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Ann Veronica
Twenty-one, passionate and headstrong, Ann Veronica Stanley is determined to live her own life. When her father forbids her from attending a fashionable Ball, she decides she has no choice but to leave her family home and make a fresh start in London. There, she finds a world of intellectuals, socialists, and suffragettes - a place where, as a student in Biology at Imperial College, she can be truly free. But when she meets the brilliant Capes, a married academic, and quickly falls in love, she soon finds that freedom comes at a price.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1909
130 people are currently reading
2233 people want to read
About the author
H.G. Wells
5,370 books11.1k followersHerbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).
Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.
He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.
More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...
http://www.online-literature.com/well...
http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells
Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.
He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.
More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...
http://www.online-literature.com/well...
http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
April 20, 2017
A proto feminist novel written in 1909 by renowned male Edwardian Sci-Fi novelist H G Wells..? Who would have thought it?
Well – the prolific and hugely accomplished and influential Mr Well wrote in excess of 100 novels encompassing a wide range of literary genres.
This is a really good and comparatively revolutionary, modern novel – which at the time of publication was considered shocking and scandalous (questions and eyebrows were resolutely raised in the press and in the pulpit alike) exploring female politics, the life and psyche of a strong willed young woman confronting gender constraints and expectations of the era.
Whilst the suffragette and socialist movements are here, they form only a part of Ann Veronica’s life experiences and although undoubtedly influencing, enlightening and educating the young Ann Veronica – they are for the most part seem almost incidental and certainly not central or quintessential to AV’s development as a strong and independent woman.
Often the strength here is Wells ability to create and inhabit a character such as AV and to seemingly understand the constraints suffered and the frustration felt by a woman living under these circumstances.
At other times the novel, whilst modern in tone and construction, is very much a product of its time and its male author. Whilst AV finds strength amidst compromise, happiness at least for this strong woman still seems dependant on the approval and patronage of a man.
This is perhaps a flaw in the character of AV rather than the novel itself?? Alternatively, perhaps this situation and narrative are merely just realism within the confines of 1909 British society??
Either way – this is a very strong and compelling novel. The breadth and depth of Wells literary art seemingly knew no bounds.
The tempered and bitter-sweet denouement to the novel provides for a strong, well-pitched and perfectly appropriate end to the novel.
Well – the prolific and hugely accomplished and influential Mr Well wrote in excess of 100 novels encompassing a wide range of literary genres.
This is a really good and comparatively revolutionary, modern novel – which at the time of publication was considered shocking and scandalous (questions and eyebrows were resolutely raised in the press and in the pulpit alike) exploring female politics, the life and psyche of a strong willed young woman confronting gender constraints and expectations of the era.
Whilst the suffragette and socialist movements are here, they form only a part of Ann Veronica’s life experiences and although undoubtedly influencing, enlightening and educating the young Ann Veronica – they are for the most part seem almost incidental and certainly not central or quintessential to AV’s development as a strong and independent woman.
Often the strength here is Wells ability to create and inhabit a character such as AV and to seemingly understand the constraints suffered and the frustration felt by a woman living under these circumstances.
At other times the novel, whilst modern in tone and construction, is very much a product of its time and its male author. Whilst AV finds strength amidst compromise, happiness at least for this strong woman still seems dependant on the approval and patronage of a man.
This is perhaps a flaw in the character of AV rather than the novel itself?? Alternatively, perhaps this situation and narrative are merely just realism within the confines of 1909 British society??
Either way – this is a very strong and compelling novel. The breadth and depth of Wells literary art seemingly knew no bounds.
The tempered and bitter-sweet denouement to the novel provides for a strong, well-pitched and perfectly appropriate end to the novel.
December 9, 2019
An H.G. Wells in a Virago Classic edition? You heard right. The first novel from Wells exploring the New Woman movement in the 1900s, i.e. the proto-proto-feminist movement, the first flush of the suffrage movement (the other, The New Machiavelli is not as interesting), was a scandalous revelation at the time, showing a woman with a craving for independence and self-determination rebelling against her fustian father. The novel crackles with a sense of mischief and righteous irritation as the marvellous Ann Veronica veers from scientific studies and a manless world of female segregation, to a world of feminine love and feminine intelligence, and something approaching equality. The melodramatic conclusion aside, Ann Veronica is one of the most significant pre-feminist novels written by a male author (one of the few?), and a stonking read with a stonking female protagonist at the helm.
April 6, 2023
Sama činjenica da je jedan muškarac daleke 1909.napisao ovakvo djelo koje podržava žensku slobodu i prava ne dozvoljava mi kao ženi i feministkinji da dam manje od 5⭐️! Tada zabranjivana knjiga, sada samo dokaz da se mnogo šta promijenilo, a suštinski sve ostalo isto, što joj dodaje posebnu dozu gorčine, ali i draži, jer je ovo djelo primjer da i muškarci razumiju, samo ako hoće i žele! Stvarno istinski mislim da bi svi na ovom svijetu trebalo da budu feministički nastrojeni, a ako je mogao Vels tada, možemo i mi 100 godina kasnije 💪🏻!
July 12, 2023
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
I have read this book in conjunction with A lady and her husband by Amber Reeves since this book is based on Reeves´and Well´s relationship.
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells 1/2
Dramatised by Ellen Dryden
Spirited and fiercely intelligent, Ann Veronica is a 21st Century woman in an Edwardian Hobble skirt. She runs away from her stiflingly conventional home and her domineering father to make a fresh start in London. A lively and surprising story; not least because it's created by H.G. Wells.
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
Further information
N.B. EPISODE 2 is dramatized by Lavinia Murray. The storytelling is witty and ironic and Ann Veronica caused a scandal in its time because of the feminist sensibilities of the heroine and also because of the affair Wells was having with Amber Reeves, the woman who inspired the novel's eponymous character. This is a relatively unknown and unexpected novel by Wells. The Spectator described Ann Veronica as a "poisonous book..." Although unlikely to offend modern listeners, this novel addresses many feminist versus femininity issues that are still relevant today.
Amy Hoggart who stars as Ann Veronica is a stand-up comedian and actress, best known for starring in Almost Royal, a faux-reality show on BBC America. She portrays a low-ranking heir to the British throne, Poppy Carlton. Other credits include Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016) and Crackanory (2013).
She is the daughter of renowned journalist Simon Hoggart, niece of Times television critic Paul Hoggart, and granddaughter of sociologist Richard Hoggart. Amy attended Cambridge University,and was a member of the Footlights, whilst reading English.
The novel deals with the early stages of what is arguably the most important social development of the 20th C. the education and financial and sexual liberation of women. And the fact is that, nearly a hundred years later, the problem of women who want to marry, have children and pursue a liberating career, is still not easy to solve. Wells makes a good case for freer sexual relationships, but Amber Reeves - and later Rebecca West - were the ones whose lives were changed - by bearing and bringing up a child by him.
Geoffrey Whitehead plays Ann's father, Mr. Stanley - most recent credits include Geoffrey in Not Going Out as Lee Mack's disapproving father-in-law, and Mr. Newbold in Still Open All Hours. His career spans decades and he has appeared in a huge range of television, film and radio roles. In the theatre, he has played at the Shakespeare Globe, St. Martin's Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdkd1
I have read this book in conjunction with A lady and her husband by Amber Reeves since this book is based on Reeves´and Well´s relationship.
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells 1/2
Dramatised by Ellen Dryden
Spirited and fiercely intelligent, Ann Veronica is a 21st Century woman in an Edwardian Hobble skirt. She runs away from her stiflingly conventional home and her domineering father to make a fresh start in London. A lively and surprising story; not least because it's created by H.G. Wells.
