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El insoportable Bassington
Considerado como el Oscar Wilde de su tiempo,
Saki (H.H. Munro, 1870-1916) fue aclamado
como un maestro del estilo y la ironía. Nadie como Saki
para diseccionar, como un experto naturalista,
especímenes endémicos de la clase alta británica,
como jóvenes díscolos, tías estúpidas o cínicos dandis,
valiéndose de ocurrentes diálogos y mucho humor negro.
Sus historias resultan sorprendentemente modernas
gracias a esa chocante y peculiar mezcla de humor y horror.
La viuda Francesca Bassington es un miembro establecido
de la buena sociedad londinense que ha logrado mantenerse gracias a la adecuada administración de una pequeña fortuna.
Su mayor tesoro en esta vida es el salón de té de su preciosa
residencia de Blue Street. Pero hay dos amenazas que se ciernen
sobre su modesta deberá abandonar la casa
cuando la sobrina de su legítima propietaria se case,
y la actitud frívola de su hijo Comus ante la vida,
que le ocasiona constantes quebraderos de cabeza.
Pero ha ideado un plan para acabar con sus
casará a su irresponsable y desagradecido hijo
con la próspera heredera Elaine de Frey.
El insoportable Bassington (1912), primera novela de Saki,
es un divertido relato de costumbres, elegante y deliciosamente
satírico. La edición se completa con seis relatos no recopilados
en otras colecciones, y aparecidos en revistas de la época.
Saki (H.H. Munro, 1870-1916) fue aclamado
como un maestro del estilo y la ironía. Nadie como Saki
para diseccionar, como un experto naturalista,
especímenes endémicos de la clase alta británica,
como jóvenes díscolos, tías estúpidas o cínicos dandis,
valiéndose de ocurrentes diálogos y mucho humor negro.
Sus historias resultan sorprendentemente modernas
gracias a esa chocante y peculiar mezcla de humor y horror.
La viuda Francesca Bassington es un miembro establecido
de la buena sociedad londinense que ha logrado mantenerse gracias a la adecuada administración de una pequeña fortuna.
Su mayor tesoro en esta vida es el salón de té de su preciosa
residencia de Blue Street. Pero hay dos amenazas que se ciernen
sobre su modesta deberá abandonar la casa
cuando la sobrina de su legítima propietaria se case,
y la actitud frívola de su hijo Comus ante la vida,
que le ocasiona constantes quebraderos de cabeza.
Pero ha ideado un plan para acabar con sus
casará a su irresponsable y desagradecido hijo
con la próspera heredera Elaine de Frey.
El insoportable Bassington (1912), primera novela de Saki,
es un divertido relato de costumbres, elegante y deliciosamente
satírico. La edición se completa con seis relatos no recopilados
en otras colecciones, y aparecidos en revistas de la época.
327 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1912
30 people are currently reading
783 people want to read
About the author
Saki
1,749 books594 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 - 30 of 86 reviews
June 16, 2012
The Unbearable Bassington is like hanging out with Oscar Wilde at 4 in the morning at a bar after he's had a bad breakup. It's laugh-out-loud funny, it's got snarky put-downs in spades, and it has an undercurrent of cynicism, even bitterness. It's great entertainment (clearly, humor is Saki's defense mechanism, too!) but it's got a bitter aftertaste as well. I find something very human and relatable about Saki's writing, and this is a keeper.
July 17, 2024
A strange and funny satirical novel by the inimitable Saki.
Odd for the young "Comus Bassington" to be described as the central character; his mother is really the heart and soul of this book. The novel opens and closes with her, and dwells on her hopes and dreams. It is the heavy burden of her hopes and dreams that is felt to be unbearable.
Young Comus, on the other hand, who is said to be the unbearable Bassington, is rather a blank slate, albeit an attractive one. He is a cypher more than a central character, a catalyst for others, an attention-getter and sometimes a poultice drawing poison out of deep wounds.
Odd for the young "Comus Bassington" to be described as the central character; his mother is really the heart and soul of this book. The novel opens and closes with her, and dwells on her hopes and dreams. It is the heavy burden of her hopes and dreams that is felt to be unbearable.
Young Comus, on the other hand, who is said to be the unbearable Bassington, is rather a blank slate, albeit an attractive one. He is a cypher more than a central character, a catalyst for others, an attention-getter and sometimes a poultice drawing poison out of deep wounds.
October 10, 2015
I read this in the "Complete Works of Saki" but I think it warrants its own comments.
In re-reading the complete works of H.H. Munro, his short stories teem with irony and mockery regarding human nature and the foibles and essential superficiality of social behaviors, respectively. Perhaps he is merciless but not malicious, as some have described him. Maybe Reginald and Clovis, and even Vera, enjoy upsetting the artificial norm of Victorian/Edwardian behavior, but there is often an undercurrent feeling of justice or at least just desserts in many of his stories.
This longer story, novella, goes beyond the more typical vignette that captures a situation or circumstance, and shows just how clearly the author saw the habits and behaviors and justifications that human nature is subject to. And in following his story longer and his characters more closely, instead of the reader (or at least THIS reader) being left feeling amused or satisfied or even superior - the story reveals itself as something more. All the bon mots, clear-eyed dissections and witty observations ultimately serve to present a little jewel of a human tragedy, even several, whether from short-sightedness, selfishness, lack of awareness or self-knowledge, self-deception... The cost of those failings are contrasted with those whose lack of awareness seems to insulate them, although I suspect Saki could as easily peel back those layers to a deeper story as well, as insulating behaviors can also be self-administered where not supremely unconscious.
The lightness of tone and sharpness of observation are a bit deceptive in that they bite deeper than the short stories. But, at the same time, it seems, the author reveals sympathy towards the characters trapped in the worlds of their choosing or in which they can never entirely fit - and the ending, which has a certain and expected irony, also reveals more heart than the author's short stories typically let us see. That he could see the cost of the "hipness" of the day and the superficiality people use to hide themselves and pursue acceptance or hide their supreme selfishness and self-interest - shows more than a witty, malicious, observant genius - but a man with heart who was lost too soon.
