The Hampdenshire Wonder
First edition
AuthorJ. D. Beresford
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction novel
PublisherSidgwick & Jackson
Publication date
1911
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages295 pp

The Hampdenshire Wonder is a science fiction novel by J. D. Beresford, first published 1911. It is one of the first novels to involve a wunderkind (child prodigy). The child, Victor Stott, is the son of a famous cricket player. This origin is perhaps a reference to H.G. Wells's father Joseph Wells, a cricketer. The novel concerns his progress from infant to almost preternaturally clever child. Victor Stott is deformed subtly to allow for his powerful brain. A prominent, and unpleasant, character is the local minister. As Beresford's father was a minister, and Beresford was himself partially disabled, some see autobiographical aspects to the story. However this is unproven.

What is more definite is that the story of Christian Heinrich Heineken (1721..1725) was an inspiration for the story. Whether the biography of that child prodigy was accurate or not, "the Lubeck prodigy" is mentioned in the work. In the original version, the progressionist ideas of Henri Bergson concerning evolution were a significant influence.

References

    Sources

    • Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 48.
    • George M. Johnson. J.D. Beresford. New York: Twayne/Simon and Schuster, 1998.
    • George M. Johnson. "The Other Side of Edwardian Fiction: Two Forgotten Fantasy Novels of 1911" Wormwood: Literature of the fantastic, supernatural and decadent. U.K., No. 16 (Spring 2011) 3–15.
    • George M. Johnson. "Evil is in the Eye of the Beholder: Threatening Children in Two Edwardian Speculative Satires". Science Fiction Studies. Vol. 41, No.1 (March 2014): 26–44.


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