ISBN: 9781500992835

Certain Personal Matters is an 1897 collection of essays selected by H. G. Wells from among the many short essays and ephemeral pieces he had written since 1893. The book consists of thir… Plus…

Certain Personal Matters is an 1897 collection of essays selected by H. G. Wells from among the many short essays and ephemeral pieces he had written since 1893. The book consists of thirty-nine pieces ranging from about eight hundred to two thousand words in length. A one-shilling reprint (two shillings in cloth) was issued in 1901 by T. Fisher Unwin.The essays in Certain Personal Matters are written from a consistent first-person perspective, but only one (ironically, given the title) describes an identifiable event in Wells's life-how he responded to being diagnosed with tuberculosis in the fall of 1887. The other essays adopt the playful persona of an aspiring young writer living in modest circumstances with a wife, Euphemia, who is only sketchily and obliquely described. Their tone reflects the demands of the market in London magazines for short essays, or short stories, often with a twist, which can be read in half a dozen minutes, but which will pique a reader's attention and ultimately allow him to think, 'How true. I have done that myself', or to make some similar remark. More than half of the essays are humorous social satire; serious subjects are addressed only ironically. Politics, historical and economic topics, and identifiable portraiture are eschewed. Ten essays have literary themes, and in these, too, the point of view is humorous. One (On Schooling and the Phases of Mr. Sandsome) gently critiques the choice of subjects studied in the course of primary and secondary education. Half a dozen essays engage scientific themes, especially natural selection and evolution, and in The Extinction of Man Wells shows he is contemplating themes that would be expressed in his next novel, The War of the Worlds: Even now, for all we can tell, the coming terror may be crouching for its spring and the fall of humanity may be at hand. Trade Books>Trade Paperback>Current Affairs>Domestic Affairs>Domestic Affairs, CreateSpace Publishing Core >1<

2014, ISBN: 1500992836

[EAN: 9781500992835], New book, [PU: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, United States], Language: English. Brand new Book. The world mends. In my younger days people believed in… Plus…

[EAN: 9781500992835], New book, [PU: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, United States], Language: English. Brand new Book. The world mends. In my younger days people believed in mahogany; some of my readers will remember it-a heavy, shining substance, having a singularly close resemblance to raw liver, exceedingly heavy to move, and esteemed on one or other count the noblest of all woods. Such of us as were very poor and had no mahogany pretended to have mahogany; and the proper hepatite tint was got by veneering. That makes one incline to think it was the colour that pleased people. In those days there was a word "trashy," now almost lost to the world. My dear Aunt Charlotte used that epithet when, in her feminine way, she swore at people she did not like. "Trashy" and "paltry" and "Brummagem" was the very worst she could say of them. And she had, I remember, an intense aversion to plated goods and bronze halfpence. The halfpence of her youth had been vast and corpulent red-brown discs, which it was folly to speak of as small change. They were fine handsome coins, and almost as inconvenient as crown-pieces. I remember she corrected me once when I was very young. "Don't call a penny a copper, dear," she said; "copper is a metal. The pennies they have nowadays are bronze." It is odd how our childish impressions cling to us. I still regard bronze as a kind of upstart intruder, a mere trashy pretender among metals.<

2014, ISBN: 1500992836

[EAN: 9781500992835], New book, [PU: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform], New Book. Shipped from UK. THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON DEMAND. Established seller since 2000.

ISBN: 9781500992835

Certain Personal MattersBy H. G. Wells Books Books ~~ Political Science & Government~~ Essays Certain-Personal-Matters~~H-G-Wells CreateSpace Publishing

2014, ISBN: 1500992836

[EAN: 9781500992835], New book, [PU: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform], This book is printed on demand