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
Further information
N.B. EPISODE 2 is dramatized by Lavinia Murray. The storytelling is witty and ironic and Ann Veronica caused a scandal in its time because of the feminist sensibilities of the heroine and also because of the affair Wells was having with Amber Reeves, the woman who inspired the novel's eponymous character. This is a relatively unknown and unexpected novel by Wells. The Spectator described Ann Veronica as a "poisonous book..." Although unlikely to offend modern listeners, this novel addresses many feminist versus femininity issues that are still relevant today.
Amy Hoggart who stars as Ann Veronica is a stand-up comedian and actress, best known for starring in Almost Royal, a faux-reality show on BBC America. She portrays a low-ranking heir to the British throne, Poppy Carlton. Other credits include Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016) and Crackanory (2013).
She is the daughter of renowned journalist Simon Hoggart, niece of Times television critic Paul Hoggart, and granddaughter of sociologist Richard Hoggart. Amy attended Cambridge University,and was a member of the Footlights, whilst reading English.
The novel deals with the early stages of what is arguably the most important social development of the 20th C. the education and financial and sexual liberation of women. And the fact is that, nearly a hundred years later, the problem of women who want to marry, have children and pursue a liberating career, is still not easy to solve. Wells makes a good case for freer sexual relationships, but Amber Reeves - and later Rebecca West - were the ones whose lives were changed - by bearing and bringing up a child by him.
Geoffrey Whitehead plays Ann's father, Mr. Stanley - most recent credits include Geoffrey in Not Going Out as Lee Mack's disapproving father-in-law, and Mr. Newbold in Still Open All Hours. His career spans decades and he has appeared in a huge range of television, film and radio roles. In the theatre, he has played at the Shakespeare Globe, St. Martin's Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdkd1
January 25, 2016
So H. G. Wells writes science fiction, right? Right? WRONG!!!
From the man who penned such stories as The Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds comes Ann Veronica, a story of feminism, drama, and romance. And no element of science fiction in this book, no Sir. Sure, Vee (can I call her Vee? Everyone calls her Vee.) has a scientific temper, but that's all the science there is to this fiction. And you know what? I quite liked it. Not Time Machine liked it, but liked it all the same. Vee is a strong, albeit confused character, and while almost all the men are chauvinists, they weren't empty shells. They had depth to their characters, they did; even a complete asshole like Ramage. Vee looks at the world in the manner of either a small child, or a woman all old and wise, experienced in the journey of life, and that sometimes drove me crazy.
Another thing I liked about the book was the sort of openness that it so comfortably embraced while talking about issues that were then fairly controversial, like politics, economics, and let's not forget, sex. For a book written in the early 1900's, very forward I say. The romance in the book did not overpower the obvious themes that Wells wished to convey, and for that I am forever grateful. Ah, to find a writer today who thinks like this!
What I liked the most about this book? This.
"Of course a little daughter is a delightful thing enough. It runs about gayly, it romps, it is bright and pretty, it has enormous quantities of soft hair and more power of expressing affection than its brothers. It is a lovely little appendage to the mother who smiles over it, and it does things quaintly like her, gestures with her very gestures. It makes wonderful sentences that you can repeat in the City and are good enough for Punch. You call it a lot of nicknames—"Babs" and "Bibs" and "Viddles" and "Vee"; you whack at it playfully, and it whacks you back. It loves to sit on your knee. All that is jolly and as it should be."
All in all, I would say quite a pleasant start to 2016!
From the man who penned such stories as The Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds comes Ann Veronica, a story of feminism, drama, and romance. And no element of science fiction in this book, no Sir. Sure, Vee (can I call her Vee? Everyone calls her Vee.) has a scientific temper, but that's all the science there is to this fiction. And you know what? I quite liked it. Not Time Machine liked it, but liked it all the same. Vee is a strong, albeit confused character, and while almost all the men are chauvinists, they weren't empty shells. They had depth to their characters, they did; even a complete asshole like Ramage. Vee looks at the world in the manner of either a small child, or a woman all old and wise, experienced in the journey of life, and that sometimes drove me crazy.
Another thing I liked about the book was the sort of openness that it so comfortably embraced while talking about issues that were then fairly controversial, like politics, economics, and let's not forget, sex. For a book written in the early 1900's, very forward I say. The romance in the book did not overpower the obvious themes that Wells wished to convey, and for that I am forever grateful. Ah, to find a writer today who thinks like this!
What I liked the most about this book? This.
"Of course a little daughter is a delightful thing enough. It runs about gayly, it romps, it is bright and pretty, it has enormous quantities of soft hair and more power of expressing affection than its brothers. It is a lovely little appendage to the mother who smiles over it, and it does things quaintly like her, gestures with her very gestures. It makes wonderful sentences that you can repeat in the City and are good enough for Punch. You call it a lot of nicknames—"Babs" and "Bibs" and "Viddles" and "Vee"; you whack at it playfully, and it whacks you back. It loves to sit on your knee. All that is jolly and as it should be."
All in all, I would say quite a pleasant start to 2016!
September 26, 2019
27th book of 2019.
So I went into this blind.
H.G. Wells's work of fiction.
No invisible men, no time machines, no strange islands... so what is it about? (Read the summary, this is a rant, not a synopsis)
Ann Veronica is a selfish being. But more so, there was not one character that I liked, that I rooted for, that I wished a happy ending for.
Even Capes, who I thought I'd like, was an idiot.
I also wanted more of the suffrage movement, but Ann decided it wasn't for her. I mean, how important can the women's vote really be??!!??!!
This was a good book. I just didn't like it that much.
So 2 reluctant stars.
So I went into this blind.
H.G. Wells's work of fiction.
No invisible men, no time machines, no strange islands... so what is it about? (Read the summary, this is a rant, not a synopsis)
Ann Veronica is a selfish being. But more so, there was not one character that I liked, that I rooted for, that I wished a happy ending for.
Even Capes, who I thought I'd like, was an idiot.
I also wanted more of the suffrage movement, but Ann decided it wasn't for her. I mean, how important can the women's vote really be??!!??!!
This was a good book. I just didn't like it that much.
So 2 reluctant stars.
January 15, 2024
H. Dž. Vels se smatra "ocem naučne fantastike" ("Ostrvo doktora Moroa", "Nevidljivi čovek", "Rat svetova"), međutim oprobao se i u pisanju drugih žanrova i to vrlo uspješno. "En Veronika" prikazuje borbu za žensku ravnopravnost, borbu za život u skladu sa svojim željama i interesima kroz istoimeni lik. Odličan klasik pisca koji je bio ispred svog vremena.
September 18, 2009
Ann Veronica is the youngest of five children and the only one left at home. Finding a life of "calls, tennis, selected novels, walks and dusting" to be stifling, she has persuaded her father to let her attend college, although only the Tredgold Women's College, not the more prestigious "mixed" college that she wants to attend. In time the limited intellectual stimulation provided by Tredgold's "store of faded learning" isn't enough for her and she begins to want more out of her life. Having had no luck persuading her father to let her transfer to the Imperial College, she turns her attention to attending a fancy dress party at a local art school. Her father disapproves completely and his absolute refusal to let her go to the party pushes her into open rebellion. Against all sensible advice, she moves to London to live on her own and make her own way in the world.
Although it wears the fashionable dress of 1909, Ann Veronica is essentially a coming of age story that can speak on a basic level to young people of any generation. Longing for a different life and chafing against her father's rules, Ann Veronica shocks her father with the accusation that "you won't let me live...you won't let me exist!" And, like any perplexed parent, Mr. Stanley replies that she does live, she does exist, in fact she has all the important things a respectable person could want: "friends, acquaintances, social standing,...every advantage." These things are important to him and, as he feels is his duty as a good parent, he has provided them for Ann Veronica. What more is it that she wants? He cannot understand that what is important to him is less so to his daughter,at least in part because she has been kept in ignorance of how much effort these things were to attain and to keep. Later in the novel, at one of her lowest moments, Ann Veronica thinks back over what she had taken for granted and comes to the conclusion that "the real texture of life" has been forgotten by "refined secure people" who "think if we just defy the friends we have and go out into the world everything will become easy and splendid. One doesn't realize that even the sort of civilization one has at [her suburban home:] is held together with difficulty."
