Lest you think I complain about excessive character angst only in modern novels, here is a novel over a hundred years old, written by an author I generally enjoy, which might be the most plotless, angsty, character-driven novel I’ve ever accidentally read. When I realized how long it’s been since I posted a review for anything from this time period or of the style I usually associated with Wells, I turned to the next text in my HG Wells collection, The Research Magnificent, and began to read.
It doesn’t start off on the most enthralling note, with a lengthy prelude replete with navel-gazing and low-quality philosophical musings. However, with a title like The Research Magnificent, I figured we would eventually get around to some splendid invention, or at least a horribly fascinating one (this is HG Wells, after all, not Jules Verne). Instead, the main novel begins, and we get more of the same. There’s no real plot other than following the protagonist around as he bumbles through life and wonders what it’s all supposed to be about, with a minimum of self-reflection where it is most important.
Perhaps not surprisingly after reading Wells’ biography, this novel is thought to be fairly autobiographical in inspiration. There is no magnificent invention to be found or grand research project to contemplate. The “research magnificent” to which the title refers is the protagonist’s attempts to understand the failure of human beings to attain nobility, which he blames mainly on fear, jealousy, prejudice, and self-indulgence, which are hardly brilliant insights in a hardly brilliant undertaking. Nor can I claim the novel benefits from remarkable prose or some other feature.
There is a reason this novel is not remembered and put into the same conversations as Wells’ science fiction works like War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, or The Island of Doctor Moreau. That’s the case for most authors, I think, even the authors of great classics. Sometimes, exploring their lesser known works turns up hidden gems, like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, but sometimes these books have faded from memory for good reason. Wells wrote some outstanding works of fiction which remain relevant and compelling today. He also, apparently, wrote books like The Research Magnificent.
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