PARRINDER, (John) Patrick

(1944-)

   UK academic and critic whose work in the sf field has focused primarily upon H.G. WELLS. His H.G. Wells (1970) remains the best short introduction to the work and the man, though it may now, two decades later, seem unduly dismissive about Wells's later career. H.G. Wells: The Critical Heritage (anth 1972) reflects a similar viewpoint. PP ed withRobert M. PHILMUS H.G. Wells's Literary Criticism (coll 1980). The War of the Worlds: Notes (1981 chap) is a study guide. H.G. Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 4th Ed (1986 chap), with J.R. Hammond, A.H.Watkins and the H.G. Wells Society, justifies its subtitle only if periodical publications are to be ignored. H.G. Wells under Revision: Proceedings of the International H.G. Wells Symposium, London, July 1986(anth 1990) with Christopher Rolfe reflects some of the advances in Wells studies since PP's first study, which in retrospect seems all the more prescient in the sophisticated seriousness of its approach. PP has also edited 2 critical editions for The H.G. Wells Society: Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) (coll 1895) 1992 chap) with David C. Smith, which includes previously uncollected material, and The Discovery of the Future ((1902) coll 1989 chap), which includes also some lesser essays. The useful Science Fiction: A Critical Guide (anth 1979) was followed by Science Fiction: Its Criticism and Teaching (1980), a clear-headed and subtle conspectus of the field from a scholarly point of view.

   JC

   See also: CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL WORKS ABOUT SF; SF IN THE CLASSROOM; SCIENTISTS.