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The Jesting of Arlington Stringham
- GenresShort Stories
Unknown Binding
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About the author
Saki
1,563 books581 followersBritish writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as
The Chronicles of Clovis
(1911).
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 20, 2024
A Saki story I rate as only four stars? that fails to be shelved as a book-without-which-I-cannot-live or an ultimate-favorite?! Well of course every writer has moments of less than stellar brilliance. Who could produce only 'The Open Window' or 'Esme'? Saki's less brilliant tales are far less embarrassing then Shakespeare's Henry VIII or Pericles, Prince of Tyre (I know theses plays are collaborative efforts but they are still part of the canon) and how many other early 20th century humorous writings are still worth reading?
So The Jesting of Arlington Stringham can be missed, but to do so is to deprive yourself of a witty little tale about the foibles and frailties of relationships based on the expectation of things remaining the same. Uncertainty can be as alarming in any long term relationship as infidelity. Indeed it can be mistaken as a sign of far greater enormities than the simple boredom that generates it. In any case why skip something which contains such gems as:
"'It is a quotation,' said Eleanor.
"To say that anything was a quotation was an excellent method, in Eleanor's eyes, from withdrawing it from discussion, just as you could always defend indifferent lamb late in the season by say 'Its mutton.'"
or
"...the page-boy stood there, with his sleekly brushed and parted hair, and his air of chaste and callous indifference to the desires and passions of the world. Eleanor hated boys, and she would have liked to have whipped this one long and often. It was perhaps the yearning of a woman who had no children of her own."
Any story of a little over three pages (in my edition) which contains these and other gems can not really be dismissed. It is a less than perfect masterpiece but when measuring it against Saki's greatest its failure to measure up is hardly a real failure.
Like all great masters Saki's minor works are like one of those numerous creations by Mozart with dazzlingly large Kochel numbers that only the effluvia of a genius renders minor.
So The Jesting of Arlington Stringham can be missed, but to do so is to deprive yourself of a witty little tale about the foibles and frailties of relationships based on the expectation of things remaining the same. Uncertainty can be as alarming in any long term relationship as infidelity. Indeed it can be mistaken as a sign of far greater enormities than the simple boredom that generates it. In any case why skip something which contains such gems as:
"'It is a quotation,' said Eleanor.
"To say that anything was a quotation was an excellent method, in Eleanor's eyes, from withdrawing it from discussion, just as you could always defend indifferent lamb late in the season by say 'Its mutton.'"
or
"...the page-boy stood there, with his sleekly brushed and parted hair, and his air of chaste and callous indifference to the desires and passions of the world. Eleanor hated boys, and she would have liked to have whipped this one long and often. It was perhaps the yearning of a woman who had no children of her own."
Any story of a little over three pages (in my edition) which contains these and other gems can not really be dismissed. It is a less than perfect masterpiece but when measuring it against Saki's greatest its failure to measure up is hardly a real failure.
Like all great masters Saki's minor works are like one of those numerous creations by Mozart with dazzlingly large Kochel numbers that only the effluvia of a genius renders minor.
October 21, 2020
This one's not quite sharp enough to be worth the bitterness.
May 9, 2021
"Arlington Stringham made a joke in the House of Commons." This sets off a rather strange chain of events. Okay, but not his best. Audible edition narrated by Nadia May.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews