A Man of Parts [Hardcover]

David Lodge (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 15, 2011

A riveting novel about the remarkable life-and many loves-of author H. G. Wells.

H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most prophetic and creative writers, a man who immersed himself in socialist politics and free love, whose meteoric rise to fame brought him into contact with the most important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time, but who in later years felt increasingly ignored and disillusioned in his own utopian visions. Novelist and critic David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man.

Wells had sexual relations with innumerable women in his lifetime, but in 1944, as he finds himself dying, he returns to the memories of a select group of wives and mistresses, including the brilliant young student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer Rebecca West. As he reviews his professional, political, and romantic successes and failures, it is through his memories of these women that he comes to understand himself. Eloquent, sexy, and tender, the novel is an artfully composed portrait of Wells's astonishing life, with vivid glimpses of its turbulent historical background, by one of England's most respected and popular writers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This novel is as scintillating, engaging, and multidimensional as the man whose life and character it faithfully animates . . . Lodge neatly shifts between narrative and probing interview, to reveal the intersections of writer, thinker, and man . . . Ultimately, this novel's sensitive and lively examination of its protagonist's relationships with women is what really fleshes out (so to speak) his attractive character."

(-Christina Schwarz, The Atlantic )

"A terrifically enjoyable novel . . . A Man of Parts explores, with great verve, Wells's lifelong attempt to honor his own complexity, to be true to himself as a sexual being, a loving family man, a creative artist and an ambitious social thinker . . . Even if you're up on Wells's life and writings, Lodge makes his novel-cum-biography mesmerizing."

(-Michael Dirda, The Washington Post )

"[A] smart, engaging novel . . . Lodge has made something of a specialty of intellectuals behaving badly in bed."

(-Christopher Benfey, The New York Times Book Review )

"Entertaining and persuasive . . . A Man of Parts allows Lodge to concentrate on comedy and character . . . [his] interest is in the private rather than the public Wells."

(-Claire Tomalin, The New York Review of Books )

About the Author

David Lodge is the author of twelve novels and a novella, including the Booker Prize finalists Small World and Nice Work. He is also the author of many works of literary criticism, including The Art of Fiction and Consciousness and the Novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 565 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition (1 in number line) edition (September 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670022985
• ISBN-13: 978-0670022984
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A man of many parts and many conquests August 20, 2011

By Rett01 TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"A Man of Parts" is a big, nervy book of more than 550 pages devoted to H. G. Wells, a prolific writer not too much remembered in America except for his two Saturday afternoon entertainments "War of the Worlds" and "Time Machine."

Nervy in a way because David Lodge's decision to devote a big chunk of his own life researching and writing about Wells was risky. Would his subject be compelling enough to attract sufficient interest to make the effort worthwhile? The answer is, well sort of.

Wells (1866-1946) lived a long, productive life and it comes as pretty much a surprise that as well as being a writer of a hundred-odd books of fiction and nonfiction, the man was a sex machine, a fin de siècle man of many conquests.

Lodge describes Wells as not particularly attractive. Late in life Wells humorously portrays himself in an "auto-obituary" as a "bent, shabby, slovenly and latterly somewhat obese figure." Still, he was as successful in his conquests as a rooster in a henhouse.

Married twice, Wells was a socialist who believed in, was an activist for and practiced free love (ardently and often and with a score or more of women who were married, single, young and not so young, including birth control advocate Margaret Sanger).

Lodge suggests that one of the reasons for Wells' appeal was, strangely, his scent. His longtime lover the writer Rebecca West, nearly 30 years his junior, said he gave off the aroma of English walnuts, and another of his dalliances, the novelist Elizabeth von Arnim, said he exuded the smell of honey. Whatever the reason for his allure, throughout his life when he approached a potential conquest he was usually eagerly received.

I don't know how best to describe the book. It's either a fictionalized biography or a novel that passes itself off as something very true to life. In a front page, Lodge says the truth is "elastic" and nearly everything he writes about Wells is "inferable from" or "consistent with."

The book begins and ends in 1944 at the end of Wells' life when in his late 70s he's ill and in a mood to defend his reputation and define a legacy by talking about his life and works. Between those bookends, Lodge tells his subject's story in flashback.

Wells was not born to privilege. But his origins weren't like something from Dickens either. His father was a shopkeeper and his mother worked as a servant to the more prosperous. He struggled to get an education, worked as a teacher and apprenticed as a draper. He began writing while young and relatively quickly found a following. Money and prosperity followed soon after.

West summed up Well's life this way: "HG was like a comet. He appeared suddenly out of obscurity at the end of the 19th century and blazed in the literary firmament for decades, evoking astonishment and awe and alarm, like the comet of `In the Days of the Comet' which threatened to destroy the earth, but in fact transformed it by the beneficial effect of its gaseous tail."

Wells said of himself, "I want to change the world not just describe it." Whether he succeeded is open to debate. Lodge's life of Wells is long and although the book is interesting I wanted it to be something more, engaging enough to hold my interest page after page and affair after affair. For me it didn't quite measure up.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Book by a Fun Writer November 23, 2011

By Dorian Borsella

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found "A Man of Parts" to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. Historical fiction if you will-- yet David Lodge has done significant research, including examination of much correspondence. The book is not complete fantasy.

The book left me with an enduring picture of the values, customs, and concerns of the times, even as these values changed greatly during H.G. Wells' lifetime and changed even more in the 60+ years since his death. One example is the depiction of the sometimes over-serious Fabians. This march of years helps the reader to place oneself in time. Of course, the main focus of "A Man of Parts" is Wells' relations with women and the often farcical results of his pursuits. Lodge's "anonymous interviewer" technique is used now and then to take H.G. to task and try to get him to 'fess up to the motivations behind his behavior with his numerous, not always serial romances. But H.G. is irrepressible and clings to his dignity and somewhat inflated self image, even in the face of contradictions, even in the face of his impending death. A fun read by a writer who is a keen, non-judgemental observer who, even with a nod to absurdity, extends sympathy to his characters. (Book purchased through Amazon!)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad book . . . November 28, 2011

By F. J. Svoboda

Format:Hardcover

. . . but Lodge chooses a balance of about 75% Wells's sex life and 25% everything else, which seems to me to reduce the interest of the novel, particularly since Wells's affairs are pretty much to a standard pattern which we catch pretty quickly. (50/50 might have been more interesting.) The irony of Wells's prophesying the future and then seeming to become irrelevant might have engaged more attention, as might the drama of the times in which he lived. His arguments with other writers, particularly letters to and from Henry James are of interest, as are the interrogations from some unknown person. (I found myself hoping it was some time traveler, but was disappointed in this regard; a Wells bio-novel on the model of some of his own best works would have been interesting.)

Fortunately the reading is light, so it isn't too difficult to make it through the 500+ pages.