I had some concern that Wells would feel the need to end the book on a "moral" note by showing the reader the error of Ann Veronica's rebellion, but that is not his goal and his ultimate message seems to be that "rules are for established things, like the pieces and positions of a game. Men and women are not established things; they're experiements, all the them. Every human being is a new thing..."
Although Wells is amazingly modern in his thinking about women's rights, he is enough a product of his time that his heroine's idea of freedom is "to be legally and economically free, so as not to be subject to the wrong man" while still believing that "only God, who made the world, can alter things to prevent her being slave to the right one." In the end, Ann Veronica finds love and Wells demonstrates that it is a true love by telling us that "one of the things that most surprised [him:] was her capacity for blind obedience. She loved to be told to do things." This statement is completely out of character for Ann Veronica, but is given to the reader as proof that her love is real and that she has found the "right" man.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable book and reminded me at times of Dreiser's Sister Carrie. I read it online at Google Books, but I liked it enough that I want to own a copy myself and have added it to my wishlist.
Although it wears the fashionable dress of 1909, Ann Veronica is essentially a coming of age story that can speak on a basic level to young people of any generation. Longing for a different life and chafing against her father's rules, Ann Veronica shocks her father with the accusation that "you won't let me live...you won't let me exist!" And, like any perplexed parent, Mr. Stanley replies that she does live, she does exist, in fact she has all the important things a respectable person could want: "friends, acquaintances, social standing,...every advantage." These things are important to him and, as he feels is his duty as a good parent, he has provided them for Ann Veronica. What more is it that she wants? He cannot understand that what is important to him is less so to his daughter,at least in part because she has been kept in ignorance of how much effort these things were to attain and to keep. Later in the novel, at one of her lowest moments, Ann Veronica thinks back over what she had taken for granted and comes to the conclusion that "the real texture of life" has been forgotten by "refined secure people" who "think if we just defy the friends we have and go out into the world everything will become easy and splendid. One doesn't realize that even the sort of civilization one has at [her suburban home:] is held together with difficulty."
I had some concern that Wells would feel the need to end the book on a "moral" note by showing the reader the error of Ann Veronica's rebellion, but that is not his goal and his ultimate message seems to be that "rules are for established things, like the pieces and positions of a game. Men and women are not established things; they're experiements, all the them. Every human being is a new thing..."
Although Wells is amazingly modern in his thinking about women's rights, he is enough a product of his time that his heroine's idea of freedom is "to be legally and economically free, so as not to be subject to the wrong man" while still believing that "only God, who made the world, can alter things to prevent her being slave to the right one." In the end, Ann Veronica finds love and Wells demonstrates that it is a true love by telling us that "one of the things that most surprised [him:] was her capacity for blind obedience. She loved to be told to do things." This statement is completely out of character for Ann Veronica, but is given to the reader as proof that her love is real and that she has found the "right" man.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable book and reminded me at times of Dreiser's Sister Carrie. I read it online at Google Books, but I liked it enough that I want to own a copy myself and have added it to my wishlist.
October 11, 2013
Two sides of H.G. Wells
Getting to know that Herbert Wells wrote not only fantastic novels appeared to be a great surprise for me. His Time Machine and War of the Worlds were quite familiar to me, but somehow I've never heard about his social novels. Preparing for my university English literature class I decided to read one of them and a good decision it was.
Herbert Wells himself claimed that his science fiction was just a stage in his literary career which enabled him to move further to the novels describing problems of modern society. And it is really so, for Ann Veronica doesn't feel like his science fiction at all. Character-drawing, narration, the mere style seems to be different. For me it was like discovering some new author and I enjoyed that.
Ann Veronica - Some associations
Reading this novel felt much like reading a textbook on XXth century literature. This statement may sound a bit startling so here are the reasons why:
1. Ann Veronica doesn't want to be treated by her father and aunt like a pretty doll which is beloved and taken care of but at the same time deprived of any personality. How can a doll have any opinions or emotions? Of course it can't. So, to really begin to live she escapes from A Doll's House.
2. Having escaped the heroine gets freedom but not money to live on. She can't possibly take money from her relatives, that is why she has to look for a job which turns out to be a pretty difficult task, the money she's saved for beginning a new life are coming to an end and at this moment Veronica, repeating the experience of Sister Carrie, decides to except the help of a 'friend', Mr. Ramage. Soon she understands that Mr. Ramage's intentions can hardly be denoted as friendship, her ex-fiancé Mr. Manning also isn't the best choice for her and, like Carrie she decides to move further on her own.
3. The chapter "In the Mountains" somehow reminded me of A Room with a View, not that Ann veronica resembles Lucy Honeychurch (though they really have something in common), but the very atmosphere of the chapter arouse in my memory an image of Lucy and George in the violet valley.
4. In the chapter "Thoughts in Prison" we find a long inner monologue of the heroine. It's evidently not stream of consciousness but definitely something very close to it.
Suffragists and other movements
Ann Veronica first of all is sharp critics on women's position in society. Wells supports the idea that women should have the same rights as men and be able to live how they wish, study what they wish, work where they wish and love whom they wish. Veronica fights for all these rights with all her strength and the way she acts in the novel was such a shock for the society of that time that after the novel was published, it was claimed as immoral and forbidden to be sold or given out in libraries.
It is an interesting fact, that being a huge supporter or women's rights Wells was against the suffragist movement which as that time was gaining its strength. He considered their ways of protesting ineffective and in most cases even ridiculous. The same attitude the author expresses towards all the other "fashionable" movements of the time through the thoughts of his heroine:
"She was with these movements—akin to them, she felt it at times intensely—and yet something eluded her. Morningside Park had been passive and defective; all this rushed about and was active, but it was still defective. It still failed in something. It did seem germane to the matter that so many of the people "in the van" were plain people, or faded people, or tired-looking people. It did affect the business that they all argued badly and were egotistical in their manners and inconsistent in their phrases. There were moments when she doubted whether the whole mass of movements and societies and gatherings and talks was not simply one coherent spectacle of failure protecting itself from abjection by the glamour of its own assertions".
As the author shows, all these movements, being aimed on great achievements often end speaking too much and doing too little. The changes in relations between the sexes and in women's rights, in his opinion, are to come soon, not through revolution, but through evolution, i.e. they should be a natural result of the social development.
"I want to be a Human being!"
The heroine exclaims this phrase meaning that she wants to be able to choose her own way in life. Still Veronica doesn't realize that she is a Human being and a Personality already. She is intelligent, brave and emotional. She is full of great ideas and can think logically. She has courage to fight for what seems right to her and blazes her trail. Of course, she can't fight forever, but when she stops she will realize there is a long way behind her, a life full of impressions and victories. And she will always have those days in mountains.
"Even when we are old, when we are rich as we may be, we won't forget the tune when we cared nothing for anything but the joy of one another, when we risked everything for one another, when all the wrappings and coverings seemed to have fallen from life and left it light and fire. Stark and stark! Do you remember it all?... Say you will never forget! That these common things and secondary things sha'n't overwhelm us."
