Evening star., 1934-10-28
VIEWS AND REVIEWS.

EXPERIMENT IN AUTOBIOGRA-
PLY. Discoveries and Conclusions
of a Very Ordinary Brain (since
1860. BY H. G. Wells. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
A T 6s. H. G. WELLS looks back
n over his life and work and
~ looks ahead to the 10 years
4 4 or more he hopes still to have
of life and work and feels
deep dissatisfaction, yet inevitable ac-
ceptance, that for creative workers the
longing for a great, good place" In
which to work with peace and dig
nifty, free from the Irrelevant neces-
stiles" of life, is but a helpful dream"
to keep them going over the more
exacting stretches Of the course" In
spite of the incompleteness and COM
promise which are the lot of creative
workers, his record Of accomplish
ment, unwaveringly In the direction
he has chosen, has been stupendous
one. He recognizes this, for H. G.
Wells has no self-deceptions, no
feigned self-depreciation.
So definitely has Mr.. Wells eluci-
dated his own persona" and told
what he has intended to do in this
autobiography that there Is little left
for a reviewer in the way of inter-
probation. Criticism is another mat
ter, and might be directed toward the
lack of reserve or the reservations
(there are some), the fact that in
the latter half of the book the per-
sonal Wells, SO vivid earlier, becomes
lost in Wells the preacher, the weak
ness and abruptneSs Of the conclusion
compared with the leisurely reflective
ness of the introduction. But these
are all trivialities in the face of such
q successful experiment" in develop
mental autobiography. "A biography"
says Mr.. Wells, should be dissec-
ton and demonstration Of how a
particular human being was made and
worked" When we have finished
reading, we know a great deal about
how Mr.. Wells is made and even more
about how he works. Of the external
facts of his life the materialist has
to be satisfied with a scattered selec-
ton.
Mr.. Wells Is, however, frankly con-
fldential about the circumstances Of
his first marriage, its failure, his sec
ond marriage to the prototype of Ann
Veronica" its compromises, and his
own sensual Wanderlust tendencies.
We have not, as in the case Of Ar
mold Bennett, the advantage of
published story by the wife, to use as
check and balance. But the essential
preoccupation with Mr.. Wells, from
early in his life, has been his work,
and because of 1t and his tempera-
ment he has never given any person
nor place simple, disinterested love.
1t was not in me-"
The value of ones work, whether 1t
is worth enough to justify its de-
mands, is, he says, another ques-
ton. A bad musician may be none
the less passionately a musician" The
objective of his work he states simply:
ITO make a practically applicable
science out of history and sociology"
and it makes little difference to him
that contemporary historians and econ
omists fail to adopt his results.
Judged by his aims, his Outline of
History" and The Work, Wealth and
Happiness of Mankind" are his most
significant works, but all of his novels,
especially the utopian ones Of later
years, show the same trend. The
Experiment in Autobiography" can
not be considered as a pronouncing of
VALE" for Mr.. Wells intends to write
more and is still in vigorous posses
sion Of his thinking and writing facul-
ties, but it is probable that it will
remain the peak of his work, the most