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H.G. Wells Biography
H.G. Wells was born on September 21, 1866 in Bromley, Kent. His father was a shopkeeper and professional cricketer. His mother was a former domestic servant. Money was always relatively tight for the family.
Wells had two accidents occur in his early life, both of which were factors in shaping him. In 1874, at the age of 8, he broke his leg. He began to read during his convalescence and soon became devoted to books. Later, after recovering, he entered the Academy of Thomas Morley and began his studies.
Well’s father fractured his thigh in 1877, putting an end to his cricketing career. His earnings as a shopkeeper were not enough to compensate for the loss of the income and in 1879, Wells was withdrawn from the Academy.
Wells was then apprenticed to a professional to learn a trade. This was a common practice of the time. He served a rather unhappy apprenticeship to a draper from 1880 to 1883. He later used his experiences in his novel “Kippes” which described the life of a drapers apprentice and was a critique of the distribution of wealth.
Wells was dismissed from his employer in 1883. Later that year, he became a teacher at Midhurst Grammar School, until he earned a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London. He studied biology until he lost interest and left the school in 1887.
Wells returned to teaching in private schools, and did not receive his BS degree until 1890. During this time, he lived with his aunt. He had entered the Debating Society of his school and became interested in exploring how society might be reformed. He turned to a study of socialism, particularly as expressed by the Fabian Society. He also took an interest in his cousin Isabel and they married in 1891 and settled in London. He also taught at a correspondence college.
Wells turned to writing full-time in 1893. He published his first novel, “The Time Machine” in 1895. The book, while a good story, also reflected his socialist views, as it was a parody of English class division and a warning that human progress was not inevitable. He also divorced Isabel and married one of his brightest students, Amy Catherine in 1895.
Well followed up with science fiction novels, reflecting his studies in biology and physics. He published “The Island of Dr. Moreau” in 1896, “The Invisible Man” in 1897 and “The War of the Worlds” in 1898. All of these were and continue to be received well, and movies were made later of all four.
Wells continued to write in the science fiction vein, publishing ‘The First Men on the Moon” in 1898, which looked at the methodology of space flight. “The War in the Air” written in 1908, describes how wars would come to be fought.
Wells wrote other non-”fantastic” novels as well, “Love and Mr. Lewisham” appeared in 1900, “Tono-Bungay” and “Kipps” in 1901 and 1904 respectively. These took a satirical look at Edwardian England and some of the practices followed in the period.
Wells also joined the Fabian Society during this time, a move that grew out of his passionate social concerns. He soon began to quarrel with the leaders of the Society, most notably George Bernard Shaw. In 1911, he published “The New Machiavelli” which was a not very flattering picture of the leadership of the Fabian Society.
Wells wrote ‘The Outline of History” in 1920, for which he was later sued for plagiarism but found not guilty. He followed this in 1922 with “A Short History of the World” which set a new standard and direction for popularized scholarship.
Wells was a member of the Research Committee for the League of Nations and published several books about the organization. He lived mainly in France between 1924 and 1933, moving back to England with the rise of totalitarianism. He published “Experiment in Autobiography” in 1934, an attempt at writing about his life.
Wells wrote ‘The Holy Terror” in 1939. This was a study of the development of a modern dictator and was based on Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini. He lived through World War II in his house in Regents Park, refusing to let Hitler and the bombings drive him out of London. His last book “Mind at the End of Its’ Tether” published in 1946, expressed his increasing pessimism about the world. He died in London on August 13, 1946.
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