Hampdenshire Wonder [Hardcover]

John Davys Beresford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1975

Publisher: London : Sidgwick

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Garland Publishing; New edition edition (August 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824014014
• ISBN-13: 978-0824014018
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,868,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the first books dealing with high intelligence, May 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hampdenshire Wonder (Science Fiction Series) (Hardcover)

A superintelligent child grows up in a world of what seem to him subnormals. One of the first books (originally 1911) dealing with super intelligence in a human being.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Super Reader, August 3, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hampdenshire Wonder (Paperback)

Victor Stott is the child of two intellectually unremarkable parents, but when born, people soon realise he is 'supernormal'.

He debates religion with clergy at the age of four, and this has unfortunate consequences later on.

A local doctor, with a huge library of 40-50 thousand books realise the boy's talents, and offers to assist with his education, and let him use the library. His recall and comprehension are prodigious, and he is a speed reader.

There are clashes with the authorities over the boy's education and lack of respect for them.

The end is a mysterious accident and tragedy, and a possible cover-up is suspected by the narrator of the book, but nothing is proved.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fear of the extraordinary, December 31, 2010

By 

TChris (Tzer Island) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Hampdenshire Wonder (Dodo Press) (Paperback)

The story of Victor Stott is said to be one of the first novels about a superman. That is true only in a limited sense. Victor has no unusual physical gifts, no superhuman strength. He is, however, intellectually superior to other humans, a super-genius. And Victor apparently knows of his superiority from the moment of his birth: he views others with a sort of disapproval if he acknowledges them at all, and seems able to control them (or maybe just repel them) with his stare. Yet he isn't conceited; it isn't worth his time to compare himself to others. Beresford writes: "He was entirely alone among aliens who were unable to comprehend him, who could not flatter him, whose opinions were valueless to him." Young Victor rarely communicates with others; he acknowledges their presence only when he needs someone to open a door or prepare a meal. Conversations aren't worthwhile to Victor because nobody has the intellectual capacity to understand him.

The novel's narrator is a journalist covering cricket matches when he meets Ginger Stott, who has a brief but magnificent career as the best bowler in the sport. It is a tribute to Beresford's writing ability that I was engrossed by the chapter that describes Ginger's development as a bowler and the games he bowled, despite my complete ignorance about cricket (most of the time, I had no idea what the narrator was talking about). When Ginger's career ends, he decides to father a son who will carry on where he left off, and is despaired when Victor is born with a grossly enlarged head. The novel carries us through Victor's aloof life from the moment of his birth through his early childhood.

To a large extent the novel is about prejudice or fear of those who are different. The novel juxtaposes Victor and a somewhat older, developmentally disabled child with a similarly enlarged head; both are objects of scorn and dread among the villagers. To some extent, the prejudice against Victor is worse because Victor has ideas that are out of the ordinary. When a rector spends an hour lecturing Victor about religion, Victor makes one of his rare pronouncements: he informs the rector that his Bible stories aren't true. The rector responds by insisting that Victor be committed to an asylum.

The Hampdenshire Wonder is also about the limits of knowledge and the nature of discovery. The philosophical implications of Victor's life are briefly discussed in the last chapter. Anyone with an interest in those topics should enjoy the novel, as should readers who are interested in the history of science fiction. But The Hampdenshire Wonder is so well written and so interesting that it should appeal to a broader audience, as well.