By 1897, H G Wells was developing a reputation for intriguing
stories with a scientific basis, treated with creativity and a
fresh (though sardonic) angle. It was considered
innovative at the time that he would emphasize the drawbacks of
invisibility rather than the cheeky deeds magically accomplished.
A contemporary reviewer called Wells' style "recklessly fantastic."
[The New Zealand Mail (1897-jul-01) p09]
But another reviewer, finding the comedy tempered by its
harshness, pointed out: "His fiction would lose nothing
in its humorous quality by a little sympathy for the weaknesses
and passions of his fellowmen, and it would certainly be more
convincing." [Literature (1897-oct-30) pp50~51]
This was also the year that some "improbable" features of Wells'
science fiction stories were discovered to have
parallels in the real world. Wells called
it "Fact plagiarizing Fiction."
Pearson's Weekly completed the serial,
The invisible man, in the first week of August,
1897, after nine installments, and
C Arthur Pearson, Limited, quickly published the book edition
on September 15th. The book contains five additional
chapters and an epilogue, as well as extra descriptive
passages missing from the original chapters. We are guessing that
the editor at Pearson's chose to cut this material to make
the serial more compact, but restored it for the book.
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title of The invisible man, from the Pearson book edition
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Missing from the serial are:
Ch 02: Mr. Teddy Henfrey's first impressions
Ch 08: In transit
Ch 13: Mr. Marvel discusses his resignation
Ch 22: In the emporium
Ch 25: The hunting of the invisible man
and a brief epilogue which suggests the danger of invisibility has not passed.
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The Invisible Man, from the Pearson book cover
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The previous serial (An American emperor) and the following one
(The phantom army) in Pearson's Weekly were
both illustrated, as was Pearson's custom.
It seems that no drawings were attempted for
"The invisible man," so neither the periodical nor the book
edition contain any (nor do the American versions) apart from
a graphic on the cover.
In Pearson's book edition, characters may say "Good God!"
or "damned", but that seems to have been too hot for
Pearson's Weekly, so the milder "good lord"
or "good heavens" are substituted. Also, many phrases are
juggled for minimal improvement. What appears in the serial
as: "Suddenly the stranger raised his clenched, gloved hands,"
becomes in the book: "Suddenly the stranger raised his gloved
hands clenched".
In the final chapter,
"The hunter hunted," the serial and book disagree on this
poignant detail: the serial says "windows opened, and excited
mothers revealed their heads," whereas the book says
"... mothers revealed their hearts." Book publications
usually correct the mistakes which appear in the hurly burly of
magazine editions, but the reverse seems to have happened here.
(I may be wrong as "hearts" remains in all subsequent editions.)
1897 is the year that H G Wells' popularity exploded in
the magazine world. The serial The invisible man benefitted from
simultaneous publications of his novel The war of the worlds
in the sister publication
Pearson's Monthly; AND A Story of the Days to Come
running in Pall Mall Magazine; AND A Story of the Stone Age
in The Idler thus making Wells one of
the most talked about authors of the summer.
[There was at this time a British racehorse named "H G Wells";
is there a better indication of fame?]
Wells' enhanced popularity would bring more publishing
requests than he, perhaps, could handle. Altho he
fulfilled his obligations by handing in new novels and short stories on
time, those produced in 1898 were not as polished as
he would have liked; it is something he regretted. He
would later, for example, take When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)
and rewrite it as The Sleeper Awakes (1910), finally
making the alterations he had intended.
Here is an ad for the book placed by Pearson's in The Westminster Gazette (1897-nov-03) p03
Here is a brief 1897 biography of newly noted author H G Wells:
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from The Saffron Walden Weekly News,
(1897-oct-22) p07 |
