Eminent British writer (1866–1946) who pioneered the science fiction genre with such classic novels as The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and The Invisible Man. ALS, one page, 6.5 x 9, on his imprinted 52 St. James's Court letterhead, March 12, 1919. Letter to an unidentified gentleman in Wells’ difficult to decipher hand. In part: “My Job book wasn't shown to anyone so far as I know until October or November last so that there is no question…if you have anything similar to my Prelude in Heaven. But as against the anonymous author of Job, you…have a bad case. If he complained.” Cloth matted and framed, with a portrait of Wells and a biographical plaque, to an overall size of 21.5 x 20. In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical fold, and light mirroring of letterhead to bottom of page.
“My Job book” references his allegory The Undying Fire, in which the Book of Job is reenacted in contemporary England, with a dying hero comforted by various social philosophers. It was during the The Great War that confirmed-atheist Wells had second thoughts about the notion of God, referring to it as his “resort to God” period. The unparalleled brutality of modern warfare brought home to him the age-old questions of the meaning of life and of things greater than ourselves.
The Undying Fire dramatically explored this era as a dialogue, and the author later wrote of his book in An Experiment in Autobiography, “I have already expressed my satisfaction with it as the best of my Dialogue-Novels; and it crowns and ends my theology. It is the sunset of my divinity.” From this point on God as a character virtually disappeared from his writings and Wells re-embraced his earlier atheism. He later repudiated many of his ideas from this period, but they would mark a fascinating sidelight to his career. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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