George Orwell- Wells Fanboy (Lapsed).

[J-WO]

Here's a fascinating obscure article by George Orwell I've stumbled upon. Though its focussed mainly on the wartime politics of its day, its also a sort of prototype for a certain kind of blog or forum post often seen in modern SF. Basically, the I-adored-this-writer-in-my-youth-but-they-keep-repeating-themselves-now-and-besides-they're-out-of-touch fanboy lament.




http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/wells/english/e_whws

The second to last paragraph is particularly edifying- captures the magic of first reading speculative fiction.

 

[blacknorth]

Amazing stuff, thanks. Kipling - who'd have thought it; on the rise gain.

 

[J-WO]

Its the flour he puts in those cakes.

(Sorry.)

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

Wells is too sane to understand the modern world.



What an amazing put down of H.G. Wells! I've only read criticism this sharp against him in the philosophical books of Mary Midgley.

Using Wells, Orwell dismantles the ideology of the prophets of Progress - those thinkers who see the world as inexorably moving forwards, trampling everything in its path in the name of Modernity. He nails down their problems - their blindness to the fact the world does not move all at the same speed, their dismissal of "old-fashioned ideas," their lack of understanding of how people behave, think and what they want.

 

[Connavar]

What a nice put down of Wells, he is too sane, too optimistic for his world. What a fun historical document of an essay!

I was more critical of him calling a Jack London novel crude, im a fanboy of London

 

[J-WO]

Using Wells, Orwell dismantles the ideology of the prophets of Progress - those thinkers who see the world as inexorably moving forwards, trampling everything in its path in the name of Modernity. He nails down their problems - their blindness to the fact the world does not move all at the same speed, their dismissal of "old-fashioned ideas," their lack of understanding of how people behave, think and what they want.

There's a few modern SF writers like that now days. Especially since the arrival of the blog.

 

[blacknorth]

Back in the day, the world was divided in Wellsians and Shavians; my head often went with Wells but my heart was firmly with Bernard Shaw.

I always thought Orwell was a sort of hyrbid of the two - a gestalt social-scientist; but then I saw Heartbreak House, which is a sort of History of the War of the Worlds, and realised that Shaw had long since assimilated Wells.

It's been a very tiring day.