[HN Gopher] Rapture in Southend
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       Rapture in Southend
        
       Author : apollinaire
       Score  : 6 points
       Date   : 2022-01-21 06:35 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lrb.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lrb.co.uk)
        
       | neonate wrote:
       | https://archive.is/wJisn
        
       | Aidevah wrote:
       | This review seems to complement the review given by John Gray at
       | the New Statesman[1]. It's interesting to observe what was
       | mentioned and omitted in each of the reviews. Collini writes:
       | "During his lifetime there was also another kind of 'fuss' about
       | Wells that is now bound to seem exaggerated. He was pilloried as
       | an advocate of 'free love'..." Is it really that surprising that
       | in the post-Metoo era, a celebrated celebrity having an affair
       | with an university student half his age continues to raise
       | eyebrows? Also, on Wells' marriage with his second wife Jane,
       | Collini says "he had always appreciated her qualities and had
       | remained committed to her in his way. His way, of course, was not
       | everyone's way." Gray's judgement on Wells is much harsher:
       | "Wells treated Jane abominably, spending much of his time with
       | lovers. He returned to be with her only when she was dying from
       | cancer, even then leaving regularly to spend a few days in
       | France, where his current lover was living."
       | 
       | It is most illuminating to read from Collini that "Wells was a
       | representative product of an era when the market and
       | opportunities to get published had hugely expanded but before
       | print began to be seriously challenged by other media. A number
       | of other figures who roamed promiscuously and, above all,
       | prolifically across literature, journalism and social criticism
       | (Shaw and Chesterton come most readily to mind) also enjoyed a
       | kind of celebrity in this period that they probably could not
       | have attained before or after." Although he seems to deliberately
       | sidestep the elephant in the room, even when Shaw's name has been
       | mentioned. Gray gives a more detailed account of how Wells was
       | possessed by the "madness of his times", which should give ample
       | reason why no serious attempts are made to revive Wells'
       | reputation today. Reading these two reviews, it is sad to realise
       | that the dirty laundry of past authors can be either displayed in
       | the open or swept under the rug depending on the personal liking
       | of the reviewer.
       | 
       | [1] https://archive.fo/z8GP6
        
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