185:, during which her possessive drive sometimes repelled him, but his sexual need brought him back"; features of his relationship with West include "the pet names, the violent and passionate early encounters, and the words, gestures, and 'business' which Wells needed so badly in his romantic life . . . and not in a comic way as was so often his method for dealing with such matters." It was during the writing of this book that Wells's son by Rebecca West,
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Benham is a man of means due to curious circumstances: his mother left his father, a schoolmaster, for a wealthy man named Nolan who died soon thereafter, but not before leaving "about a third of his very large fortune entirely to Mrs. Benham and the rest to her in trust for her son, whom he deemed
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The text of this novel of ideas presents itself as a book that has been written as the result of a promise to a dying man. William
Porphyry Benham is a man who has lived a life devoted to a complicated, protean idea: "that he had to live life nobly and thoroughly." He has left behind him "half a
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The body of the novel is preceded by a 55-page "prelude" entitled "On Fear and
Aristocracy" that explains Benham's lifelong perplexity at the failure of human beings to be noble, and his early belief that the conquest of fear is the essence of the noble life. The six chapters of the novel, which
174:(by the last he means "the most remarkable array of influences, race-hatred, national suspicion, the evil side of patriotism, religious and social intolerance, every social consequence of muddle headedness, every dividing force indeed except the purely personal dissensions between man and man.")
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score of patent files quite distended and a writing-table drawer-full," and the novel is by implication what his friend White, who has promised to "see after your book," has produced to acquit himself of the promise, since the papers themselves are "an indigestible aggregation."
158:
tell Benham's life story, explore this perplexity. Benham dies in the midst of his quest, but his papers show that he has arrived at the tentative conclusion that there are four impediments, or "limitations" as he labels them, that keep human beings from living nobly: (1)
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himself to have injured." His mother subsequently marries a great London surgeon and becomes Lady
Marayne; her indiscretion is forgiven and she enjoys a position of privilege.
145:, and with his wife, Amanda, a young woman he loves passionately but then leaves behind in England to travel the world (India, Russia, China) in search of wisdom. It is in
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The bulk of the novel recounts Benham's effort to live nobly, which brings him into conflict with his mother, with his friend
Prothero, a schoolboy chum who becomes a
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Gilman, Lawrence (January 1916). "The Book of the Month: The Man Who Would Be King".
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Yarros, Victor S. (October 1918). "Ethics in Modern
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Wells is "directly treating the early days of his life with
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Travels of a
Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water
280:(New York: Macmillan, 1919), p. 7; "The Prelude," §1.
254:(New York: Macmillan, 1919), p. 4; "The Prelude," §1.
293:(New York: Macmillan, 1919), pp. 59-60; Chap. I, §1.
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972:Mr. Belloc Objects to "The Outline of History"
528:The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth
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311:(722). University of Northern Iowa: 139–142.
216:(1). The University of Chicago Press: 39–47.
8:
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177:According to biographer David C. Smith, in
1102:The Country of the Blind and Other Stories
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352:H.G. Wells: Desperately Human: A Biography
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1070:The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind
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1295:The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper
1123:The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents
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354:(New Haven and London, 1986), p. 377.
