MR WELLS AND THE BOOK OF JOB.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 September 1919, Page 1

MR WELLS AND THE BOOK OF JOB.

The story of the man who, Tver- . whelmed by bitter and undeserved calamity, still refuses to give up iiis faith 1 in' the Divine order of things is as old ; as mankind. The first to see its liter-- , ary possibilities was the anonymous author of the Book of Job which lias been . described as the first novel; the last is . Mr H. G. AVells, who in “The Undying’ j Fire” has taken not only the same • theme, but the same incidents and the j same characters. Mr Wells has followed his model with ingenious fidelity,; even to the prologue with the .somewhat anthropomorphic . heaven of Mr Wells’s conception. Job, the man of;,- (_ T z, has become Job Hess, an English ] schoolmaster, who in the midst of his.j prosperity is suddenly smitten with a j -cries of shattering afflictions. . His ; school is burned to the ground with ioss i of life; his savings are embezzled by a : trusted solicitor; his only son is report- j :-d killed in action ; he learns that he is j dying of cancer .from which a major j operation can doubtfully save him. Ho j has lost bis job and knows that the j work to which he has given his life" is , to be debased in the hands of an unworthy successor. Stunned by his misfortunes which seem to be the capi’icious.blows of some blind and cruel cles- . tiny, he nevertheless clings desperately I to bis faith. To him come the three j “comforters,” the descendants of Elip- j haz and Temanite, Bildad the Shuhitc, and Zophar. Sir Elipbaz'Burrows and j Mr Dadd, who have both made fortunes j out of war contracts,' are governors of the school; Mr Farr is the' science mas- ; ter who is going to supplant him. They : argue with him in the manner of their ancestors, but''can neither convince hnn i that bo has brought his afflictions upon j himself nor shake his faith. The argu- j ment is continued by young Dr. Bar- j rack, in whom wo recognise Elihu, son | iff Barachel, who waited until the elders had finished speaking. Dr Barrack introduces a note of harsh but frank agnostiticism which is less objectionable than the hypocritical piety of Sir Eliphaz, but is equally unacceptable to Huss. In the end, as in the orginal, the clouds clear away and Job faces the world again with his cares removed and his faith confirmed. Mr Wells decribes “The Undying Fire” as a novel, and as usual gives a wide interpretation to the term. With him the novel is a medium for the expression of his opinions on all manner of subjects; in his hands it tends more and more to become didactic. Almost half of this hook is devoted to disquisitions upon religion, philosophy, education and science. These indeed are its very essence, but interesting and stimulating though they be we wonder whether some of his readers will not skip them. For the rest, “The Undying' Fire” is Mr Wells's testimony to the unquenchable spirit of man; it is a fine and inspiring work which shows ns a Mi Wells endowed with n new breath of vision and humanity. No longer does he think that the world can be regenerated by science alone, though science was once his panacea ; religion, too, is necessary, and a liberal education which is not confined to the formulas of the laboratory.