In re-reading the complete works of H.H. Munro, his short stories teem with irony and mockery regarding human nature and the foibles and essential superficiality of social behaviors, respectively. Perhaps he is merciless but not malicious, as some have described him. Maybe Reginald and Clovis, and even Vera, enjoy upsetting the artificial norm of Victorian/Edwardian behavior, but there is often an undercurrent feeling of justice or at least just desserts in many of his stories.
This longer story, novella, goes beyond the more typical vignette that captures a situation or circumstance, and shows just how clearly the author saw the habits and behaviors and justifications that human nature is subject to. And in following his story longer and his characters more closely, instead of the reader (or at least THIS reader) being left feeling amused or satisfied or even superior - the story reveals itself as something more. All the bon mots, clear-eyed dissections and witty observations ultimately serve to present a little jewel of a human tragedy, even several, whether from short-sightedness, selfishness, lack of awareness or self-knowledge, self-deception... The cost of those failings are contrasted with those whose lack of awareness seems to insulate them, although I suspect Saki could as easily peel back those layers to a deeper story as well, as insulating behaviors can also be self-administered where not supremely unconscious.
The lightness of tone and sharpness of observation are a bit deceptive in that they bite deeper than the short stories. But, at the same time, it seems, the author reveals sympathy towards the characters trapped in the worlds of their choosing or in which they can never entirely fit - and the ending, which has a certain and expected irony, also reveals more heart than the author's short stories typically let us see. That he could see the cost of the "hipness" of the day and the superficiality people use to hide themselves and pursue acceptance or hide their supreme selfishness and self-interest - shows more than a witty, malicious, observant genius - but a man with heart who was lost too soon.
January 20, 2025
For a comic novel this ends with one of the most devastatingly brutal denouements of any novel, never mind a comic one, that I have read when Francesca Bassington learns that her much prized Van der Meulen is only a copy. Why it is so brutal I refuse to reveal, but the Van der Meulen is a symbol/metaphor for everything that isn't important and though some may mistakenly see Comus Bassington as the centre of the novel it is his mother, Francesca, who gives it form and meaning.
It is a demolition of the absurdities of the wasteful, superficial, meaningless trivialities of upper middle class life in its Edwardian glory. It is the world Saki immortalised so brilliant in the stories about his alter egos Reginald and Clovis but also foreshadows his more serious novel, 'When William Came' but more importantly his decision to enlist, age 44, as a private soldier in 1914. Saki the chronicler of '...those untameable young lords of misrule that frolic and chafe themselves through nursery and preparatory and public schooldays' was finally growing up and searching for meaning and 'The Unbearable Bassington' was part of that search.
Though far better than 'When William Came' the 'Unbearable Bassington' is not entirely successful. Saki had not, and of course never would, develop the skills of lengthy exposition. His work in journalism and writing short stories probably ruined him for novel writing. Because of his death in WWI we will never know if his pre WWI brilliance could have found new outlets. Part of me thinks he wouldn't have. But how many other short story writers from the pre WWI world are still worth reading? Even the Unbearable Bassington, for all its weaknesses, contains prose of a sparkling beauty and humor that is still a delight.
An imperfect masterpiece, but what would I not exchange to write such imperfect masterpieces!
It is a demolition of the absurdities of the wasteful, superficial, meaningless trivialities of upper middle class life in its Edwardian glory. It is the world Saki immortalised so brilliant in the stories about his alter egos Reginald and Clovis but also foreshadows his more serious novel, 'When William Came' but more importantly his decision to enlist, age 44, as a private soldier in 1914. Saki the chronicler of '...those untameable young lords of misrule that frolic and chafe themselves through nursery and preparatory and public schooldays' was finally growing up and searching for meaning and 'The Unbearable Bassington' was part of that search.
Though far better than 'When William Came' the 'Unbearable Bassington' is not entirely successful. Saki had not, and of course never would, develop the skills of lengthy exposition. His work in journalism and writing short stories probably ruined him for novel writing. Because of his death in WWI we will never know if his pre WWI brilliance could have found new outlets. Part of me thinks he wouldn't have. But how many other short story writers from the pre WWI world are still worth reading? Even the Unbearable Bassington, for all its weaknesses, contains prose of a sparkling beauty and humor that is still a delight.
An imperfect masterpiece, but what would I not exchange to write such imperfect masterpieces!
March 18, 2017
Unlike his Reginald stories, which it much resembled at first, Saki's "The Unbearable Bassington" is a type of morality tale. It contrasts the selfishness of his mother with our protagonist's selfishness, and the conclusion we are forced to draw is that both have thrown their lives away on things of no real importance. Conus Bassington has been brought up frivolously by his mother, Francesca, who is completely in thrall to her accumulated treasures, and has one great painting which requires the perfect space to hang. That space is her present home which she has on loan from a good friend now deceased. When Conus runs up bills and fails to net a fine young heiress, Francesca becomes so enraged that she sends her hot house flower of a son to Africa to work. He goes with a heavy heart. His life there is brutal and short. It isn't long before Francesca receives a telegram informing her of his death. It is at that point that she realizes what she should have remembered before: she loves her son as she has loved no one else and has thrown away his life. Conus's life was empty and silly at times, and he had a habit of sabotaging every opportunity offered to him, but he gave her a fair amount of happiness and she gave him the love he sincerely needed. Yet they were so mired in their schemes that they threw away any chance of being useful to each other and happy.
This is a very different set of circumstances than Saki ever explored before. He does it with panache.
This is a very different set of circumstances than Saki ever explored before. He does it with panache.
June 22, 2025
Biting commentary of how shallow people can be. Book does an excellent job of showing how empty these people’s lives are but we can see them as individuals; real flesh and blood people caught up in pointless modern life and the pursuit of what passes for happiness.
July 14, 2017
I should have been a professor and taught British Lit with a focus on the Edwardian era. Would you believe I had never even heard of Saki until I came across this book in the library? What a find!
Spoiler alert (but it's vague!)