May 6, 2023
The first three quarters of Wells’ 1909 novel on “the woman problem” are hilarious and occasionally insightful, with both prose and heroine delightful. Ann Veronica’s carefully proscribed sphere of suburban domestic life and her commute to London where she is grudgingly allowed to receive a limited scientific education with which she is expected to do absolutely nothing is all very convincingly and dynamically drawn. Her father and aunt are thoroughly Victorian, but Ann Veronica’s eyes are opened to a different way of life by her shabby-genteel Bohemian neighbours. Being the youngest of her family, she has seen her siblings grow up and alternately conform or rebel against the expected pattern, and none of the current possibilities appeal to her. This could be dull, but Wells makes it all very funny and real. Until this book I had no idea how skilled a writer he was, to be honest. Ann Veronica’s rebellion and flight from home are described with an eye to both the poignant and the comic - it actually reminded me of Anthony Trollope. Wells portrays a girl who doesn’t really want to offend or defy, she just hopes to live a life that interests her. She has no particular resentment towards the authorities in her life, she just finds them unable to give a reasonable defence of their social expectations and limits for her. So far, so good, and I was so convinced by the heroine that I completely forgot the author.
The next part of the story, in which Ann Veronica explores various progressive social groups for clues as to how the New Woman is supposed to pay the bills and survive, is also a lot of fun. At this point, I felt as if I was eavesdropping on real meetings of Fabians and Suffragettes, knowing that Wells must have had direct experience of such people. I was surprised by how much Wells, as a Progressive himself, was alive to the farcical elements within his own movement and willing to exploit them in print, but parts are laugh out loud funny. Wells also does an excellent job building suspense as Ann Veronica begins to rely on the financial patronage of a middle aged City gentleman who (apparently) offers her a disinterested friendship of equals. At this point, one has begun to wonder how and if our plucky and naive heroine will ever find a place for her modest ambitions.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The section where Ann Veronica experiments with militant suffragism and civil disobedience is truly hilarious and exciting. It culminates in a surprisingly poignant time in prison in which she looks for help from the chaplain who is so disdainful of her suffragette activities that he does not even notice her need of spiritual help. Her prayer in prison, a “help thou my unbelief” kind of prayer, is incredibly affecting.
The book up to this point is very artistically successful, in my opinion. Wells has shown us the ordinary, soul-crushing difficulties of life for a normal girl with normal aspirations in 1909. Would that he had stopped there.
The final quarter of the book is so awkward and weird, I slowly began to suspect that the only explanation was an author self-insertion. I am no fan of the biographical fallacy. But GK Chesterton said that Wells was a gifted writer who “sold his birthright for a pot of message” and as far as this novel goes, he was correct. After finishing the novel, I discovered that the final quarter of the novel hews very closely to a scandal in Wells’s own life.
To be brief, Wells has set up a kind of “everygirl” narrative — and then resolves it by marrying off Ann Veronica to his own literary avatar. Ann Veronica, a talented student biologist, decides to declare her unconditional love and submission to her brilliant, older, worldly university biology teacher. Since he is married (but permanently separated), he demurs at first, but it doesn’t take very many declarations of eternal love from an adoring twenty year old beauty in his classroom to wear him down and off they go for a transcendently blissful honeymoon of perfect companionship and physical passion in Switzerland.
It’s all so badly drawn it can’t be anything but some kind of justification for Wells’s own actions (he did indeed abscond while married with a young science student of his, whom he subsequently married after divorcing his first wife - no transcendent bliss seems to have followed, however, as he frequently pursued affairs during his second marriage). Even worse, he seems to be saying that this is the best fate for gifted young women - to defy convention not to use their gifts in service of some higher aim, but merely to dedicate themselves to the personal, unconditional worship of brilliant, masterful men (eg HG Wells). I’m surprised he had the nerve to publish such a thing.
As a historical artefact, it has some interest. As a piece of fiction, it’s a disaster.
The next part of the story, in which Ann Veronica explores various progressive social groups for clues as to how the New Woman is supposed to pay the bills and survive, is also a lot of fun. At this point, I felt as if I was eavesdropping on real meetings of Fabians and Suffragettes, knowing that Wells must have had direct experience of such people. I was surprised by how much Wells, as a Progressive himself, was alive to the farcical elements within his own movement and willing to exploit them in print, but parts are laugh out loud funny. Wells also does an excellent job building suspense as Ann Veronica begins to rely on the financial patronage of a middle aged City gentleman who (apparently) offers her a disinterested friendship of equals. At this point, one has begun to wonder how and if our plucky and naive heroine will ever find a place for her modest ambitions.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The section where Ann Veronica experiments with militant suffragism and civil disobedience is truly hilarious and exciting. It culminates in a surprisingly poignant time in prison in which she looks for help from the chaplain who is so disdainful of her suffragette activities that he does not even notice her need of spiritual help. Her prayer in prison, a “help thou my unbelief” kind of prayer, is incredibly affecting.
The book up to this point is very artistically successful, in my opinion. Wells has shown us the ordinary, soul-crushing difficulties of life for a normal girl with normal aspirations in 1909. Would that he had stopped there.
The final quarter of the book is so awkward and weird, I slowly began to suspect that the only explanation was an author self-insertion. I am no fan of the biographical fallacy. But GK Chesterton said that Wells was a gifted writer who “sold his birthright for a pot of message” and as far as this novel goes, he was correct. After finishing the novel, I discovered that the final quarter of the novel hews very closely to a scandal in Wells’s own life.
To be brief, Wells has set up a kind of “everygirl” narrative — and then resolves it by marrying off Ann Veronica to his own literary avatar. Ann Veronica, a talented student biologist, decides to declare her unconditional love and submission to her brilliant, older, worldly university biology teacher. Since he is married (but permanently separated), he demurs at first, but it doesn’t take very many declarations of eternal love from an adoring twenty year old beauty in his classroom to wear him down and off they go for a transcendently blissful honeymoon of perfect companionship and physical passion in Switzerland.
It’s all so badly drawn it can’t be anything but some kind of justification for Wells’s own actions (he did indeed abscond while married with a young science student of his, whom he subsequently married after divorcing his first wife - no transcendent bliss seems to have followed, however, as he frequently pursued affairs during his second marriage). Even worse, he seems to be saying that this is the best fate for gifted young women - to defy convention not to use their gifts in service of some higher aim, but merely to dedicate themselves to the personal, unconditional worship of brilliant, masterful men (eg HG Wells). I’m surprised he had the nerve to publish such a thing.
As a historical artefact, it has some interest. As a piece of fiction, it’s a disaster.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2011
Ann Veronica caused quite a stir when it was published in 1909. The story is about a “New Woman,” an independent girl who yearns to study science, leave her stultifying home and live alone in an apartment, vote, and take her place in the world beside men.
The heroine manages to achieve independence despite dangers from suitors who would crush her spirit as thoroughly as her father has tried to do, and a seemingly friendly man who wants to seduce her. She finally falls in love with a married man and runs off with him.
This would all be shocking enough in the first decade of the 20th century. But added to it was a strongly autobiographical theme alluding to H G Wells’ affair with a young girl who bore his child out of wedlock. Even the name Ann Veronica was a bit too close to that of Wells’ inamorata, Amber Reeves.
So how has the book held up over time? A hundred years later we are no longer shocked at the heroine’s leaving home to live alone, her insistence on studying, or her having an affair with a married man. We may disapprove of the affair but we aren’t shocked by it. But Well’s having seduced an idealistic young girl and then written about it in such detail continues to be disturbing.
Wells was the son of a gardener and a domestic servant. One admires the grit with which he rose from that working class background to success in a middle-class world. Some of his writing, especially his science fiction, remains popular today (The War of the Worlds.) He was a socialist, a pacifist, and an atheist at a time when those were not popular isms. He married a cousin, left her for one of his students, and continued throughout his life to have frequent affairs, especially with women of note including Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Rebecca West. There were many others.
This is a wearying book, more a Fabian tract than a novel, and a lengthy fictional excuse for his behavior. I don’t care for science fiction and I haven’t read Wells’ famous work in that genre so I am no judge of his skill, though his novels having lasted so long makes it likely he was rather better at sci fi than at quasi-political fiction. I did not like this novel and I don’t think it has much lasting worth. And yes, I do recognize that I’m letting my distaste for his life affect my opinion of his work.
