The Hampdenshire Wonder

Infobox Book
name = The Hampdenshire Wonder
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translator =


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author = J. D. Beresford
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country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Sidgwick & Jackson
release_date = 1911
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 295 pp
isbn = NA
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"The Hampdenshire Wonder" is a 1911 science fiction novel by J. D. Beresford. It is one of the first novels to involve a wunderkind. The child in it is named Victor Stott and he is the son of a famous cricket player. This origin is perhaps a reference to H. G. Wells's father. The novel concerns his progress from infant to almost preternaturally brilliant child. The character's intelligence is vaguely more like the children in the much later "Childhood's End "than like traditional stories of child prodigies. Also Victor Stott is subtly deformed to allow for his powerful brain. One prominent, and unpleasant, character is the local minister. As J.D. 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 concrete is that the story of Christian Friedrich Heinecken 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. Also, in the original version, the ideas of Henri Bergson on evolution are also significant.

References

*cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=48 | date=1948

External links

* [http://www.sfsite.com/04a/won78.htm SF Site review of "The Wonder" ]
* [http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue62/wonder_kids1.html Review at a science fiction webzine]