Here is what Saki will do: set you up with a lovely plot with all the characters and machinations and expectations of a drawing room drama and then obliterate them and nothing, nothing works out.
It's a darker more critical look at the upper class and high society, but for me it just worked. Also, he's witty in an Oscar Wildeish way--there were many bon mots and moments when I was laughing out loud.
And, I found myself wishing this book had been turned into one of those Merchant-Ivory films. I'll add quotes later
Spoiler alert (but it's vague!)
Here is what Saki will do: set you up with a lovely plot with all the characters and machinations and expectations of a drawing room drama and then obliterate them and nothing, nothing works out.
It's a darker more critical look at the upper class and high society, but for me it just worked. Also, he's witty in an Oscar Wildeish way--there were many bon mots and moments when I was laughing out loud.
And, I found myself wishing this book had been turned into one of those Merchant-Ivory films. I'll add quotes later
April 3, 2017
Author’s Note
This story has no moral.
If it points out an evil at any rate it suggests no remedy.
We all know someone like Francesca or recognize something of her in ourselves. ;)
What a set of characters! I wish most writer's were half as good writing characters as Saki is in this book. This made it to my favorites list easily. Funny and witty in a rare way. I will definitely read more Saki in the future.
November 17, 2016
For a large part a witty satire, reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's plays, it tends to become a bit repetitive and old-fashionedly slow halfway. But then the last two chapters turn out to be masterful, dramatic, written in an excellent style. Let's read some of Saki's stories!
July 6, 2015
A curious book with some hilarious passages early on. Ultimately a sad story of selfishness and wasted lives. I prefer his short stories.
November 17, 2018
Daha önce Karanlıkta 33 Yazar derlemesinde öyküsünü okumuş olduğum Saki'nin dili çok hoşuma gitmemişti. Belki de çeviriden kaynaklıdır diyorum şimdi. Çünkü bu kitapta Saki'nin dilini çok sevdim. Hafif mizahi ve ironik bir dille 1900lerin başındaki İngiliz burjuvazisinin bir görünümünü veriyor yazar bize bu kitapta. Çevirisi oldukça güzel. Fakat bir sürü yazım yanlışı kitabın eksisi.
January 13, 2016
I will now write my review with the aid of Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist, my stand-in for Comus Bassington.
Comus Bassington is a devilishly handsome and charming young man.
The key word here is devilish. He usually does exactly the opposite of what he should do.
He gets away with it for a long time, thanks primarily to his loving (and patient) mother, but also due to his almost equally devilish friends.
Of course Mephisto is Courtenay. Of course.
But, eventually life deals him what he's owed.
I know, Rin- er, Comus, I know.
I loved this story. I can understand why others may read this and wonder what the point of it was, but I think of it as a beautifully and humorously told "slice of life" story. And Comus, much like Rin, is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.
The relationship between Comus and his mother was just fantastic.
Comus Bassington is a devilishly handsome and charming young man.
The key word here is devilish. He usually does exactly the opposite of what he should do.
He gets away with it for a long time, thanks primarily to his loving (and patient) mother, but also due to his almost equally devilish friends.
Of course Mephisto is Courtenay. Of course.
But, eventually life deals him what he's owed.
I know, Rin- er, Comus, I know.
I loved this story. I can understand why others may read this and wonder what the point of it was, but I think of it as a beautifully and humorously told "slice of life" story. And Comus, much like Rin, is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.
The relationship between Comus and his mother was just fantastic.
April 23, 2022
I used to read references to Saki in long-ago literature classes and yet never actually read him until lately. This novel is short, acerbic, hilarious, sad, and one of the best reads I've had in a while. All those fussy, mannered British characters that you've ever wanted to lampoon are roasted with a roaring flame of wit, to the point that I felt as if I should not be enjoying myself so much at the expense of so many people, albeit made-up ones. "Some people are born with a sense of how to clothe themselves, others acquire it, others look as if their clothes had been thrust upon them." "Hostesses regarded her philosophically as a form of social measles which everyone had to have once." "The sort of pulpiteer who spanks the vices of his age and lunches with them afterwards." There is never any hope that the self-centered rake Comus will win the hand of the lovely and wealthy Elaine, nor is there any hope for her in the choice that she does make. Mother and son will never come to understand that they are bound to one another with true feeling until it is, of course, too late. Funny as it is, the book left me with a deep sadness for its central characters, particularly poor doomed and handsome Comus and his mother Francesca who declares that her soul is kept in her parlor among her very fine possessions.
October 3, 2017
3.5*
While I could see that this novel was a social satire, I failed to find much humor in it. Saki's short stories are much more amusing! Comus & his mother are in the end more tragic figures than figures of fun. Still worth reading for the social commentary though!
While I could see that this novel was a social satire, I failed to find much humor in it. Saki's short stories are much more amusing! Comus & his mother are in the end more tragic figures than figures of fun. Still worth reading for the social commentary though!
July 8, 2021
This book was recommended to me by my roommate. “You need to read this book. You will really like it.”
I was wondering what in the world he was thinking and secretly giving him the stink eye for about 85 percent of this short book.
But, the ending. Oh….the ending. Making me cry when I already had my makeup on….
So, I apologize for the stink eye…. He was right after all.
I was wondering what in the world he was thinking and secretly giving him the stink eye for about 85 percent of this short book.
But, the ending. Oh….the ending. Making me cry when I already had my makeup on….
So, I apologize for the stink eye…. He was right after all.
July 8, 2017
3.5*
October 11, 2019
A sofisticated and perfectly cruel fable on what happens to capricious, guideless souls.
It reads like a stiletto getting inch by inch into the characters.
Bloody elegant.
It reads like a stiletto getting inch by inch into the characters.
Bloody elegant.
October 6, 2020
The arc of this story was different than I expected (some potential plot developments proved red herrings); the characterizations were unsurprisingly shrewd; the characters were quite predictably, and deliciously, vicious.
A few lines that jumped out at me:
* 'A succession of well-meaning governesses and a plentiful supply of moralising aunts on both sides of her family, had impressed on her young mind the theoretical fact that wealth is a great responsibility. The consciousness of her responsibility set her continually wondering, not as to her own fitness to discharge her “stewardship,” but as to the motives and merits of people with whom she came in contact.'
