The Westminster Alice: A political parody based on Lewis Carroll's Wonderland

by Saki, F. Carruthers Gould (Illustrator), Hugh Cahill (Afterword)

Saki was the pen-name of Hector Hugh Munro, an author and playwright best known for his subtle and witty short stories. He wrote these Wonderland-inspired vignettes for the "Westminster Gazette", and in 1902 these were collected and published together as "The Westminster Alice". Saki's stories use Lewis Carroll's Wonderland to criticize and parody early twentieth-century British politics-and do so with great ingenuity and cleverness. Francis Carruthers Gould's astute illustrations add to the enjoyment. A preface and footnotes by John Alfred Spender and afterword by Hugh Cahill help guide the reader into understanding and appreciating the context of Saki's parodies-though the fun they make of politicians needs no explanation!

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Politics, British Literature, Comedy, 20th Century, Classics

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

British 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.

Reviews

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second satire based on the characters that Lewis Carroll created in the Wonderland books that I have read, and I have to admit I'm a bit dissapointed. I like Saki, he was a good short story writer, so I was expecting something better.

I laughed at a some of the jokes, a few may even be relevant today, but I didn't really get most of the humor. It seems to be written so straight into the British political landscape around 1900 that one needs more historical knowledge than I have to properly enjoy this satire. Still it's interesting for anyone that is interested in how Lewis Carroll's work has been recycled over the years.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can understand wanting to have Saki represented in the Guardian 1000 novels list, but his novels aren't his best work (not really even his good work). His acidic short stories are why he is still remembered and are a glorious collection of tough wit.

This isn't even a novel - not even a novella - just a very short collection of vignettes parodying the Alice books. The writing is good and the style even better but taken out of context of their serial publication across several issues of The Westminster Gazette - and even more taken out of context of the political world around the second Boer war in the very early 20th century - they make very very little sense.

There are moments that can apply to politics at any time (the opposition party trying to keep its factions united against the government rather than fighting themselves could perennially describe the Labour Party) but really this work has no business whatsoever being on the Guardian's 1000 Greatest Novels list - both because of its quality (it's not good enough) and also because it isn't a novel.

However, it did make a very very good makeweight when trying to catch up in my 2021 Good Reads Reading Challenge. So I gave it an additional star.

EDIT: For those wanting some background to this book, these notes will help make more sense of the various parties being satirised in the work.

https://archive.org/details/westminst...

[Rosemarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are an important part of this book. A familiarity with Alice in Wonderland and British politics of the early 20th century makes the book more meaningful and entertaining.

[J. Boo · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I knew the politics of Boer War era Britain well, I bet I'd find this hilarious. And, as it is, there are some very funny and interpretable lines. Alas, I'm too unfamiliar with the cast of characters and the event to really get the humour.

[BJ McSt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Requires context

Before or after reading this, it would help to do a quick review of British history between approximately 1897 and 1902. Knowing what was happening (the Boer War, for one thing) would infuse more meaning. Writing style does track Lewis Carroll's and the drawings are great.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½ stars. While I enjoy Saki's humor, this policital satire parodying Alice in Wonderland was too dated to be funny. I did enjoy the illustrations.

[Wend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick and interesting read. It's a series of short satires about British government using characters from Alice In Wonderland. Interesting view of the early 1900's

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Westminster Alice by Saki – author of http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/t...

7 out of 10





Saki has three or more books on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/0... and one of them is The Westminster Alice



What is the point though, if yours truly has no joy in reading it…joking aside, this is all I have to say about The Westminster, before I descend into ranting and spam, as label by Goodreads, which has sent me an email

In other words, let us be clear, do not read these lines, and maybe we do not get into reporting, complaints, because the warning, disclaimer, spoiler alert is more than obvious – I did not like the book, full stop



‘the rest is silence’ to quote Shakespeare, but I need to vent off, there is this guy, who lives in the same country with me, called Socrate – he chose the name, most likely, to suggest he is so damn wise, a philosopher, no less

Only he is a fraud, some months back, he has decided to snatch the number one spot, #1 top reviewers, by cheating, he has posted hundreds of ‘reviews, every single day, until he now has ‘more than six thousand reviews’



However, the problem is that these are just quotes from that book, he is reviewing, or something copied from elsewhere, he brings Nothing into it, there is no contribution form the present #1 top reviewer, who maybe wanted to make a point

However, I have contacted Goodreads when I saw what was happening, which was absurd, abominable, in that you could not possibly ‘write, create’ hundreds of reviews on a single day, unless you are a massive Fraud



What happened?

Again: nothing!



Oh, in fact, it gets worse…



The other day, I have received an email, which states that they have removed a ‘spam’ that has been reported

It is on Cleo de 5 a 7 http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/c... a film



Now, what about this ‘Socrates’??

What will Goodreads do about the Number One Across this Nation?



The answer is nothing.

Most likely, I will have another one of my notes removed



So there we are!!

[J Grimsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This maybe a good witty book but I did not understand the satire. You must have read both of Lewis Carroll's stories (which I have) and had detailed knowledge of early 1900's politics which I only know a little of. I also expect the humour is like Punch's which I only get a small part of. It's too much for me .

[Paarth Endlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely witty yet accurate depiction of certain personalities as well as circumstances. This is a true example of the world through Munro's Looking Glass. It shows how he perceived the world around him. No spoilers shall be given here. A must read if you fancy a good quality political-comedy.

[Daniy ♠ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 13 of 30 days Challenge (2)

Amazing, I haven't read much Saki before, a short story in a book Neil Gaiman was an editor and then some vignettes but I quite like him and his humor.

It baffles me that it has such a low rating tbh.

[Marisa Pedro · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written for the people of Britain in the early 1900s. As an American living in the 2020s, the contents of the book went completely over my head.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not a witty or acid as Saki short stories this piece of early 20th century satire is still a fine humours read

[Maja Lange]

I can't rate this one, as I have absolutely no knowledge of the political context it was written in. It didn't make sense for me to read the book in the first place, really.

[Karen]

* 1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list

Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.

[Renee M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Golding reading for Librivox = 5 stars
Librivox being free audio recordings read & posted online by volunteers = 5 stars
Almost everything by Saki = 5 stars
The premise = 5 stars
My ability to follow most of this parody based on my knowledge of the politics of his time = 1 star
My ability to apply some of the satire to politics in general = 2 stars

But I'll bet that when these little parodies showed up in the Westminster Gazette, people followed them with anticipation and relish.

[Mariano Hortal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué se puede decir de SAKI? Poco, es un maestro del relato corto, y en esta joyita lo vuelve a hacer, relatos basados en los cuentos de Alicia en el país de las maravillas con los que se sirve para satirizar e ironizar la clase política inglesa de principios de siglo XX. Deliciosos, y la edición, ejemplar. Una buena lectura.

[Rose]

Unless you are heavily into British politics circa 1900, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unfortunately.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mycket underfundig humor och bra satir tycker jag, fastän jag inte kände igen gubbarna på teckningarna.

[Elisheva Rina · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the other comments are correct--the humor is very specific to Saki's political era; all I can tell is that it was probably very funny back then...but now...
Read his other stuff!

[Debra Diggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the most part, I just didn't get it.

[Jamie Eberle]

The Westminster Alice by Saki