Library / Literature & Fiction
The Research Magnificent
by H. G. Wells
- Pages
- about 402
- Category
- Literature & Fiction
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7.4 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
The story of William Porphyry Benham is the story of a man who was led
into adventure by an idea. It was an idea that took possession of his
imagination quite early in life, it grew with him and changed with him,
it interwove at last completely with his being. His story is its story.
It was traceably germinating in the schoolboy; it was manifestly present
in his mind at the very last moment of his adventurous life. He belonged
to that fortunate minority who are independent of daily necessities, so
that he was free to go about the world under its direction. It led him
far. It led him into situations that bordered upon the fantastic, it
made him ridiculous, it came near to making him sublime. And this idea
of his was of such a nature that in several aspects he could document
it. Its logic forced him to introspection and to the making of a record.
An idea that can play so large a part in a life must necessarily have
something of the complication and protean quality of life itself. It is
not to be stated justly in any formula, it is not to be rendered by an
epigram. As well one might show a man's skeleton for his portrait. Yet,
essentially, Benham's idea was simple. He had an incurable, an almost
innate persuasion that he had to live life nobly and thoroughly. His
commoner expression for that thorough living is “the aristocratic life.”
But by “aristocratic” he meant something very different from the
quality of a Russian prince, let us say, or an English peer. He meant an
intensity, a clearness.... Nobility for him was to get something out of
his individual existence, a flame, a jewel, a splendour--it is a thing
easier to understand than to say.
A short sample. Read the whole book
More to read
- "Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand BanksRudyard KiplingLiterature & Fiction191 pages
- "Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand BanksRudyard KiplingLiterature & Fiction191 pages
- "I Say No"Wilkie CollinsLiterature & Fiction428 pages
- "Miss Lou"Edward Payson RoeLiterature & Fiction409 pages
- "Speaking of Operations--"Irvin S. CobbLiterature & Fiction37 pages
Public-domain text from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks or a similar open source. Copyright differs between countries. Rights holder? See our takedown process.