2011 No 79
The heroine manages to achieve independence despite dangers from suitors who would crush her spirit as thoroughly as her father has tried to do, and a seemingly friendly man who wants to seduce her. She finally falls in love with a married man and runs off with him.
This would all be shocking enough in the first decade of the 20th century. But added to it was a strongly autobiographical theme alluding to H G Wells’ affair with a young girl who bore his child out of wedlock. Even the name Ann Veronica was a bit too close to that of Wells’ inamorata, Amber Reeves.
So how has the book held up over time? A hundred years later we are no longer shocked at the heroine’s leaving home to live alone, her insistence on studying, or her having an affair with a married man. We may disapprove of the affair but we aren’t shocked by it. But Well’s having seduced an idealistic young girl and then written about it in such detail continues to be disturbing.
Wells was the son of a gardener and a domestic servant. One admires the grit with which he rose from that working class background to success in a middle-class world. Some of his writing, especially his science fiction, remains popular today (The War of the Worlds.) He was a socialist, a pacifist, and an atheist at a time when those were not popular isms. He married a cousin, left her for one of his students, and continued throughout his life to have frequent affairs, especially with women of note including Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Rebecca West. There were many others.
This is a wearying book, more a Fabian tract than a novel, and a lengthy fictional excuse for his behavior. I don’t care for science fiction and I haven’t read Wells’ famous work in that genre so I am no judge of his skill, though his novels having lasted so long makes it likely he was rather better at sci fi than at quasi-political fiction. I did not like this novel and I don’t think it has much lasting worth. And yes, I do recognize that I’m letting my distaste for his life affect my opinion of his work.
2011 No 79
April 25, 2015
H. G. Wells - that name makes most of us think of science fiction, so when I came across a love story by him, I had to read it. Not because I’m a big Wells fan, though. I have read the Time Machine and War of the Worlds and didn’t like either one. The movies based on those two stories are much better, but still the idea of a science fiction guy writing romance was intriguing.
To be sure, he has a real knack for writing sweet words. I would say some of his expressions are downright beautiful. However, he had a tendency of having his words of romantic sentiment go toward the idea of religious devotion (meaning the men would say things like Ann was deserving of worship, etc) and for me that was distasteful.
As far as the story goes, it started out good. Twenty-one year old Ann Veronica began as an interesting character, a woman struggling with submission to her father or making her own decisions about her life. Wells makes a couple of references to Jane Austen in the context of whether Ann should be like a JA heroine or should she be a modern woman, which is the idea behind the title. I think if he wanted his book to be a counter to JA’s books, though, he should have written a better story. I mean, seriously, don’t mention one of the greatest romance writers of all time in that light without delivering something brilliant!
Unlike Austen he gives no real good reason why Ann Veronica falls in love with the person she ends up with, which is a big deal because the guy is married but separated from his wife. The truth is, all the men in the book are pretty lousy. Granted, one is more lousy than the others, so at best, her options are poor. Elizabeth Bennet would have stayed single with the options he gives in this book. Jane Austen understood, one key ingredient of a great love story is a great guy worth falling in love with.
The character Ann never grows more interesting, she just becomes a girl that makes choices that were hard for this reader to get behind. He created some interesting situations for her, but fails to make them interesting. It was a real challenge to finish the book; usually I don’t bother to finish one that loses my interest like this one did, but I was hoping he would get back to the feel and rhythm of how the book started, yet it never did.
To be sure, he has a real knack for writing sweet words. I would say some of his expressions are downright beautiful. However, he had a tendency of having his words of romantic sentiment go toward the idea of religious devotion (meaning the men would say things like Ann was deserving of worship, etc) and for me that was distasteful.
As far as the story goes, it started out good. Twenty-one year old Ann Veronica began as an interesting character, a woman struggling with submission to her father or making her own decisions about her life. Wells makes a couple of references to Jane Austen in the context of whether Ann should be like a JA heroine or should she be a modern woman, which is the idea behind the title. I think if he wanted his book to be a counter to JA’s books, though, he should have written a better story. I mean, seriously, don’t mention one of the greatest romance writers of all time in that light without delivering something brilliant!
Unlike Austen he gives no real good reason why Ann Veronica falls in love with the person she ends up with, which is a big deal because the guy is married but separated from his wife. The truth is, all the men in the book are pretty lousy. Granted, one is more lousy than the others, so at best, her options are poor. Elizabeth Bennet would have stayed single with the options he gives in this book. Jane Austen understood, one key ingredient of a great love story is a great guy worth falling in love with.
The character Ann never grows more interesting, she just becomes a girl that makes choices that were hard for this reader to get behind. He created some interesting situations for her, but fails to make them interesting. It was a real challenge to finish the book; usually I don’t bother to finish one that loses my interest like this one did, but I was hoping he would get back to the feel and rhythm of how the book started, yet it never did.
October 19, 2024
The book was published in 1909. We are in England in the happy days before World War I. Only times are not so happy for our heroine Ann Veronica Stanley. She wants to attend some kind of ball. But father (and Aunt) is against it. Fearing bad influences from socialists. She insists. He forces her to stay in her room. And the next day Ann Veronica elopes. On her own, there is no man involved (a sister has disgraced the family by marrying an actor.) She tries to find a job. But no luck. She accepts the offer of a friend to borrow 40 pounds to contniue Biology studies. But alas, the guy wants some kind of repayment. Ann Veronica is shocked. About him but also about her own naïvité. She sends back the remainder of the money, he sends back the money, she burns 20 pounds. She joins the suffragette movement and goes to prison.
As a story not brilliant but there are very sincere descriptions of the feelings of women who feel they are wrongly dominated by men. Discussions with other feminists. Why the “Vote” is the most important thing, everything else will follow.
In the end she finds she has to “compromise”, returns back to father. Is about to marry some guy she doe not love but then elopes with a biology teacher who is married (though separated). Another scandal. And I assume the feminist touch here is that it is Ann who declares her love and seduces him. All is well in the end. Well.
As a story not brilliant but there are very sincere descriptions of the feelings of women who feel they are wrongly dominated by men. Discussions with other feminists. Why the “Vote” is the most important thing, everything else will follow.
In the end she finds she has to “compromise”, returns back to father. Is about to marry some guy she doe not love but then elopes with a biology teacher who is married (though separated). Another scandal. And I assume the feminist touch here is that it is Ann who declares her love and seduces him. All is well in the end. Well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2025
Ann Veronica, past 21 years, wants her independence but her father is from a generation of he knows best. Veronica doesn’t agree. What sounds like a pedestrian story of clashing of views between the old way and the new way, is enlivened by how the story is told, giving it a comical edge.
Ann’s father not ready to let her go takes things into her own hands, back then when this story was written, this is a truly brave thing to do, but H G Wells shows in this story that winning that independence is just half the fight, the reality is more complicated .
I always thought HG wrote science fiction so coming across this was a surprise. What kept the story engaging was how casually it shifted the question from a woman’s right to be free to a question that highlights the conflict caused by the generation gap. This manoeuvre was done so smoothly that I hardly noticed as the drama continued with its philosophical hypothesis from different points of view.
Ann’s father not ready to let her go takes things into her own hands, back then when this story was written, this is a truly brave thing to do, but H G Wells shows in this story that winning that independence is just half the fight, the reality is more complicated .
I always thought HG wrote science fiction so coming across this was a surprise. What kept the story engaging was how casually it shifted the question from a woman’s right to be free to a question that highlights the conflict caused by the generation gap. This manoeuvre was done so smoothly that I hardly noticed as the drama continued with its philosophical hypothesis from different points of view.
