Wells’s literary criticism in the context of satire is insightful, demonstrating his eye for social pretenses and follies. The James-Wells correspondence highlighted by the editors might intend to depict James as high-class and Wells as low-class, but it may have the opposite effect. Wells’s novels are not preachy or social in nature but rather reflect the search for a true “life of dialogue” and the struggles of characters to realize themselves. Wells’s behavior in contrast to British societal norms challenges the myth surrounding him as a propaganda novelist, revealing his arrogance and contempt for societal frauds. Wells was not the “reformist” novelist many portray him to be.
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