Wells and Kipling
Sir: My taste for science-fiction is less well-developed than that of Kingsley Amis, but I was impressed by his review of Arthur C. Clarke's new novel (August 4) and found his enthusiasm infectious. His implied acceptance of H. G. Wells as the supreme practitioner in this genre was understandable but, to me, rather surprising, following as closely as it did on his excellent — if tantalisingly brief — appreciation of Kipling on BBC-2.
Short as his time on the air was, Mr Amis might have spared a word for Kipling's two notable ventures into the science-fiction field With the Night Mail (1905) and As Easy as ABC (1912). While there undoubtedly existed a considerable mutual respect between the two contemporaries (even possibly some artistic debt), there has been very little critical comparison of their respective attempts at scientific prediction. We must concede Wells the wider overall vision of the future but when it comes to evolving in technical and convincing detail, uninvented machinery, Kipling shows him a very clean pair of heels. In With the Night Mail (set in 2000 AD) the London-Quebec Postal Packet is presented in astonishing detail, from its well-developed telecommunications and navigational aids to the ingenious use of a single gas for both lift and propulsion. Only in his modest estimate of flying speeds (200300 mph) and the continued use of propellers did Kipling underestimate aviational progress. Compare this with The Sleeper Awakes (set a century later) in which Wells describes a scheduled London-Paris flight in absurdly dated terms (goggles, wirestays etc). Kipling's official biographer, Profes sor Charles Carrington, has told us how the crew of the airship R.39 took the story With the Night Mail with them for reference on their historic flight in 1919! James Brock Old Angel, Woodhill, Stoke St Gregory, Taunton.
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