Résumé
Résumé de L’Âme d’un évêque
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À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who like novels of ideas, gentle satire of English church life, and stories where one person's inner crisis meets a world at war. It suits anyone curious about faith and doubt.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What happens when a bishop who recites the creeds every Sunday wakes at a quarter past three in the morning and cannot say what they mean? H. G. Wells opens The Soul of a Bishop with exactly that night. A tired clergyman lies under a gilded canopy, haunted by a dream of angry churchmen and a glowing triangle with an eye.
Wells published the book in 1917, in the middle of the First World War. Edward Scrope, Bishop of Princhester, is a kind and conventional man. Sleeplessness, a smoky diocese, a clever daughter, a heretical vicar and the war wear down his certainties. Then a young doctor hands him a golden tonic. You get a story that moves from comedy to crisis, and Wells's own thinking about God, priests and kings.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A bishop wakes in the night with doubtFree
- 2Princhester shocks a sheltered man
- 3His daughter Eleanor opens a door
- 4Sleepless nights, heretics and a world at war
- 5Lady Sunderbund listens as no one else has
- 6A young doctor offers a golden tonic
- 7Old Likeman begs him to wait
- 8The second vision and the confirmation service
- 9What the story says about God, priests and simplicity
- 10How the book is told
Point clé 1 sur 10
A bishop wakes in the night with doubt
The book begins in a dream. The bishop sees an angry assembly at Nicaea, and a glowing triangle with an eye swells in the dome above. He wakes in an enormous bed in the country house of a rich steel family, and the dream follows him into the dark.
The cause is a dinner party the evening before. Actors, novelists and professors cornered him and asked hard questions about the Trinity. Tired and trying to seem modern, he gave a flippant answer, and a fierce young Irish Catholic pounced. Now he is ashamed that he said it, and more ashamed that he half meant it.
He longs for a cigarette. He remembers creeping into his garden to smoke in secret, and a grubby little boy in a tree pointing at him. That small finger hurts more than any argument. He paces the room and can think of no prayer except one for light.
When belief wobbles, the first signs are often tiredness, shame and small secret lapses.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 74,800 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 15 min
Questions about L’Âme d’un évêque
What is The Soul of a Bishop about?
It tells of Edward Scrope, Bishop of Princhester, whose faith fails during sleepless nights and the First World War. A strange tonic gives him visions of God, and he must decide what to do with them.
When was The Soul of a Bishop written?
H. G. Wells published it in 1917, during the First World War. The war is a constant presence in the story, and its tragedies shape the bishop's view of kings, churches and God.
What does the Trinity triangle in the opening dream mean?
The glowing triangle with an eye stands for the doctrine of the Trinity and the endless arguments over it. It haunts the bishop's dreams because he can no longer say what he believes about it.
Who is Lady Sunderbund?
She is a wealthy, enthusiastic American widow who hunts for a religion that feels real. She becomes the bishop's first confidante, and later offers to fund a great temple for his message.
Is The Soul of a Bishop easy to read?
Wells writes in a lively, conversational voice with quick scenes, humour and short exchanges. The story moves through dinners, visions, family dinners and letters, so the ideas arrive through characters you can follow.
Cite this edition
Wells, H. G. The Soul of a Bishop. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-soul-of-a-bishop.
Wells, H. G. (2026). The soul of a bishop. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-soul-of-a-bishop (Original work published 1917)
Wells, H. G. The Soul of a Bishop. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-soul-of-a-bishop.
@book{wells2026soul,
author = {Wells, H. G.},
title = {The Soul of a Bishop},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-soul-of-a-bishop},
note = {First published 1917}
}
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