* '... decked out in the rich primitive colouring that one’s taste in childhood would have insisted on before it had been schooled in the artistic value of dulness.'
* 'No quarrel of any description stood between them and one could not legitimately have described them as enemies, but they never disarmed in one another’s presence. A misfortune of any magnitude falling on one of them would have been sincerely regretted by the other, but any minor discomfiture would have produced a feeling very much akin to satisfaction.'
* “As an old lady of my acquaintance observed the other day, some people are born with a sense of how to clothe themselves, others acquire it, others look as if their clothes had been thrust upon them.”
* 'With the real motive power behind these various causes he was not very closely identified; to the spade-workers who carried on the actual labours of each particular movement he bore the relation of a trowel-worker, delving superficially at the surface, but able to devote a proportionately far greater amount of time to the advertisement of his progress and achievements.'
The third of these might even count as foreshadowing. Overall it's a dark work, though the writing sparkles, in which most characters flit upon the surface; those with any degree of self-awareness are filled with despair.
A few lines that jumped out at me:
* 'A succession of well-meaning governesses and a plentiful supply of moralising aunts on both sides of her family, had impressed on her young mind the theoretical fact that wealth is a great responsibility. The consciousness of her responsibility set her continually wondering, not as to her own fitness to discharge her “stewardship,” but as to the motives and merits of people with whom she came in contact.'
* '... decked out in the rich primitive colouring that one’s taste in childhood would have insisted on before it had been schooled in the artistic value of dulness.'
* 'No quarrel of any description stood between them and one could not legitimately have described them as enemies, but they never disarmed in one another’s presence. A misfortune of any magnitude falling on one of them would have been sincerely regretted by the other, but any minor discomfiture would have produced a feeling very much akin to satisfaction.'
* “As an old lady of my acquaintance observed the other day, some people are born with a sense of how to clothe themselves, others acquire it, others look as if their clothes had been thrust upon them.”
* 'With the real motive power behind these various causes he was not very closely identified; to the spade-workers who carried on the actual labours of each particular movement he bore the relation of a trowel-worker, delving superficially at the surface, but able to devote a proportionately far greater amount of time to the advertisement of his progress and achievements.'
The third of these might even count as foreshadowing. Overall it's a dark work, though the writing sparkles, in which most characters flit upon the surface; those with any degree of self-awareness are filled with despair.
March 11, 2013
Having never read Saki before, this was a surprise. The reviewers talk about his biting sarcasm and wit - and they're right, but I was floored by his character descriptions, so clear that I could see the person in front of me - I know this person! He is a wonderful writer. Not happy, perhaps, but startlingly perceptive about human nature and personality. I will have to read more!
May 20, 2023
Some first-rate satire, etched in acid, of the Edwardian ruling class in England. One only wishes Saki's acerbity were fully unleashed, a la Oscar Wilde. As it is, the biting remarks are mostly fillips on a fairly conventional story about a young, marriageable heiress and her two suitors, one the incorrigible Comus Bassington.
Bassington holds all of society's expectations in contempt, in sometimes unwelcome ways, and comes to a bad end. Just as H. H. Munro (the author's real name) did in an overly exposed French WWI trench. His reputed last words: "Put that bloody cigarette out!"
Bassington holds all of society's expectations in contempt, in sometimes unwelcome ways, and comes to a bad end. Just as H. H. Munro (the author's real name) did in an overly exposed French WWI trench. His reputed last words: "Put that bloody cigarette out!"
July 27, 2019
L'ennuieux Bassington et le style sarcastique de Saki ne rendent pas ce récit de romantisme tragique qui aurait sa place dans la première moitié du 19ième siécle, plus lisible. Malheuresement trop de "ennui" en son sens anglais pour retenir mon attention. Pareil pour les essais d'une page accompagnant la nouvelle.
October 2, 2020
A novella. For a taste of how beautifully the English language can be crafted, turn back 110-plus years to Edwardian England and read H.H. Munro (Saki). Devastating wit. His descriptions of pompous asses are priceless.
July 8, 2025
The Unbearable Bassington by HH Munro aka ‘Saki’ – included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, in the Comedy Section…Saki is the author of Tobermory http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/02/t... and other humorous works, The Westminster Alice is on the 1,000 Novels list as well…since The Unbearable Bassington was written in 1912, and thus it has passed the seventy years limit to enter the public domain, you can read this online or download it on the Gutenberg site, where you find so much more https://www.gutenberg.org/files/555/5... and you could also listen to it with the librivox app
9 out of 10
A favorite sport of readers is to try and compare themselves with the main character, or at least one, or a few of the supporting personages, sometimes seeing them as replicas of their own personae, when they are not the opposite of their characters, with the possibility to fall in between, or outside, with nothing to share with some alien, outré figure that does not resemble, is not the antithesis of the reader.
With the ‘fastidious and likable but maladjusted hero’ one may alternate between stages where he seems so close, we can see that we have done things, said words, experienced similar situations, and passages where he misbehaves so excruciatingly that we distance ourselves to use one quote “I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart…” and in my case, I thought it is the reverse.
If Comus Bassington (the one we may consider The Unbearable in the title, albeit his mother, Francesca, could contribute to the idea that the Bassington name could be itself associated with intolerable) finds ways to alienate the attractive, desirable, life changing, perhaps life-saving heiress Elaine de Frey, who would like to become the consort of The Unbearable, if only he could be somewhat reasonable, restrained, in my situation I thought I acted as Elaine, and Miss Romania as Comus…she blew the chances away
Francesca Bassington is a very important personage, arguably, she could be the leading figure, a woman of strong feelings, she wants her son, Comus, to succeed, his chance (maybe the only one) is to marry into money, hence Elaine is the best available option, for the Bassingtons have no money, the mother lives in a mansion she cannot afford, and besides, when the young woman that inherits the house marries, Francesca has to move.
