H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay

Simon John James (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1909

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Tono-Bungay

is a mostly realist novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1909, and one of Wells's most important novels.

George Ponderevo is the son of the housekeeper at the country house Bladesover; he has never known his father. When playing with the child of the Hon. Beatrice Normandy, George first becomes aware of his inferior social class, and rebels against it. Beatrice's half-brother Archie teases George for dropping his aitches; after the fight that results, George is banished from Bladesover and sent to live with his nonconformist Uncle Nicodemus in Chatham. He runs away in protest back to Bladesover, from where his mother sends him to live with another uncle, Edward Ponderevo, in Wimblehurst (a portrait of Midhurst, in Sussex). Edward is a pharmacist with ambitions to be

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1373 words

Citation: James, Simon John. "Tono-Bungay". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 November 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8400, accessed 24 November 2024.]

H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback