Wellsian adj.

of, pertaining to, or resembling the ideas and writings of H. G. Wells, esp. in his science fiction, social comment, etc.

SF Criticism

  • 1895 Manchester Guardian 3 Dec. 10/5

    The touch of farce at the end is truly Wellsian.

  • [1899 Pall Mall Gazette 10 May 2/2

    Lord Rosebery’s H. G. Wellsian sketch of what would happen if the country were suddenly deprived of its functionaries altogether seems to omit one consideration of moment.]

  • 1903 Illustrated London News 21 Nov. 774/1

    The Wellsian…story could only be written by a man possessed of imagination, humour, insight, and some knowledge of science.

  • 1905 Interior 22 June 802/1

    ‘A Modern Utopia’…includes many genuinely logical conclusions as to Utopian possibilities, enforced seriously or jauntily, but usually with the charming Wellsian elusiveness of style.

  • 1935 M. McLuhan Letter 31 Mar. in M. Molinaro et al. Marshall McLuhan Letters (1987) 65

    How much more courageous realistic and honest to say ‘the dark ages before us’™, than to gibber cravenly in Wellsian fashion of vulgar Utopias.

  • 1946 R. G. Collingwood Idea of History 252

    Some Wellsian machine for looking backwards through time.

  • 1993 SFRA Rev. Jan. 47

    Hammond’s strength is his intimate knowledge of the Wellsian biography.

  • 1993 Science Fiction Stud. Nov. 437

    It establishes a textual base on which the next hundred years of Wellsian scholarship will be built.

  • 1994 Science Fiction Age July 82/3

    These 55 cards, now a prime collectible with a mint set fetching $2000, were a reprise of the great Wellsian theme of invasion from Mars.

Research requirements

antedating 1903
Research History
Simon Koppel submitted 1899 and 1903 cites from the British Newspaper Archive.
Bill Mullins submitted an 1895 cite.

Last modified 2021-04-14 19:29:44
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.