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ELT 36:4 1993 Wells's Short Fiction J. R. Hammond. H G. Wells and the Modern Shori Story. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. 175 pp. $ 39.95 J. R. HAMMOND'S new book can be reviewed briefly here because there is not much to it, either as text or as argument. Two general, drifting introductions precede seven chapters, each treating three or four stories as case studies of a certain theme: the process of change, the discovery of mysterious worlds, the revelation of humanity's dark side, the deceptiveness of reality, the solitariness of choice, the experience of loss, and the attainment of new perspectives. Recognized in early readings of Wells, these themes make a belated appearance in Hammond 's book. The strengths of his presentation include an eleven-page annotated checklist of Wells's short stories from 1894 and 1895, a reprint of Wells's 1911 introduction to The Country of the Blind and Other Stories, and a reminder of Wells's narrational and allegorical capacity. Regretfully, the weaknesses of his discussion are legion. In lieu of a thesis, Hammond tosses up a host of arm-chair claims for Wells's distinction as an author of short fiction. We are told, for example, of Wells's "gift of welding the familiar, everyday world to astonishing flights of the imagination" (13), of his "distinctive contribution to the art of the short story"—"to focus attention upon it as a genre distinct from the novel" (19)—of his "excellence] in describing strange creatures ... and convincing the reader of their reality" (64), and of his "striking ... use of contrasting imagery: masculine-feminine; conscious-unconscious; life-death; inner-outer; immortality-transience" (130). Wells is good with colors, too, not merely with the "pattern of contrasting light and darkness" (53); and Hammond, drawing from some undeclared system, is sure he knows precisely what these colors mean: "purple (being a mixture of red and blue) represents a synthesis of mind and matter... power and vitality" (51); "the whiteness of the wall (= moon, feminine, the anima) is juxtaposed against the amber sunshine and red creeper (+ masculine, virile, dominant)," "yellow and green" leaves suggest "happiness is transitory," and "the green door suggests femininity" (126). Sandwiched between such an amalgamation of soft generalities and hard specificities are the themes of interest to Hammond. In one place we are told, "It will be demonstrated in this study that the principal themes" of the short stories are "the incompatibility between domesticity 528 BOOK REVIEWS and the pursuit of a career; the dualism of man; the plasticity of life; the quest for personal fulfillment" (18). In another place we are told, The characteristic themes of Wells's short stories are change; the precariousness of man; the frontier dividing the world of reality from that of imagination; and new perspectives on life" (22). It is the latter set that Hammond hammers down, but the problem evident here is apparent throughout his book, the problem of an author who, in the process of writing each new section of his book, forgets what he has previously said. Under such conditions, confusions inevitably occur. Consider the following instance. Hammond asserts that Wells's "preoccupation with change stemmed from his conviction that each individual is responsible for his own destiny and that one cannot rely on any supernatural agency" (43: cf. 52). He also claims, however, that Wells's fiction "demonstrated how easily normal life can be deflected by chance encounters" (20: cf. 45) because their author "was enormously impressed by the part played by chance in human affairs" (103). If chance is a significant factor, then does not something like supernatural agency operate in Wells's fictive world? And does not this factor conflict with the idea of change being the product of individual responsibility in shaping one's own destiny? Hammond, however, juxtaposes them without a comment or a qualm, as when he tells us that The Purple Pileus" embodies themes and motifs which exercised Wells throughout his career: "the responsibility of each individual for his own destiny" and "the role of chance in human affairs and the fact that far-reaching consequences can flow from accidental and unforeseen discoveries" (52...

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