She tolerates the shortcomings of her son, but the ideal is to have him somewhere at a distance, where the shenanigans do not become unbearable, such as they are when they share the same abode…one classic of psychology looks at the myths of happiness, such as we would be so happy, if only we were to move to California, a Pacific or Caribbean island, where we find due to Hedonic Adaptation that we are just as merry as we were before we relocated, and it was written by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert
Stumbling On Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/s... reveals many aspects that are different than we imagine them, and one other example refers to children, parents are happier when…their offspring become adults and leave their homes and there could be a number of explanations (teenagers are rowdy, by definition in conflict with authority, The Romeo and Juliet effect describes the intensification of romantic feelings in relationship when met by parental opposition http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/r... and when the conflict ends, it makes sense to feel some relief, mirth)
When he becomes a part of the entourage of Courtney Youghal, Comus looks as if he has gained a good friend, but alas, they become rivals, both aspiring to become the husband of Elaine de Frey, the girl whose fortune would bring either of them so much needed financial relief, without a boot from the dowry of a wife, Comus would be forced to find work abroad, serve somewhere in Africa and end his life of leisure.
The young Bassington is not without qualities, he is charming, likeable, actually, Elaine prefers him, she is likes him so much we could be tempted to call it love, if only we saw the word as easy to utilize…I have been forwarded by Thomas Mann, who has a short story in which words like love, friend are analyzed http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/01/d... and the conclusion is that there is an inflation, many say they ‘love someone so much, words cannot describe it'
That is nonsense, for we can find love, friends, only in art, when we test the feelings in the real world, we find that love is just an infatuation, an attraction, a function of ‘bodily fluids’, it is sexual desire, some side effect of coffee, drugs, a combination of factors that, when they end their influence, the state of grace, catharsis is also finished and what we called love becomes a state of hangover, we get into fights with the ‘lover aka sexual partner’ and as for friends, when they ask for a favor, we often find it too demanding
The humor of HH Munro is fantastic, here is one quote that proves it “…she came of a family whose individual members went through life, from the nursery to the grave, with as much tact and consideration as a cactus-hedge might show in going through a crowded bathing tent” and another is “…if one hides one’s talent under a bushel one must be careful to point out to everyone the exact bushel under which it is hidden.”
There are thoughts on religion ‘the glory of Christianity, the idea that it should have been invented, if the doctrine were not true’ and the d=captivating main character, who has a very cruel, ghastly side, exposed when we see him trading for the favor of canning a boy, a torture that is made worse by the drawing of a chalk line on his back, so that the pain is increased, by hurting in the same spot’…he is also reckless and wasteful, he borrows money from Elaine, insists on taking a bread basket with the seal of the family, when these acts underline his greedy, or just the unreliable, superficial sides that end up pushing the woman away, to the horror of Francesca… http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
Note written by Revolutionary Realini – the link to the Newsweek article mentioning his participation in the rebellion that took down Ceausescu is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
9 out of 10
A favorite sport of readers is to try and compare themselves with the main character, or at least one, or a few of the supporting personages, sometimes seeing them as replicas of their own personae, when they are not the opposite of their characters, with the possibility to fall in between, or outside, with nothing to share with some alien, outré figure that does not resemble, is not the antithesis of the reader.
With the ‘fastidious and likable but maladjusted hero’ one may alternate between stages where he seems so close, we can see that we have done things, said words, experienced similar situations, and passages where he misbehaves so excruciatingly that we distance ourselves to use one quote “I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart…” and in my case, I thought it is the reverse.
If Comus Bassington (the one we may consider The Unbearable in the title, albeit his mother, Francesca, could contribute to the idea that the Bassington name could be itself associated with intolerable) finds ways to alienate the attractive, desirable, life changing, perhaps life-saving heiress Elaine de Frey, who would like to become the consort of The Unbearable, if only he could be somewhat reasonable, restrained, in my situation I thought I acted as Elaine, and Miss Romania as Comus…she blew the chances away
Francesca Bassington is a very important personage, arguably, she could be the leading figure, a woman of strong feelings, she wants her son, Comus, to succeed, his chance (maybe the only one) is to marry into money, hence Elaine is the best available option, for the Bassingtons have no money, the mother lives in a mansion she cannot afford, and besides, when the young woman that inherits the house marries, Francesca has to move.
She tolerates the shortcomings of her son, but the ideal is to have him somewhere at a distance, where the shenanigans do not become unbearable, such as they are when they share the same abode…one classic of psychology looks at the myths of happiness, such as we would be so happy, if only we were to move to California, a Pacific or Caribbean island, where we find due to Hedonic Adaptation that we are just as merry as we were before we relocated, and it was written by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert
Stumbling On Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/s... reveals many aspects that are different than we imagine them, and one other example refers to children, parents are happier when…their offspring become adults and leave their homes and there could be a number of explanations (teenagers are rowdy, by definition in conflict with authority, The Romeo and Juliet effect describes the intensification of romantic feelings in relationship when met by parental opposition http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/r... and when the conflict ends, it makes sense to feel some relief, mirth)
When he becomes a part of the entourage of Courtney Youghal, Comus looks as if he has gained a good friend, but alas, they become rivals, both aspiring to become the husband of Elaine de Frey, the girl whose fortune would bring either of them so much needed financial relief, without a boot from the dowry of a wife, Comus would be forced to find work abroad, serve somewhere in Africa and end his life of leisure.
The young Bassington is not without qualities, he is charming, likeable, actually, Elaine prefers him, she is likes him so much we could be tempted to call it love, if only we saw the word as easy to utilize…I have been forwarded by Thomas Mann, who has a short story in which words like love, friend are analyzed http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/01/d... and the conclusion is that there is an inflation, many say they ‘love someone so much, words cannot describe it'
That is nonsense, for we can find love, friends, only in art, when we test the feelings in the real world, we find that love is just an infatuation, an attraction, a function of ‘bodily fluids’, it is sexual desire, some side effect of coffee, drugs, a combination of factors that, when they end their influence, the state of grace, catharsis is also finished and what we called love becomes a state of hangover, we get into fights with the ‘lover aka sexual partner’ and as for friends, when they ask for a favor, we often find it too demanding
The humor of HH Munro is fantastic, here is one quote that proves it “…she came of a family whose individual members went through life, from the nursery to the grave, with as much tact and consideration as a cactus-hedge might show in going through a crowded bathing tent” and another is “…if one hides one’s talent under a bushel one must be careful to point out to everyone the exact bushel under which it is hidden.”