February 28, 2017
8 APR 2016 - available at Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/524
26 FEB 2017 - available at BBC Radio 4 - Episode 1 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdkd1
26 FEB 2017 - I am listening to this. I absolutely adore Ann Veronica and her quest. Despite listening, I have already downloaded an eBooks version and will be reading Ann Veronica's journey into her own definition of "freedom."
26 FEB 2017 - Mr Stanley to Ann Veronica - “Cooped up!" he cried. "Did I stand in the way of your going to college? Have I ever prevented you going about at any reasonable hour? You've got a bicycle!”
27 FEB 2017 - I started this one early Sunday morning and read through the day (and past my bedtime, too). Finished today over lunch. I enjoyed reading of Ann Veronica's quest for the right to just be herself.
26 FEB 2017 - available at BBC Radio 4 - Episode 1 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdkd1
26 FEB 2017 - I am listening to this. I absolutely adore Ann Veronica and her quest. Despite listening, I have already downloaded an eBooks version and will be reading Ann Veronica's journey into her own definition of "freedom."
26 FEB 2017 - Mr Stanley to Ann Veronica - “Cooped up!" he cried. "Did I stand in the way of your going to college? Have I ever prevented you going about at any reasonable hour? You've got a bicycle!”
27 FEB 2017 - I started this one early Sunday morning and read through the day (and past my bedtime, too). Finished today over lunch. I enjoyed reading of Ann Veronica's quest for the right to just be herself.
January 17, 2025
3.5 stars
September 7, 2023
"Ela queria viver, e a vida era bela. Ela viu que não podia seguir as regras estreitas e limitadas que cercavam a vida das mulheres. Ela queria ir além, além de tudo o que ela conhecia e compreendia; e ainda assim, por outro lado, ela queria ser uma mulher."
Alguns críticos o chamaram de “livro venenoso… capaz de envenenar as mentes daqueles que o leem”. "Ann Veronica" de H.G. Wells é um romance intrigante que mergulha nas complexas questões sociais e feministas do início do século XX. Ambientado em uma época de mudança social acelerada, o livro apresenta Ann Veronica Stanley, uma jovem determinada que desafia destemidamente as rígidas normas de gênero e as expectativas de sua família.
Ela quer ser livre, escapar da tutela de um pai controlador, que quer que ela faça o que ele quer. Isso não vai acontecer; ela quer ir a bailes, quer estudar Biologia em Londres, lutar para que a mulher tenha direito de voto. Há um confronto muito grande com seu pai; ambos não abrem mão de nada, em relação às suas visões e opiniões.
A obra oferece uma visão fascinante dos primeiros dias do movimento sufragista, à medida que Ann Veronica se torna uma participante ativa na luta pelo direito de voto das mulheres, enfrentando até mesmo a prisão por seus protestos no Parlamento. Ela também se envolve com o movimento sufragista feminino, que lutava pelo direito de voto das mulheres na Grã-Bretanha, além de outros direitos.
Esta parte do enredo é especialmente valiosa, pois lança luz sobre o ativismo feminino da época, adicionando um elemento histórico importante à narrativa.
Além disso, o livro mergulha profundamente nas experiências de Ann Veronica enquanto estudante de biologia no Tredgold Women's College. Sua busca pela independência financeira a leva a tomar decisões ousadas, como pedir dinheiro emprestado a um homem mais velho chamado Mr. Ramage. Esse aspecto da trama destaca as complexidades das escolhas que as mulheres enfrentavam em uma sociedade que limitava suas opções.
No entanto, algumas críticas apontam que o romance, em certos momentos, parece dar prioridade a um enredo romântico convencional, sugerindo que a realização pessoal de Ann Veronica depende de encontrar o amor certo. Isso levanta questões sobre se o livro pode ser considerado verdadeiramente feminista, apesar de sua exploração de temas progressistas.
Além disso, a obra também oferece um vislumbre interessante da vida de H.G. Wells, já que o personagem de Capes, um demonstrador de biologia casado, parece ser inspirado em experiências pessoais do autor.
"Ann Veronica" é, em última análise, uma obra literária rica e multifacetada que continua a ser debatida e analisada até hoje. É uma leitura essencial para quem deseja entender a dinâmica das questões de gênero, a luta pelo sufrágio feminino e as complexidades das escolhas pessoais em uma época de mudança social significativa. No entanto, é importante estar ciente de que as opiniões sobre o livro podem variar, dependendo das perspectivas individuais e das expectativas do leitor; eu, por exemplo, achei estranho que na parte em que eles estavam na Suíça, o narrador dissesse que "Ela adorava fazer o que os outros mandavam", se tem uma coisa que ela odiava era isso. Enfim...
Alguns críticos o chamaram de “livro venenoso… capaz de envenenar as mentes daqueles que o leem”. "Ann Veronica" de H.G. Wells é um romance intrigante que mergulha nas complexas questões sociais e feministas do início do século XX. Ambientado em uma época de mudança social acelerada, o livro apresenta Ann Veronica Stanley, uma jovem determinada que desafia destemidamente as rígidas normas de gênero e as expectativas de sua família.
Ela quer ser livre, escapar da tutela de um pai controlador, que quer que ela faça o que ele quer. Isso não vai acontecer; ela quer ir a bailes, quer estudar Biologia em Londres, lutar para que a mulher tenha direito de voto. Há um confronto muito grande com seu pai; ambos não abrem mão de nada, em relação às suas visões e opiniões.
A obra oferece uma visão fascinante dos primeiros dias do movimento sufragista, à medida que Ann Veronica se torna uma participante ativa na luta pelo direito de voto das mulheres, enfrentando até mesmo a prisão por seus protestos no Parlamento. Ela também se envolve com o movimento sufragista feminino, que lutava pelo direito de voto das mulheres na Grã-Bretanha, além de outros direitos.
Esta parte do enredo é especialmente valiosa, pois lança luz sobre o ativismo feminino da época, adicionando um elemento histórico importante à narrativa.
Além disso, o livro mergulha profundamente nas experiências de Ann Veronica enquanto estudante de biologia no Tredgold Women's College. Sua busca pela independência financeira a leva a tomar decisões ousadas, como pedir dinheiro emprestado a um homem mais velho chamado Mr. Ramage. Esse aspecto da trama destaca as complexidades das escolhas que as mulheres enfrentavam em uma sociedade que limitava suas opções.
No entanto, algumas críticas apontam que o romance, em certos momentos, parece dar prioridade a um enredo romântico convencional, sugerindo que a realização pessoal de Ann Veronica depende de encontrar o amor certo. Isso levanta questões sobre se o livro pode ser considerado verdadeiramente feminista, apesar de sua exploração de temas progressistas.
Além disso, a obra também oferece um vislumbre interessante da vida de H.G. Wells, já que o personagem de Capes, um demonstrador de biologia casado, parece ser inspirado em experiências pessoais do autor.
"Ann Veronica" é, em última análise, uma obra literária rica e multifacetada que continua a ser debatida e analisada até hoje. É uma leitura essencial para quem deseja entender a dinâmica das questões de gênero, a luta pelo sufrágio feminino e as complexidades das escolhas pessoais em uma época de mudança social significativa. No entanto, é importante estar ciente de que as opiniões sobre o livro podem variar, dependendo das perspectivas individuais e das expectativas do leitor; eu, por exemplo, achei estranho que na parte em que eles estavam na Suíça, o narrador dissesse que "Ela adorava fazer o que os outros mandavam", se tem uma coisa que ela odiava era isso. Enfim...
September 27, 2018
Quizá solo hay una cosa que hace que no le dé a Ana Verónica una valoración de imprescindible, y es que el final sí que me ha chirriado un poco con el tono del resto de la obra, pero sin duda alguna, creo que es una novela que aguanta perfectamente el paso del tiempo, porque aunque las mujeres ya podamos votar (la lucha por el voto femenino es uno de los temas principales de la novela), las palabras que dicen los personajes de la novela todavía son vigentes. Es cierto que han pasado unos cuantos años desde la publicación de la novela, y es cierto que el discurso podría haberse quedado atrasado, pero creo que en muchas ocasiones sigue siendo el discurso de las mujeres, sigue siendo su grito de guerra. Por eso, y sin ningún tipo de duda, no puedo dejar de insistir: leed esta novela.
