with a pencil
sharpened to its crucifying point. They
certainly had the time of their lives
lining up bodies of "errata," tickled to
hts over the learned knell Of that
word. But Mr.. Wells didn't mind He
Is quite beautifully unaware of the val
ues OF praise, Of the technic of promo
ton. He said that when he went to
bed The Outline of History was an
educational reforrner. When he got up
1t was a best seller. So 1t is. So it.
should be.
However. one must get along In a
matter that is Of heWAdering richness.
Beyond these early years the going is
faster. For everybody has read H. @.
Wells. Even so, the man is of such
energy, such variety. such vitality, of
such remarkable achievement as to
welcome the competent leadership of
GeofIrey West through the mazes of a
real genius. And here we hear that
Wells slipped out Of the bondage of
teaching into the career of novelist by
way Of journalism, that best of all
routes for the virfle, the capable, the
independent adventurer to take among
the powers and ways Of words.
Then comes Wells. the novelist, using
material drawn pretty evenly from life
as it is on the one hand, from life as 1t
might so wen be on the other The
novelist Of life here, the novelist Of ideas
there-as Mr.. West designates him
Science leads him to far imaginings
sometimes to specifically frantic effects !
Politics leads him, through one school
and another, to idealistic prophecies of
better world, envisaged in this ro-
nance or that one. Then there are
Just novels-love and all that. Each of
these, and groups of these, Mr.. West
brings out in their respective sources,
in the spark that fired each and the
plan that carried 1t onward, In its ac-
ceptance, or rejection, by heated claim
and counter claim. An indifferent recep-
ton Is unknown to II. c.. Wells. It is
all one way, or the other.
Obviously, Geoffrey West knows that
order Is Heavens first law. Otherwise,
ne would never have Undertaken so
multifarious subject as Wells. AS it
is, however, the reader finds the novel;
1St and the novels given over to. him in
a lucidity of arrangement and in a
difference to competitions that set the
man and his work out as a single en-
tlty. A fiery center, sending out bril-
llantly from one point of surface to
another. So If you are more interested
IN one OF these radiations than an
other-why, here it is, in its right place,
circumstanced, wisely assayed
within the Wells output, and measured
likewise, by the works of comparable
writers roundabout. Besides, there is
here the homely thing, an index, SO
useful to the reader and student. SO
frequently forgotten by the writer, par
tlcularly II this expositor himself lay
some slight claim to genius. In that
case, he despises the index, while the
student yearns for it. A little point of
excellence in Mr.. Vests generally sur
passing work which is made use Of to
prod careless writer's to sense of their
fun duty.
A knowing critic, in whom insight
and understanding serve here to give
readers the whole Of H. c. Wells man
and writer. A friend, besides; and this
gives an intimacy of revelation that dis
closes Mr.. Wells at his best and, once
And that Is one of the elements calcu-
lated to project a fair study with a
finely critical survey of this outstanding
genius. Most interesting reading, as
well. Indeed. this Is an exciting adven-
ture-just sitting under the lamp in a
vicarious partaking of the performances
Of shooting star, or a meteor, or any
other of the Skyey vagabonds.
And out of it there emerges a man
whose passion is hard work. That in
itself Is genius. Grilling work. hour
upon hour and year upon year. Health