Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells
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Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells The Fin-de-Siècle Literary Scene Linda Dryden Professor of English, Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Linda Dryden 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-50011-3 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-50542-5 ISBN 978-1-137-50012-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137500120 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
For my father, Eric Dryden, and for David, Luc and Holly with love
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Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1 1. Martians, Sleepers, Time Travellers and Hearts of Darkness 10 In the beginning 11 Mutual admiration/mutual influences 20 Reigns of terror: The Invisible Man and Heart of Darkness 26 Serials and books: Heart of Darkness and When the Sleeper Wakes 32 The best stories in the world 34 Conclusion: the art of literary conversations 37 2. Conrad, Wells, Ford and the Ghost of Robert Louis Stevenson 39 Conrad, Wells and the strange case of Robert Louis Stevenson 40 Conrad, Ford, Wells and the problem of collaboration 45 [O]ught to do much better than that : mimicking Stevenson 53 Romance-ing Treasure Island 58 The failure of romance 63 Conclusion 67 3. Quap, Ivory and Insect Empires 69 Tono-Bungay and fraudulent capitalism 70 Tono-Bungay and the art of the novel 74 Quap and ivory: echoes of Conrad 78 Insect hearts of darkness 89 Conclusion 93 4. The difference between us : Science, Politics and the Human Factor 95 Politics, war and discovering the future 97 Human folly vs. scientific optimism 103 Politics and war: the Europe question 106 Something human 109 A political duel: Conrad, Wells and Shaw 113 Political differences in the making 118 Temperament, the art of the novel and the question of humanity 122 Conclusion 124 vii ix
viii Contents 5. Conrad, Wells and the Art of the Novel 131 Affectations and fashions : literary reputations and new expressions for the novel 132 Nostromo: desiccated conglomerate or modernist masterpiece? 136 An active, restless, meaning-giving subjectivity : finance and artistry 139 Artistry and temperament: Wells s misgivings 141 Humour, humanity and the art of storytelling 143 A new form for the novel: artist or journalist 152 Politics and the art of the novel 155 The New Form of the novel: aspiring to the condition of art 159 Conrad s Author s Note to The Secret Agent: Not to defend. To justify 163 6. The Shape of War and of Things to Come 169 In the Days of the Comet: sweeping away the past 170 War and Mr Wells 174 Conrad, Ford and The Bulpington of Blup 177 Conrad, Wells and the reality of the war to end wars 182 The shape of literature to come 187 Not with a bang but a whimper 192 Afterword 195 Notes 198 Bibliography 205 Index 211
Acknowledgements During the course of writing this book I have had countless conversations with friends and colleagues who have all in one way or another offered useful advice and comments on its content. But I want to especially acknowledge the expert and invaluable help that I have received from two people in particular. Keith Carabine and Laurence Davies have been enormously generous with their time and their vast knowledge of Conrad. My heartfelt thanks go to them both. I want also to thank Simon James of Durham University not only for his astute insights into, and knowledge of H. G. Wells, but also for his friendship. Colleagues in the international Conrad community who have endured and responded to my endless questions over the years are too numerous to list here, but I will single out just a few in particular who have commented on various aspects of this book: Robert Hampson, Owen Knowles, Richard Ambrosini, Hugh Epstein, Allan Simmons, Anthony Fothergill and John Lester. My husband, David Benyon, has ever been the strongest supporter of my work, from my belated entry in my late thirties into academic study to the present research. For a computer science Professor, he is also an extremely astute literary critic and I cannot thank him enough for the encouragement and advice that he has offered over the years of the gestation of this project. For their funding of my trip to the Wells Archive in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois at Champagne- Urbana in April and May 2013 my gratitude goes to the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. My visit to the archive was essential to the integrity of this book and without Carnegie funding I could not have carried out this research trip. Whilst there I was assisted expertly by Kalie Wetovik, Dennis Sears and several other staff whose kindness, generosity and expertise cannot be overestimated. Permission to reproduce the cover photo of Wells and Conrad was kindly granted by the Library, courtesy of Dennis Sears. Whilst there I also met Charles Blair who has sent me numerous very helpful suggestions on the manuscript and I thank him warmly for that. Needless to say, several chapters of this volume are developments on conference papers that I presented at the Joseph Conrad Society, ix
x Acknowledgements the British Association of Victorian Studies, and the H. G. Wells international conferences. The comments and suggestions of colleagues at these events have been formative in shaping the current volume. These presentations were subsequently published in academic journals and for permission to reuse sections of these publications I would like to thank Veronique Pauly at L Epoque Conradienne, Shannon McCullough at Johns Hopkins University Press for Studies in the Novel, Simon James at The Wellsian and my co-editor, Rory Watson, at the Journal of Stevenson Studies. Acknowledgement is also due to A. P. Watt at United Agents on behalf of The Literary Executors of the Estate of H. G. Wells for permission to use quotations from the works of H. G. Wells.