Patrick Parrinder and John S. Partington, eds., The Reception of H. G. Wells in Europe (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013) ISBN 9781441112996

H. G. Wells was described by one of his European critics as a 'seismograph of his age'. He is one of the founding fathers of modern science fiction, and as a novelist, essayist, educationalist and political propagandist his influence has been felt in every European country. This collection of essays by scholarly experts shows the varied and dramatic nature of Wells's reception, including translations, critical appraisals, novels and films on Wellsian themes, and responses to his own well-publicized visits to Russia and elsewhere. The authors chart the intense ideological debate that his writings occasioned, particularly in the inter-war years, and the censorship of his books in Nazi Germany and Francoist Spain. This book offers pioneering insights into Wells's contribution to 20th century European literature and to modern political ideas, including the idea of European union.

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Table Of Contents

• 'Acknowledgements'
• 'List of Contributors'
• 'Abbreviations'
• Patrick Parrinder and Paul Barnaby, 'Timeline: European Reception of H. G. Wells'
• Patrick Parrinder, 'Introduction
• Joseph Altairac, 'H. G. Wells's Critical Reception in France'
• Annie Escuret, 'Henry-D. Davray and the Mercure de France'
• Maria Kozyreva and Vera Shamina, 'Russia Revisited'
• Adelaida Lyubimova and Boris Proskurnin, 'H. G. Wells in Russian Literary Criticism, 1890s-1940s'
• Roger Cockrell, 'Future Perfect: H. G. Wells and Bolshevik Russia, 1917-32'
• Elmar Schenkel, 'White Elephants and Black Machines: H. G. Wells and German Culture, 1920-45'
• Richard Nate, 'Ignorance, Opportunism, Propaganda and Dissent: The Reception of H. G. Wells in Nazi Germany'
• Andrzej Juszczyk, 'H. G. Wells's Polish Reception'
• Juliusz K. Palczewski, 'On Translations of H. G. Wells's Work into Polish'
• Bohuslav Mánek, 'A Welcome Guest: the Czech Reception of H. G. Wells'
• Gabriella Vöő, 'Critics and Defenders of H. G. Wells in Interwar Hungary'
• Katalin Csala, 'The Puzzling Connection between H. G. Wells and Frigyes Karinthy'
• Maria Teresa Chialant, 'H. G. Wells, Italian Futurism and Marinetti's Gli Indomabili'
• Teresa Iribarren i Donadeu, 'An Approximation of H. G. Wells's Impact on Catalonia'
• Alberto Lázaro, 'H. G. Wells and the Discourse of Censorship in Franco's Spain'
• José Manuel Mota, 'News from Nowhere: Portuguese Dialogues with H. G. Wells'
• Lucian M. Ashworth, 'Clashing Utopias: H. G. Wells and Catholic Ireland'
• George Slusser and Danièle Chatelain, 'A Tale of Two Science Fictions: H. G. Wells in France and the Soviet Union'
• Nicoletta Vallorani, '"The Invisible Wells" in European Cinema and Television'
• John S. Partington, 'H. G. Wells and the International Pan-European Union'
• 'Bibliography'
• 'Index'