HG Wells, author of more than 100 books, was also a prophet of the sexual revolution. David Lodge delves into his many affairs and, below, DJ Taylor considers his literary achievement
Wells with Rebecca West and friends. Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library
David Lodge
The Guardian, Fri 11 Mar 2011 10.00 GMT
"In 2004, while waiting for my novel about Henry James, Author, Author, to come out, I occupied myself by writing the introduction to a Penguin Classics edition of HG Wells's novel Kipps. In April I made this note in my very occasional diary:
Researching Kipps I came across in Wells's Experiment in Autobiography an interesting story of the ménage of Mr and Mrs Hubert Bland at Well Hall, Eltham. He was a Fabian, a philanderer who converted to Catholicism, she was E Nesbit. Possible material for a novel like Author, Author here. Sex, politics, children's literature . . . How much has it been worked over..."
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