Crítica completa en: https://alibreria.com/2018/09/27/ana-...
Crítica completa en: https://alibreria.com/2018/09/27/ana-...
December 17, 2016
Major social changes often seem to have been just “in the air,” rather than launched by any single person or action. Even when there is a figurehead, as in Ghandi’s India or Lincoln’s America, the “leader” was actually riding a tsunami of changing opinion whose impulsive force proceeded from a critical mass of individuals who chose to live different lives than their parents did. History is biography writ small.
Ann Veronica is the tale of one of those individuals, surfing the initial tide of change that became the suffragette movement. Ann, or “V” as her father called her, with telling depersonalization, was an unexceptional young woman who stumbled into, and possibly out of, independence. V’s father, and his generation, could not imagine, let alone understand, how a girl could become a woman unless someone older and wiser carried her over the threshold. As one wonderful line put it: females have two ages, when it is permissible to pat them on the heads and when it is not.
Ann discovers she loves biology, when her father allows her to spend time in college. Among the other girls (one can hardly call them women yet), she meets some who are questioning their dependence, and one who has crossed the line into suffragette-ism. Her teacher, a man of course, tends to lecture down to her, but learns eventually to take her more seriously—to say how seriously would be a spoiler.
But along the way, V meets two other men, each of whom assumes she will fill a traditional role in their lives, without either the men or Ann really recognizing that they are roles. One wants her to be a mistress, and V ignorantly slips into the role by mistaking “kindness” of the man for generosity. The other man treats her as a pure, delicate flower that he is (paternalistically) obligated to protect, which she misreads as friendship. Either relationship could have effectively ended her biography, abruptly picking her up from childhood and stuffing her into a conventional box. Asserting her independence, rejecting both men, drops her into the suffragette movement, almost by accident. But the world she lives in is not yet one that accommodates independent women. We as readers know that the world will change, but not in time for Ann. Eventually, she finds her way into an unconventional conventionality, as the wife of a man who learns to learn with her. I can say no more.
I thought the story began very well. The characters were rich, the writing witty and lean. The male characters were very interesting, especially in that they embodied different male responses to changing times which were redefining the roles of women. It was never preachy or heavy-handed. Unfortunately, the book as a whole became tedious, as Ann goes through one predictable misadventure after another. In the end, Ann’s life seemed conventional, even boring. Dreiser’s “Sister Carrie” covered the same ground, but more effectively.
In short, this is Wells doing social commentary, without so much science in the fiction. “Ann Veronica” did capture the feel of the “new woman” at a critical time when the role of women was radically changing. It presents a clear small-scale biography to serve as a prelude to a major social revolution. And it had its moments as literature. But I was, sadly, relieved when it was over.
Ann Veronica is the tale of one of those individuals, surfing the initial tide of change that became the suffragette movement. Ann, or “V” as her father called her, with telling depersonalization, was an unexceptional young woman who stumbled into, and possibly out of, independence. V’s father, and his generation, could not imagine, let alone understand, how a girl could become a woman unless someone older and wiser carried her over the threshold. As one wonderful line put it: females have two ages, when it is permissible to pat them on the heads and when it is not.
Ann discovers she loves biology, when her father allows her to spend time in college. Among the other girls (one can hardly call them women yet), she meets some who are questioning their dependence, and one who has crossed the line into suffragette-ism. Her teacher, a man of course, tends to lecture down to her, but learns eventually to take her more seriously—to say how seriously would be a spoiler.
But along the way, V meets two other men, each of whom assumes she will fill a traditional role in their lives, without either the men or Ann really recognizing that they are roles. One wants her to be a mistress, and V ignorantly slips into the role by mistaking “kindness” of the man for generosity. The other man treats her as a pure, delicate flower that he is (paternalistically) obligated to protect, which she misreads as friendship. Either relationship could have effectively ended her biography, abruptly picking her up from childhood and stuffing her into a conventional box. Asserting her independence, rejecting both men, drops her into the suffragette movement, almost by accident. But the world she lives in is not yet one that accommodates independent women. We as readers know that the world will change, but not in time for Ann. Eventually, she finds her way into an unconventional conventionality, as the wife of a man who learns to learn with her. I can say no more.
I thought the story began very well. The characters were rich, the writing witty and lean. The male characters were very interesting, especially in that they embodied different male responses to changing times which were redefining the roles of women. It was never preachy or heavy-handed. Unfortunately, the book as a whole became tedious, as Ann goes through one predictable misadventure after another. In the end, Ann’s life seemed conventional, even boring. Dreiser’s “Sister Carrie” covered the same ground, but more effectively.
In short, this is Wells doing social commentary, without so much science in the fiction. “Ann Veronica” did capture the feel of the “new woman” at a critical time when the role of women was radically changing. It presents a clear small-scale biography to serve as a prelude to a major social revolution. And it had its moments as literature. But I was, sadly, relieved when it was over.
December 20, 2020
Fair warning: this is NOT a feminist novel. I don't understand why it has a reputation as one. It's more or less a tale of
June 5, 2016
Maybe everyone else knows that H.G. Wells wrote non-science fiction romantic novels of biting social criticism from a feminist point of view, but I didn't. I recommend this book, despite its perhaps all too self-congratulatory conclusion. It captures the turn of the century England, exposing the inability of Victorian mores in a modernist, Darwinian dawn, and removes one by one the stays that constrict instead of uphold society. He tries to show that all dogma limits the human spirit, and even the suffragettes are not spared Wells' disarming pen. While being a feminist manifesto, it remains staunchly middle class in its resolution. It could not be written today, and that is what makes it so invaluable.
September 27, 2021
Or somewhere inbetween 2 and 3 stars...
Blindly went into this expecting a thrilling H.G. Wells Sci-fi (bearing in mind I've never actually read anything from him before so what really are these expectations based on?) and was given a half-entertaining proto feminist novel. And somehow the New Woman feminist movement is made to be more of a plot device than a profound, self-realizing cause. So there's that.
Oo I like that it was narrated by Bill Nighy on BBC Sounds. But that's less to do with the book and more to do with Bill Nighy
Blindly went into this expecting a thrilling H.G. Wells Sci-fi (bearing in mind I've never actually read anything from him before so what really are these expectations based on?) and was given a half-entertaining proto feminist novel. And somehow the New Woman feminist movement is made to be more of a plot device than a profound, self-realizing cause. So there's that.
Oo I like that it was narrated by Bill Nighy on BBC Sounds. But that's less to do with the book and more to do with Bill Nighy
July 25, 2014
Being one of the "New Woman" novels, I didn't know quite what to expect. This is the best, most realistic one I've read thus far. Vee's spunk is admirable and Wells took on the subject with a decent blend of traditional and non-traditional behavior. The ending was very appropriate for me at this time in my life. It wasn't edgy and yet it wasn't sentimental.
I would read this one again.
I would read this one again.
September 3, 2024
For a while I’ve had a few people encouraging me to read H.G Wells. I don’t think Ann Veronica was quite the book they wanted me to start with but here we are… and it certainly alleviated any concerns that I would not get in with his writing style. As for most other reviewers it was a surprise to find a feminist inspired tome written by him so another tick in the box in his favour. Of course some of it is a bit clunky - it is a very male version of what female emancipation looks like, the ending with its glorification of romantic love just drags us back in to the usual stereotypes even if we take a scandalous route to get there and events in his personal life may suggest that some of his messages are a little on the self serving side… BUT it can only have helped to have an author of his stature tackling these sorts of subjects and there is no doubt that its storyline is both scandalous and thought provoking on for its day. So in short, lacking from a twenty first century perspective but important for the time in which it was written and despite my misgivings about the latter parts, it has definitely left me inclined to tackle some of H.G Wells’s more famous works.
