'42 to '44

Abstract

MR. WELLS is indefatigable, and advancing years seem in no way to diminish the output or readiness of his pen. This "Contemporary Memoir" consists of two parts with three appendixes, the sequence and relation of which are by no means so apparent as they might be. Even the sedulity which Mr. Wells demands of his reader at the point of his preface might well fail to reveal a common theme or dominant motif. Moreover, only part of the book is new—how much even one with the full range of Mr. Wells's more recent writings in front of him might not be able to say with any certainty—and the high price will scarcely dispose a reader to excuse the compilation of so much material from previous writings without at least some biographical reference. Evasiveness or indefiniteness on this point is not confined to his own writings, for in this matter Mr. Wells is thoroughly inconsistent. Sometimes he provides a complete reference to a book that has interested him, but he quotes several pages from what is presumably General Smuts's address to the South African Institute of Race Relations in January 1942 without bothering to insert the line that would help a reader who wished to confirm his quotation or consult the full text to trace the New Africa Pamphlet No. 2, "The Basis of Trusteeship", in which that speech has been printed.

'42 to '44

A Contemporary Memoir upon Human Behaviour during the Crisis of the World Revolution. By H. G. Wells. Pp. 212. (London: Martin Seeker and Warburg, Ltd., 1944.) 42s. net.