There are thoughts on religion ‘the glory of Christianity, the idea that it should have been invented, if the doctrine were not true’ and the d=captivating main character, who has a very cruel, ghastly side, exposed when we see him trading for the favor of canning a boy, a torture that is made worse by the drawing of a chalk line on his back, so that the pain is increased, by hurting in the same spot’…he is also reckless and wasteful, he borrows money from Elaine, insists on taking a bread basket with the seal of the family, when these acts underline his greedy, or just the unreliable, superficial sides that end up pushing the woman away, to the horror of Francesca… http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
Note written by Revolutionary Realini – the link to the Newsweek article mentioning his participation in the rebellion that took down Ceausescu is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
December 13, 2025
OK, holy freaking sheesh. This book is amazing, so hilarious so perfect and also, not to be a wuss but heartbreaking. Can’t believe I had never heard of Saki until last week.
As rule I don’t audiobooks fiction, but having made an exception for Wodehouse and been so glad I did I extended it to the Flashman book and no am saying I can listen to British humour because I can’t prioritize reading humour and their facility with the language just a joy.
As rule I don’t audiobooks fiction, but having made an exception for Wodehouse and been so glad I did I extended it to the Flashman book and no am saying I can listen to British humour because I can’t prioritize reading humour and their facility with the language just a joy.
September 11, 2017
My first Saki, and I was utterly charmed and waylaid by the ferocious social roasting and the bitter, very human sense of loss expressed in this slim novel. I will be reading much more of Saki!
February 24, 2022
Almost unbearably dispiriting, this sorry tale about a widow, Francesca Bassington, living in what I believe is termed gracious penury, grievously tolerating the unchecked excesses of her feckless, vicious, emotionally careless, selfish son, Comus. Why she should have named him after Milton’s Lord of Misrule, it is hard to imagine, for the boy has certainly arrived at adulthood fully possessed by his name as well as having no regular income, either earned or unearned.
But these faults in mother and son have repercussions, and Saki explores these in this short novel. Francesca is permanently troubled not only by Comus’ behaviour that alienates him from the small world of Society in which they live, but has constantly to be on the lookout for some opportunity, an opening, a sinecure of some kind that might provide the young man with a financially secure future. That secure future is, of course, one she would expect to serve her too. Her insecurity is frequently highlighted by her anxiety about her apartments which were left to her by a friend on the understanding that as soon as that friend’s daughter is married she, Francesca, will have to find herself alternative accommodation. And said daughter, Emmeline Chetrof, is seventeen and ‘passably good-looking’ and therefore likely to be married within five years. It is a pressing problem.
Meanwhile, Comus has lost any chance of making himself eligible as a suitor for Emmeline by beating her young brother at school. When Lancelot Chetrof writes home to his sister and remarks that the prefects on the whole ‘are rather decent,’ but that ‘Some are Beasts. Bassington is a prefect though only a junior one. He is the Limit as Beasts go’, then it is curtains for Francesca’s plans in that area.
Similarly, in spite of his undoubted manly appearance and social charm, Comus ruins his chances with wealthy heiress, Elaine de Frey, from whom he regularly borrows small sums of money and then has the effrontery to insist on gifting himself one of her family’s silver bread-and-butter dishes as a ‘souvenir of a happy tea-party’, intending to have the crest removed and to keep his collar studs in it. It is not long before his rival, young opposition MP, the speechifying Courtenay Youghal, is able to supplant him.
And so on, Saki leading both mother and son to sad, utterly undistinguished ends.
The novel is both fun – when caustically satirical – and not much fun – when considering the irredeemable characteristics of the two protagonists’ lives. This latter aspect is not alleviated by Saki’s according either of them a smidgeon of sympathy. This is not entirely true: Comus is given a pitifully melancholy moment as he contemplates his loneliness, but this is undermined by Saki making it clear the ‘joyous scrambling frolic’ Comus observes is one which his actions have rendered inaccessible to him; and in Francesca’s case, her discovery that her one source of financial assurance is a dud, is offered no consolation. Saki, for me, clearly has abandoned these people as beneath contempt, and, justified as he may make himself felt, his judgment left me feeling as if my sensitivities had been sandpapered and then poulticed with acid drops.
His style, however, is a delight. Taut sentences, packed with the pith and bite I associate with Pope. Nevertheless, I often find Pope so condensed as to require repeated reading before reaching full – or fuller – understanding, and I frequently found myself having to re-read passages of ‘Bassington’. This necessarily impeded the fluency with which I read the novel. But on balance such halting progress was worth it.
But these faults in mother and son have repercussions, and Saki explores these in this short novel. Francesca is permanently troubled not only by Comus’ behaviour that alienates him from the small world of Society in which they live, but has constantly to be on the lookout for some opportunity, an opening, a sinecure of some kind that might provide the young man with a financially secure future. That secure future is, of course, one she would expect to serve her too. Her insecurity is frequently highlighted by her anxiety about her apartments which were left to her by a friend on the understanding that as soon as that friend’s daughter is married she, Francesca, will have to find herself alternative accommodation. And said daughter, Emmeline Chetrof, is seventeen and ‘passably good-looking’ and therefore likely to be married within five years. It is a pressing problem.
Meanwhile, Comus has lost any chance of making himself eligible as a suitor for Emmeline by beating her young brother at school. When Lancelot Chetrof writes home to his sister and remarks that the prefects on the whole ‘are rather decent,’ but that ‘Some are Beasts. Bassington is a prefect though only a junior one. He is the Limit as Beasts go’, then it is curtains for Francesca’s plans in that area.
