H.G. Wells's view of the world - and hence his writing - was strongly influenced by the biologist's training he received during his three years as a student at the Normal School of Science, South Kensington (now Imperial College, London). Those things which a creature needs in order for it and its species to thrive get particular attention in Wells's books. Tracing biological themes through Wells's work, as Peter Kemp does here, shows the pattern of his thought and brings to light the bizarre workings of a fascinating imagination. For the book's reissue in paperback, an afterword has been added.

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title: H. G. Wells and the Culminating Ape
Book Subtitle: Biological Imperatives and Imaginative Obsessions
Authors: Peter Kemp
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24832-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-333-67892-3Due: 14 August 1996
Softcover ISBN: 978-0-333-67893-0Published: 14 August 1996
eBook ISBN: 978-1-349-24832-2Published: 27 July 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 232
Topics: Nineteenth-Century Literature, Twentieth-Century Literature, Fiction

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

Front Matter

Introduction: Wells and Biology

The Edible Predator: Wells and Food

The Slave Goddess: Wells and Sex

The Redeveloped Basement: Wells and Habitat

The Pugnacious Pacifist: Wells and Survival-Mechanisms

The Grand Earthly: Wells and Self-Image

Postscript (1996): Stains and Whitewash

Back Matter

About this book