November 11, 2021
Listened to the audiobook - perfectly narrated. It’s a fascinating study of life at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, but the last third gets a bit bogged down in long philosophical speeches of the type most people simply wouldn’t have had. They’re designed to convey the author’s opinions and were not untypical of the time (1909)
January 3, 2022
not ann veronica describing her adventures as a suffragette, which made her end up in JAIL, as “a phase”.
April 13, 2014
This book was a fun find. Incredible that one of the fathers of Science Fiction was also a pretty progressive radical. Though, I suppose that is the nature of most SciFi authors.
Ann Veronica is the story of the New Woman (new, that is to the Victorian era) who struggles to find her freedom and equality (feminism) while at the same time coming to terms with her own identity (femininity). The constraints of her family, pedigree, class, and sex are all under question as our heroine struggles to discover her own place in life.
I think I admired this book much more than I enjoyed it. Being over 100 years old, it is a bit dated and not the best thing I've ever read. Perhaps its considered wildly romantic by 19th century British Victorian standards, but the love story, while endearing, was... dispassionate. However, the spirit of the novel remains powerful and moving.
Wells does do a wonderful job of making his actors very human. Ann isnt the strong, pragmatic protagonist we hope she might aspire to be. That would be too easy. But she is a spirited, confused, conflicted girl of 22.
Initially being rejected for publication, the novel caused quite the uproar when it was came to print in 1907. The concepts of economic, social, and sexual freedom for woman are no stranger to our time. But, how much more were they 100 years ago?
I remember reading somewhere (though for the life of me I can't find it!) that it was inspired by his own relationship with a lively young woman. As a man who is also inspired by strong, independent, and progressive women... I tip my had to you sir.
also, THIS BOOK IS FREE!!!! Find it at the link below.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/524/52...
Ann Veronica is the story of the New Woman (new, that is to the Victorian era) who struggles to find her freedom and equality (feminism) while at the same time coming to terms with her own identity (femininity). The constraints of her family, pedigree, class, and sex are all under question as our heroine struggles to discover her own place in life.
I think I admired this book much more than I enjoyed it. Being over 100 years old, it is a bit dated and not the best thing I've ever read. Perhaps its considered wildly romantic by 19th century British Victorian standards, but the love story, while endearing, was... dispassionate. However, the spirit of the novel remains powerful and moving.
Wells does do a wonderful job of making his actors very human. Ann isnt the strong, pragmatic protagonist we hope she might aspire to be. That would be too easy. But she is a spirited, confused, conflicted girl of 22.
Initially being rejected for publication, the novel caused quite the uproar when it was came to print in 1907. The concepts of economic, social, and sexual freedom for woman are no stranger to our time. But, how much more were they 100 years ago?
I remember reading somewhere (though for the life of me I can't find it!) that it was inspired by his own relationship with a lively young woman. As a man who is also inspired by strong, independent, and progressive women... I tip my had to you sir.
also, THIS BOOK IS FREE!!!! Find it at the link below.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/524/52...
December 6, 2011
This book follows the life and decisions of Ann Veronica, a young woman who feels constrained by the social stigmas of the early 1900's. She disagrees with her father about school, friends, and general freedoms and finally leaves home to persue a life of freedom and forward thinking. She becomes involved with the suffragettes and makes some poor decisions about money and men. Her experiences slowly draw her away from the Victorian mind frame and stuffiness and into a "modern" world of thought.
Finally she falls in love (the love story doesn't begin at least 3/4 of the way into the book). Although the man she loves is married, they decide to live together anyway. This part of the book really bothered me. There was multiple discourses on how the characters knew what they were doing was wrong but decided to do it anyway because they were in love. This book was full of instances when the main charachter rationalizing wrong decisions because she wanted to be "free" or because she was in love.
The book was disapointing and felt preachy and pushy. If the book was just about the beginning of the Women's Movement, it would have been interesting enought, but the addition of the elicit affair and rationalization of wrong decisions because it "feels good" made the story disgusting to me.
Finally she falls in love (the love story doesn't begin at least 3/4 of the way into the book). Although the man she loves is married, they decide to live together anyway. This part of the book really bothered me. There was multiple discourses on how the characters knew what they were doing was wrong but decided to do it anyway because they were in love. This book was full of instances when the main charachter rationalizing wrong decisions because she wanted to be "free" or because she was in love.
The book was disapointing and felt preachy and pushy. If the book was just about the beginning of the Women's Movement, it would have been interesting enought, but the addition of the elicit affair and rationalization of wrong decisions because it "feels good" made the story disgusting to me.
April 16, 2019
Se podría considerar una novela con fuertes tendencias protofeministas, ya que lo que cuenta es la historia de una chica, Ana Verónica, que comienza a rebelarse contra el fuerte patriarcado de principios del s.XX, y en la época en que empezaron a surgir en el Reino Unidos los primeros movimientos sufragistas.
Ana Verónica no está contenta con su vida, no puede estudiar, no puede disfrutar de su libertad, lo único que se pide de ella es que se esté quietecita en casa y se dedique a ejercer de joven modosita. La chica se rebela ante este patriarcado tan injusto y se va de casa a disfrutar de su libertad y poder estudiar; pero una vez sola e independiente se da cuenta que el mundo sigue perteneciendo a los hombres y que todo son trabas. El caso es que es una novela muy interesante, sobre todo viniendo de quién viene, de H.G. Welles, el padre de algunas de las más populares novelas precursoas de la ciencia ficción.
La verdad es que me ha gustado mucho aunque también entiendo que ese final tan ·"politicamente correcto"y que me pareció un poco inconsecuente con el resto de la novela, tuvo que responder a imperativos comerciales, de lo contrario, quizás ni siquiera se la hubieran publicado. Así y todo, Wells lanza muchas reflexiones en torno a la mujer en aquella época, y solo por eso merece la pena.
Ana Verónica no está contenta con su vida, no puede estudiar, no puede disfrutar de su libertad, lo único que se pide de ella es que se esté quietecita en casa y se dedique a ejercer de joven modosita. La chica se rebela ante este patriarcado tan injusto y se va de casa a disfrutar de su libertad y poder estudiar; pero una vez sola e independiente se da cuenta que el mundo sigue perteneciendo a los hombres y que todo son trabas. El caso es que es una novela muy interesante, sobre todo viniendo de quién viene, de H.G. Welles, el padre de algunas de las más populares novelas precursoas de la ciencia ficción.
La verdad es que me ha gustado mucho aunque también entiendo que ese final tan ·"politicamente correcto"y que me pareció un poco inconsecuente con el resto de la novela, tuvo que responder a imperativos comerciales, de lo contrario, quizás ni siquiera se la hubieran publicado. Así y todo, Wells lanza muchas reflexiones en torno a la mujer en aquella época, y solo por eso merece la pena.
March 12, 2014
It was very interesting to read what would have been scandalous 100 years ago. Even today I found myself thinking, Whoa! Did she just do that? Ann Veronica is very brave, very determined, and a bit selfish, but I guess like father like daughter on that one. I think this was a fun experiment, and Ann and friends do reflect a lot on women's place in the world, gender equality, and science. It reminded me of Aldous Huxley's The Island with all the philosophizing. I guess I was a bit disappointed because I expected an attempt to make sense of it all, but instead it was sort of very matter-of-fact, like Ann herself, this is what happened. Lots of food for thought. I give it a "3" because it wasn't super-satisfying to me. I wasn't really impressed with her love interest either. He was not very believable, lovable, not even sure about attractive.
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