Similarly, in spite of his undoubted manly appearance and social charm, Comus ruins his chances with wealthy heiress, Elaine de Frey, from whom he regularly borrows small sums of money and then has the effrontery to insist on gifting himself one of her family’s silver bread-and-butter dishes as a ‘souvenir of a happy tea-party’, intending to have the crest removed and to keep his collar studs in it. It is not long before his rival, young opposition MP, the speechifying Courtenay Youghal, is able to supplant him.
And so on, Saki leading both mother and son to sad, utterly undistinguished ends.
The novel is both fun – when caustically satirical – and not much fun – when considering the irredeemable characteristics of the two protagonists’ lives. This latter aspect is not alleviated by Saki’s according either of them a smidgeon of sympathy. This is not entirely true: Comus is given a pitifully melancholy moment as he contemplates his loneliness, but this is undermined by Saki making it clear the ‘joyous scrambling frolic’ Comus observes is one which his actions have rendered inaccessible to him; and in Francesca’s case, her discovery that her one source of financial assurance is a dud, is offered no consolation. Saki, for me, clearly has abandoned these people as beneath contempt, and, justified as he may make himself felt, his judgment left me feeling as if my sensitivities had been sandpapered and then poulticed with acid drops.
His style, however, is a delight. Taut sentences, packed with the pith and bite I associate with Pope. Nevertheless, I often find Pope so condensed as to require repeated reading before reaching full – or fuller – understanding, and I frequently found myself having to re-read passages of ‘Bassington’. This necessarily impeded the fluency with which I read the novel. But on balance such halting progress was worth it.
August 13, 2024
“—Comus —dijo, en voz baja y cansada—, tu caso es el opuesto al de la Caja de Pandora. Tienes todo el encanto y las virtudes que un chico podría desear para abrirse camino en la vida, y al final de todo ello guardas el don maldito y fatal de la desesperanza más absoluta.”
Comus Bassington es el atractivo y frívolo hijo de la viuda Francesca Bassington. Irresponsable y desagradecido. Si su madre no consigue que éste se case con la sobrina de su vieja amiga Shopie Chetroff, propietaria de la casa en la que viven, perderá el hogar que tanta felicidad le reporta porque la dueña se lo cederá a Emmeline Chetroff para su matrimonio. Una casa situada en Blue Street, el corazón aristocrático de Londres, en Westminster, símbolo de la monarquía inglesa. Dentro hay dos tesoros: el salón de té y un cuadro de Adam Frans van der Meulen. La casa tiene alma. Los hilos deben empezar a moverse cuanto antes. La hipocresía da mucho juego.
El insoportable Bassington nos lleva al retrato satírico de la clase alta británica en los albores del siglo veinte y a la manera de enfrentarse a lo socialmente correcto para sobrevivir entre clichés y costumbres implantadas. Ellos deben aparentar poder político y fortuna, al estilo gentleman. Ellas, ser unas perfectas flapper, adeptas a la moda de faldas cortas, lucir un corte de pelo estilo bob cut, no usar corsé, escuchar y bailar jazz, fumar, beber alcoholes de alta graduación y conducir a gran velocidad como si fueran réplicas humanas de Betty Boop. Si Comus no consigue su posición social le espera otro destino. De Westminster irá directo a África.
Esta fue la primera novela corta de Saki, pseudónimo literario de Héctor Hugh Munro, un escritor nacido en la antigua Birmania, al que Borges calificó como el Oscar Wilde de su tiempo por la trivialidad y delicadeza de sus relatos en cuya íntima trama se debatía lo más amargo y cruel de las circunstancias.
Saki dejó escrito en esta novela que un veinte por ciento de las presuntas obras maestras que colgaban del Louvre estaban atribuidas erróneamente. El tiempo le ha dado la razón. Incluso se quedó corto. Aquí pueden ver el supuesto Van der Meulen que yo sospecho colgaba sobre el armarito de marquetería de la pared del entrañable salón de Francisca Bassington, la sala de estar en la que guardaba los servicios de té de Worcester de tan vivos colores y sus diversos tesoros del pasado. Este cuadro contiene las claves del drama del inaguantable Comus Bassington. Si lo leen sabrán por qué. Sobre todo les hará pensar.
En cuanto a los seis relatos que incluye esta edición de la editorial Valdemar ninguno de ellos me ha gustado, tal vez destaco El almanaque por su despiadada crítica al uso de la predicción. Echo en falta sobre todo su cuento más famoso, La ventana abierta. De todas maneras tengo claro que es uno de los autores a los que de seguro volveré. Engancha. Ha sido un lujo toparme con él mientras exploraba l'actualité littéraire. Téngalo en cuenta. Se reirán con su humor negro y les devolverá la pasión por la literatura. Esto ya es un buen motivo para acertar. Disfruten.
Fuente: https://huracanesenpapel.blogspot.com...
Comus Bassington es el atractivo y frívolo hijo de la viuda Francesca Bassington. Irresponsable y desagradecido. Si su madre no consigue que éste se case con la sobrina de su vieja amiga Shopie Chetroff, propietaria de la casa en la que viven, perderá el hogar que tanta felicidad le reporta porque la dueña se lo cederá a Emmeline Chetroff para su matrimonio. Una casa situada en Blue Street, el corazón aristocrático de Londres, en Westminster, símbolo de la monarquía inglesa. Dentro hay dos tesoros: el salón de té y un cuadro de Adam Frans van der Meulen. La casa tiene alma. Los hilos deben empezar a moverse cuanto antes. La hipocresía da mucho juego.
El insoportable Bassington nos lleva al retrato satírico de la clase alta británica en los albores del siglo veinte y a la manera de enfrentarse a lo socialmente correcto para sobrevivir entre clichés y costumbres implantadas. Ellos deben aparentar poder político y fortuna, al estilo gentleman. Ellas, ser unas perfectas flapper, adeptas a la moda de faldas cortas, lucir un corte de pelo estilo bob cut, no usar corsé, escuchar y bailar jazz, fumar, beber alcoholes de alta graduación y conducir a gran velocidad como si fueran réplicas humanas de Betty Boop. Si Comus no consigue su posición social le espera otro destino. De Westminster irá directo a África.
