The Passionate Friends

It is lamentable and truly depressing to realize that this inspired and seductive novel suffers universal neglect, while the works of utter mediocrities are commecially promoted and assigned in our so-called institutions of higher learning. There is no doubt that H.G.Wells was an amazing artist of the highest rank. It is sad that he is pigeonholed by many as being simply a science-fiction writer. This is nonsense - he was so much more than that. In the novel "The Passionate Friends", Wells ostensibly explores such large-scale ideas as the fate of humanity, and more particularly, the condition of women and our incapacity as human beings to go beyond our identities as male and female. That is the surface story, and Wells's cogitations and sometimes long-winded theorizing can be safely ignored (just as Tolstoy's preaching is best to overlook) because it is the intensely inspired prose that grips our attention. Indeed, images of childhood and the budding romance between the two protagonists reach such a high level of poetry that we loose sight of any inconsistency or absurdity in the design of the story. It is as if one is under the spell of some potent, sensuous drug refracting, distorting and eventually envelopping the rather hackneyed Victorian theme. It is the heart of this book - beyond the rather banal surface of reality, that cage in which we are all imprisoned, there lie intimations of a paradisical otherworld, another realm where the ectasy of absolute intimacy and security, those "kisses of moonlight", become the norm. A must-read by all those who love and are sensitive to truly great literature.

The Passionate Friends is for passionate people. Anyone who feels life deeply will feel this book deeply. I've never had a book so mirror my own inner life. Wells' exquisite description of the whole range of human emotion rates with the greatest classics of fiction. His summary command of the English language is almost daunting; words for him become ivory under the fingers of a Cliburn. I admit almost a sense of violation at the ease with which he is able to slip inside my head and heart and tell me my own secrets. His characters reveal human nature in all its glory and complexity, and in all its attendant manifestations: spirituality, religion, politics, science. And while one may not always agree with Wells' opinions on such matters, it's impossible to not appreciate the lucidity of his thought and the brilliance of his presentation. As a writer myself, I have relearned the meaning of the word "humility." Breathtaking.

Although most famous for his sci-fi, Wells' best work often deals with ordinary people having big thoughts in picturesque settings. The Passionate Friends is a fine representative example of this. Wells uses the changing relationships among childhood friends as the media for his thoughts on human relations on personal and global scales, and of what it all means. Wells was one of his generation's great thinkers, and this is one of his best stories--snatch it up.