Although more well-known for his science fiction novels, Wells has written some contemporary novels worth revisiting. What is Tono-Bungay? It’s not a name of a foreign bloke, like Tony, as exotic as it sounds. It is simply a wellness tonic, just as the brands Haagen Däsz or Starbucks are synonymous for overpriced ice cream and trashy premium coffee. Tono-Bungay is mere placebo sold as tonic which would save all your lives’ problems, just as South East Asian aunties use tiger balm as medicine for any physical and mental complaints. It is an invigorating tonic, something to battle hair loss, make you younger and more attractive.
Tono-Bungay is the marketer’s novel. The tonic after all, is a product of people’s perception, even though there is no substance to it. Teddy Ponderevo is a model of the American Dream (even though this is an English novel), as he snaked his way from his humble beginnings into wealth. Through clever advertising, the understanding and willingness to abuse people’s needs, Teddy was able to create demand where there was none. Some of the techniques are even relevant for today’s day and age, as he leverages ambiguity to create a believable fiction:
“What I want to know is, in the Middle Ages, did they do anything for Housemaid’s Knee? What did they put in their hot baths after jousting?”
It was through the eyes of George Ponderevo that we see this rise and fall of capitalism through his uncle Teddy. Teddy’s schemes, as he was addicted to his own success, became more intricate and larger in scale. He creates companies out of thin air, for the sake of its own existence, so that he is able to share the equity by laundering money around his companies to give the illusion of profit. Surely things like that will not end well, and surely we’ve seen this before in our lifetime. Dickens and Wells were already writing about this in the previous centuries, way before Ponzi schemes were a thing and it seems that we’ve learned nothing. The companies conjured by Teddy, in essence are no better than the Dickens’s Department of Circumlocution in Little Dorritt.
Ultimately, what resonates with me is how Tono-Bungay is as close a reflection to where we are right now, as the world is insanely gobbling things up of little value. Ask the crypto traders and NFT barons, whose sole purpose is to multiply their profits. But none of these traders really own crypto because they believe in the company and their mission, and have long term inherent stakes on it; nor do most NFT traders will keep their tokens because of sentimentality. There are costs to this, and bubbles burst — as Wells and Dickens predicted.
The combination of George’s failed marriage and romances, seeing through the farce that is Tono-Bungay and realising that his uncle’s schemes are merely a house of cards under a breeze, led George came to an existential crisis. In some ways, this illusion of success is nauseating, he became nihilistic and at some point contemplated suicide. His relationships are shallow, despite his wealth he was still the butt of ridicule by the old-money and he couldn’t get the girl he loves.
George’s salvation did not come in his relationships, as he married badly, and he really had no chance with Beatrice. It was in the pursuit of aerodynamics — in the science and art of it. Though science is cold and objective, George finds beauty in his ambition.
“Scientific truth is the remotest of mistresses, she hides in strange places, she is attained by torturous and laborious road, but she is always there!”
Where marketing is subjective and manipulative, the cold, hard truth of science allows George to contribute, before it becomes an obsession which impedes his work with Tono-Bungay.
But what stuck with me is the “quap” — a radioactive material which could line the pockets of anyone who could grab hold of it. The quap segment could have filled another novel and perhaps can be cut into its own story, but the mold fits, as the quap represents the toxic dreams of men trying to make a quick buck. For the quap the Ponderevos hired mercenaries, trespass, steal, cheat and kill. Yet, the men have no idea of the dangers of the substance, that it breeds poison to its surrounding, that it is cancerous and unfreightable.
But Wells is nothing less than prophetic here. Where companies and nation states often stake their claim on rare metals and scrambling for monopoly, these radioactive materials and rare metals have spurred the tech growth that we have enjoyed for the last century. Tono-Bungay is apt in its portrayal of the men’s willingness to violence and foregoing ethical concerns to make a quick buck from the quap. Wars will be waged over these metals (if they haven’t already), as there will be for water, and when that happens, I will think of Tono-Bungay.
For me, it is Wells’s best work. While I find his science fiction the most balanced and entertaining out of all the sci-fi masters, it is Tono-Bungay that takes the spotlight in the repertoire. It is a cynical book, yes, as great books often are. Yet, it is a timely book to read where new bubbles are popping up in what we know as capitalism — not that this society will fall as we know it, but how men lose themselves in the pursuit of these toxic dreams.
