The Man Who Invented Tomorrow

London: Constable & Company Ltd.. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. 1968. First Edition. Hardcover. [a couple of tiny spots on top of text block, no other significant blemishes; jacket similarly nice, with just a touch of surface handling wear]. Curious novel about a British TV director who's assigned to produce a "prestige half-hour" program about H.G. Wells for a commercial channel, and faces the vexing problem of "how to extract the esence of a great man and present him to a mass audience, how to make sense of yesterday?" Among the myriad challenges faced by the director and his production team is the fact that the nondescript actor who's tapped to portray Wells REALLY gets into his part -- to the point where Wells himself "ends up not quite as dead as today expected" -- and becomes a character in the book itself. The author (1930-2005), who was a teacher and critic in addition to being a novelist, was married to Swedish actress-director Mai Zetterling from 1958 to 1979, and had collaborated with her on a number of films (including what was probably her best-known directorial effort, the 1966 film NIGHT GAMES), a television play, and a children's book. .