Besant, Walter
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1836-1901) UK author known primarily for his work outside the sf field; one of the main founders of the Society of Authors in 1884. His early novels were written in collaboration with James Rice (1843-1882); their The Case of Mr Lucraft and Other Tales (coll 1876 2vols) contains several fantasies, including the novella-length "The Case of Mr Lucraft" (27 October-10 November 1875 The World) about a man who leases out his appetite. The Revolt of Man (1882 anon) is an anti-suffragette novel depicting a female-dominated society of the future, where Religion has been abolished; it exemplifies the sexual attitudes and imagination of the Victorian gentleman in a fashion which modern readers might find unwittingly funny (see Feminism; Women in SF) especially perhaps in the climax of the tale, where one of these chaps leads a successful revolt against urban females and is crowned King.
The Inner House: Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1888 (1888; exp vt as coll The Holy Rose, Etc 1890) is a significant early Dystopia in which the discovery of a technology of Immortality leads – after a savage purging of the elderly – to passionless social stagnation 500 years hence; the tale depicts a successful revolt against this tyranny. The Doubts of Dives: Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1889 (1889; vt The Lament of Dives 1889; reprinted in Verbena Camellia Stephanotis, coll 1892; cut 1892) is an earnest Identity Exchange fantasy whose protagonist, unusually, seeks to solve the ennui attendant upon an inheritance. Uncle Jack, etc. (coll 1885) includes "Sir Jocelyn's Cap", an F Anstey-esque fantasy novella written in collaboration with Walter Herries Pollock. A Five Years' Tryst and Other Stories (coll 1902) includes the sf story "The Memory Cell" (in For Britain's Soldiers, anth 1900, ed C J Cutcliffe Hyne). Besant's abiding interests in social reform and abnormal Psychology bring a few of his other novels close to the sf borderline, most notably the dual-personality story The Ivory Gate (1892); his credulity concerning ESP is responsible for the introduction of (very minor) fantastic elements into several others. Besant was knighted in 1895. [BS]
see also: Anonymous SF Authors; Sociology.
Sir Walter Besant
born Portsea, Hampshire: 14 August 1836
died London: 9 June 1901
works
- The Revolt of Man (Edinburgh, Scotland: William Blackwood, 1882) anonymous [hb/]
- The Inner House: Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1888 (Bristol, England: J W Arrowsmith, 1888) [hb/]
- The Holy Rose, Etc (London: Chatto and Windus, 1890) [exp vt of the above as coll: hb/]
- The Doubts of Dives: Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1889 (Bristol, England: J W Arrowsmith, 1889) [hb/]
- The Lament of Dives (New York: Frank F Lovell, 1889) [vt of the above: hb/]
- Verbena Camellia Stephanotis (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892) [coll: containing the above: hb/]
- Verbena Camellia Stephanotis (Leipzig, Germany: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1889) [coll: cutting some stories from the above but not The Doubts of Dives: hb/]
- The Demoniac: Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1890 (Bristol, England: J W Arrowsmith, 1890) [hb/]
- The Ivory Gate (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892) [first appeared 2 January-24 September 1892 Chamber's Edinburgh Journal: published in three volumes: hb/]
collections
- The Case of Mr Lucraft and Other Tales (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1876) with James Rice, anonymous [coll: published in two volumes: novella-length title story first appeared 27 October-10 November 1875 The World: hb/]
- Uncle Jack, Etc. (London: Chatto and Windus, 1885) [coll: hb/]
- In Deacon's Orders and Other Stories (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892) [coll: hb/]
- The Charm and Other Drawing-Room Plays (London: Chatto and Windus, 1896) with Walter Pollock [plays: coll: title play is fantasy: illus/Chris Hammond and A Jule Goodman: hb/uncredited]
- A Five Years' Tryst and Other Stories (London: Methuen, 1902) [coll: hb/]
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