Father Fails

How could the great fantasist H.G. Wells fail to make a delusional father interesting? Easy enough to find out, just leaf through this week's objet d'eBay, a first edition of his novel, Christina Alberta's Father. The story, based on a case of psychiatrist Carl Jung, was no audience favorite (and a recent musical adaptation seems not to have fared much better). Still, the idea of a muddled father — by the father of four, two within his marriage — does suggest a great deal of love between father and child ... so maybe the problem for audiences is that the father isn't delusional enough?