The Soul of a Bishop

What is really the matter here-the matter with you that is-is a disorganization of your tests of reality..... [E]very living being lives in a state not differing essentially from a state of hallucination concerning the things about it. Truth essential truth is hidden. Always. Of course there must be a measure of truth in our working illusions a working measure of truth or the creature would smash itself up and end itself but beyond that discretion of the first and the pitfall lies a wide margin of error about which we may be deceived for years. -from The First Vision He is known along with Jules Verne as one of the 19th-century fathers of logical rational science fiction but in this 1917 novel H. G. Wells weaves a more intuitive tale about a bishop haunted by strange dreams and visions that challenge his faith. Lyrical poetic and verging on stream-of-consciousness in places this little-read work of one of the most enduringly popular writers of modern literature is like found treasure offering a captivating and unexpected insight into Wells psyche. British author HERBERT GEORGE WELLS (1866-1946) is best known for his groundbreaking science fiction novels The Time Machine (1895) The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898).