The picshuas of H.G. Wells: a burlesque diary

Abstract

H.G. (1866-1946) was a literary lion throughout his career, publishing more than one hundred books, including classics such as War of Worlds, Invisible Man, and Time Machine. Though best remembered for his science fiction, was also a prolific sketcher who frequently enlivened his correspondence and marginalia with cartoons. Those drawings made for his companion Amy Catherine Robbins, which he called picshuas, allowed him a vehicle for his nuanced self-expression and satire. Gene K. Rinkel and Margaret E. Rinkel's Picshuas of H.G. Wells interprets these highly original cartoons through an analysis of their peculiar content and style based on Wells' life and writings. The picshuas are perhaps best demonstration of Wells' piquant sense of humor. They provide intriguing snapshots of Wells' robust private life and convey his opinions about other writers and public figures as well as himself, whose rotund cartoon figure he sometimes lampooned as the Great Author. Using a narrative style of creative nonfiction, Picshuas of H.G. Wells weaves facts from Wells' life with incidents reflected in cartoons, episodes drawn from his novels, and scenes from other writings to provide glimpses into his moments of his personal and professional conflict and triumph. There emerges a fascinating and funny portrait of a complex literary personality and his complicated relationship with a devoted collaborator, his wife. Some forty picshuas were published in Wells' Experiment in Autobiography, but wide range of pichsuas throughout his correspondence and private papers has never been surveyed and published until now. As an ensemble, they provide close look at Great Author in his most joyous and uninhibited moments, laughing at himself and world.