A Man of Parts - Hardcover

Lodge, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670022985 ISBN 13: 9780670022984

Publisher: Viking Pr, 2011

Synopsis

'The mind is a time machine that travels backwards in memory and forwards in prophecy, but he has done with prophecy now...' Sequestered in his blitz-battered Regent's Park house in 1944, the ailing Herbert George Wells, 'H.G.' to his family and friends, looks back on a life crowded with incident, books, and women. Has it been a success or a failure? Once he was the most famous writer in the world, 'the man who invented tomorrow'; now he feels like yesterday's man, deserted by readers and depressed by the collapse of his utopian dreams. He recalls his unpromising start, and early struggles to acquire an education and make a living as a teacher; his rapid rise to fame as a writer with a prophetic imagination and a comic common touch which brought him into contact with most of the important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time; his plunge into socialist politics; and, his belief in free love, and energetic practice of it. Arguing with himself about his conduct, he relives his relationships with two wives and many mistresses, especially the brilliant student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer Rebecca West, both of whom bore him children, with dramatic and long-lasting consequences. Unfolding this astonishing story, David Lodge depicts a man as contradictory as he was talented: a socialist who enjoyed his affluence, an acclaimed novelist who turned against the literary novel; and, a feminist womaniser, sensual yet incurably romantic, irresistible and exasperating by turns, but always vitally human.

About this title

Product Description:

A riveting novel about the remarkable life-and many loves-of author H. G. Wells.

H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most prophetic and creative writers, a man who immersed himself in socialist politics and free love, whose meteoric rise to fame brought him into contact with the most important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time, but who in later years felt increasingly ignored and disillusioned in his own utopian visions. Novelist and critic David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man.

Wells had sexual relations with innumerable women in his lifetime, but in 1944, as he finds himself dying, he returns to the memories of a select group of wives and mistresses, including the brilliant young student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer Rebecca West. As he reviews his professional, political, and romantic successes and failures, it is through his memories of these women that he comes to understand himself. Eloquent, sexy, and tender, the novel is an artfully composed portrait of Wells's astonishing life, with vivid glimpses of its turbulent historical background, by one of England's most respected and popular writers.

Review:

"This is his best book in years: sprawling, funny, touching, a near-perfect fusion of story and scholarship" (Mail on Sunday)

"Excellent... scrupulous and scholarly... It bounds along terrifically" (Guardian)

"Lodge's robust approach, his insights, energy and humour, enable him to present HG as a man not only for his own times but also for ours" (Patricia Craig Irish Times)

"Absorbing and thoroughly enjoyable" (Allan Massie Scotsman)

"David Lodge's novel goes straight to the heart of the story... It is pure fun" (Claire Harman Evening Standard)

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Pr
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0670022985
• ISBN 13: 9780670022984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 436