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1116:Select Conversations with an Uncle
744:Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island
162:; (2) self-indulgences, including
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1035:The Story of a Great Schoolmaster
895:An Englishman Looks at the World
1384:The Man Who Could Work Miracles
1267:The Man Who Could Work Miracles
210:International Journal of Ethics
696:The Secret Places of the Heart
1:
1109:The Plattner Story and Others
965:Mind at the End of Its Tether
728:The World of William Clissold
1422:Simon Wells (great-grandson)
1028:A Short History of the World
664:Mr. Britling Sees It Through
624:The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman
1330:A Story of the Days to Come
902:Experiment in Autobiography
888:The Discovery of the Future
768:The Shape of Things to Come
752:The Autocracy of Mr. Parham
464:The Island of Doctor Moreau
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1137:Twelve Stories and a Dream
1063:The Way the World Is Going
832:Babes in the Darkling Wood
720:Christina Alberta's Father
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512:The First Men in the Moon
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305:The North American Review
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22:The Research Magnificent
1351:The Truth About Pyecraft
1337:A Story of the Stone Age
1253:Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation
1190:The Country of the Blind
1162:The Argonauts of the Air
874:Certain Personal Matters
848:You Can't Be Too Careful
656:The Research Magnificent
552:In the Days of the Comet
382:The Research Magnificent
368:The Research Magnificent
339:The Research Magnificent
291:The Research Magnificent
278:The Research Magnificent
265:The Research Magnificent
252:The Research Magnificent
179:The Research Magnificent
108:The Research Magnificent
16:1915 novel by H.G. Wells
1260:The Lord of the Dynamos
1130:Tales of Space and Time
584:The History of Mr Polly
1232:The Empire of the Ants
1007:The Outline of History
937:God the Invisible King
800:The Camford Visitation
760:The Bulpington of Blup
616:The Passionate Friends
496:When the Sleeper Wakes
1461:Novels by H. G. Wells
1417:Joseph Wells (father)
1225:A Dream of Armageddon
1176:The Chronic Argonauts
1084:A Year of Prophesying
1014:Russia in the Shadows
958:Mankind in the Making
930:The Future in America
916:First and Last Things
840:All Aboard for Ararat
488:The War of the Worlds
1358:A Vision of Judgment
1218:The Door in the Wall
1042:This Misery of Boots
672:The Soul of a Bishop
504:Love and Mr Lewisham
472:The Wheels of Chance
1466:1915 British novels
1427:H. G. Wells Society
1274:The New Accelerator
1204:A Deal in Ostriches
1021:The Science of Life
1000:The Open Conspiracy
986:The New World Order
600:The New Machiavelli
456:The Wonderful Visit
23:
1412:Anthony West (son)
1288:The Plattner Story
1246:The Land Ironclads
1169:The Beautiful Suit
1056:War and the Future
993:New Worlds for Old
944:In the Fourth Year
808:Apropos of Dolores
776:The Croquet Player
632:The World Set Free
592:The Sleeper Awakes
560:The War in the Air
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1281:The Pearl of Love
1211:The Diamond Maker
480:The Invisible Man
387:Project Gutenberg
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89:Publication place
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688:The Undying Fire
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33:First edition
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1432:Lunar crater
1382:
1374:
1302:The Red Room
1239:In the Abyss
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337:H.G. Wells,
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276:H.G. Wells,
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263:H.G. Wells,
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250:H.G. Wells,
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189:, was born.
187:Anthony West
183:Rebecca West
178:
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147:Johannesburg
137:
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126:Plot summary
107:
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18:
1441:(1979 film)
1407:G. P. Wells
1368:Screenplays
1094:Collections
1077:World Brain
951:Little Wars
923:Floor Games
881:Crux Ansata
568:Tono-Bungay
424:H. G. Wells
120:H. G. Wells
43:H. G. Wells
1455:Categories
859:Nonfiction
193:References
170:; and (4)
736:Meanwhile
712:The Dream
317:0029-2397
230:1526-422X
172:prejudice
140:Cambridge
71:Macmillan
67:Publisher
1316:The Star
1183:The Cone
784:Brynhild
608:Marriage
325:25108716
168:jealousy
49:Language
1395:Related
371:at the
238:2377376
52:English
1387:(1937)
1379:(1936)
851:(1941)
843:(1940)
835:(1940)
827:(1939)
819:(1938)
811:(1938)
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795:(1937)
787:(1937)
779:(1936)
771:(1933)
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755:(1930)
747:(1928)
739:(1927)
731:(1926)
723:(1925)
715:(1924)
707:(1923)
699:(1922)
691:(1919)
683:(1918)
675:(1917)
667:(1916)
659:(1915)
651:(1915)
643:(1915)
640:Bealby
635:(1914)
627:(1914)
619:(1913)
611:(1912)
603:(1911)
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579:(1909)
571:(1909)
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507:(1900)
499:(1899)
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483:(1897)
475:(1896)
467:(1896)
459:(1895)
451:(1895)
440:Novels
323:
315:
236:
228:
166:; (3)
153:Themes
39:Author
536:Kipps
321:JSTOR
234:JSTOR
116:novel
111:is a
97:Pages
61:Novel
57:Genre
648:Boon
313:ISSN
226:ISSN
160:fear
113:1915
83:1915
385:at
309:203
218:doi
164:sex
143:don
118:by
100:341
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319:.
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214:29
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200:^
122:.
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416:e
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