Esta fue la primera novela corta de Saki, pseudónimo literario de Héctor Hugh Munro, un escritor nacido en la antigua Birmania, al que Borges calificó como el Oscar Wilde de su tiempo por la trivialidad y delicadeza de sus relatos en cuya íntima trama se debatía lo más amargo y cruel de las circunstancias.
Saki dejó escrito en esta novela que un veinte por ciento de las presuntas obras maestras que colgaban del Louvre estaban atribuidas erróneamente. El tiempo le ha dado la razón. Incluso se quedó corto. Aquí pueden ver el supuesto Van der Meulen que yo sospecho colgaba sobre el armarito de marquetería de la pared del entrañable salón de Francisca Bassington, la sala de estar en la que guardaba los servicios de té de Worcester de tan vivos colores y sus diversos tesoros del pasado. Este cuadro contiene las claves del drama del inaguantable Comus Bassington. Si lo leen sabrán por qué. Sobre todo les hará pensar.
En cuanto a los seis relatos que incluye esta edición de la editorial Valdemar ninguno de ellos me ha gustado, tal vez destaco El almanaque por su despiadada crítica al uso de la predicción. Echo en falta sobre todo su cuento más famoso, La ventana abierta. De todas maneras tengo claro que es uno de los autores a los que de seguro volveré. Engancha. Ha sido un lujo toparme con él mientras exploraba l'actualité littéraire. Téngalo en cuenta. Se reirán con su humor negro y les devolverá la pasión por la literatura. Esto ya es un buen motivo para acertar. Disfruten.
Fuente: https://huracanesenpapel.blogspot.com...
May 26, 2023
Something of an ideal foil to Max Beerbohm’s hat in the novel-ring is Saki’s old-hack confidence; he writes novels in the way of someone with many behind him and many ahead. There is a steady, even yawning competence in his arrangement of people and characters and incidents. Even his peculiar paragraphic structure can be quickly sussed: a long and sometimes dilatory account of a character’s mind at a particular moment will, in ever case, be succeeded by a quipping joke, which cuts off said sentence with a certain pointed bravado. And so onto the next paragraph. Saki’s short story acclaim is an easy crutch also: his chapters are often arranged as though they might be standalone stories, and each of them seem to find within themselves a comic structure that could persist outside of his novelistic skeleton. Nonetheless: this is an often entertaining book, when read aloud. I would advise the whole of it to be read aloud if you possess an accent, or can manipulate your voice into an accent, in some way adjacent to the English upper-middle class. This will improve Saki’s sentences; or rather, this will allow Saki’s sentences the life they deserve. Which is to say I read this entire novel out loud. It is unfortunate that the phantom of art must, at the last, seize victory from Saki’s smirking grin. What was, for such a long time, a very mild satire on relatively insufferable people in its final chapters suddenly transforms. Recognizing the ill-account of this family Saki brings down upon them several guillotines; and where this might make for grotesque humour it appears he would like, at least toward the very end, for us to feel an actual real pathos at these pathetic scions as they wither away. The Saki of his short stories would never make such a demand; it seems an error of his becoming to fond of his eponymously unbearable creations, even in such a short book as this one, and somehow seeing in their tragedy a tragedy of this old England. Which is of course true, if we are to deal in the facts: that these people are made, and must be distributed in the world, and must come to their inevitably disappointing lives, is not a fact that is spoken baldly without some hint of remorse (should we wish to avoid the necessary sentence). But to plug this gruesomely earnest wraparound on a book whose amusement is often very precariously balanced – requiring, as it does, the appropriate voice, and the appropriate feeling of aloofness – swerves the novel into an unfortunate decline. Max Beerbohm’s novel is in a constant swerve – it is this pendulous motion that provides it all its entertainment – but in swerving it does not betray its essential mood, even when creating the most atrocious imaginable scenarios. Saki, I suspect, may have some feeling for the serious novel; some idea that he can claw out of the absurd social drama some real feeling. I can only regret his feeling.
March 17, 2025
I knew Saki for his short stories. Saki was quite obviously highly influenced by Wilde but you can see him deliberately moving away from that influence as the rather camp Reginald is replaced by the equally witty but less obviously 'queer' Clovis.
TUB is the story of the short & rather unsatisfactory life of one Comus Bassington (CB). The book consists of only 153 pages & 17 chapters. 14 of those 17 chapters are very Wildean. Saki assures us that CB is a wonderful person but presents no evidence to support this. Although we are assured that CB is a wild free spirit he plays no pranks, unlike Reginald or Clovis &,in fact, seems drearily predictable as a prefect who takes delight in caning junior boys. Likewise, we are told CB can be amusing but not offered any witticisms.
Now, generally, anyone who's had to read Dorothy L Sayers, or, indeed, 'Tender is the Night', will know there is nothing worse than reading a book featuring a protagonist that the author assures you, incorrectly, is wonderful.
In this case I didn't find it a problem. Saki totally makes clear that he loves CB who is a very good-looking boy & he doesn't require anyone else to. Saki more or less says that CB is as thick as 2 short planks & that he was good at sports at school but nothing else. This is clearly deliberate because the book is replete with wonderful one-liners & Saki could've given them to CB. Instead he doles them out to CB's mentor &, fatefully, love rival Courtney Youghal & to the rather wonderful Lady Caroline Benaresq who is given all the best lines. My personal favourites being 'The House of Commons remains rather at the opposite pole to the Kingdom of Heaven' (on wealth) & when a partner at bridge assures her she can concentrate on both the game & a conversation because 'I think I've got a sort of double brain' Lady Caroline responds 'Much better to economise & have one good one'.
14 of the 17 chapters consist of this. Saki being Wildean & having his characters say frightfully witty things.
Ch 8 is odd, it just feels like an idea for a short story dropped into the book for no reason.
Ch 16 I was dreading. It is set in Nigeria &, lets be honest, English people of Saki's age had views that were unpalatable. In fact, I needn't have worried. What Saki says is the obvious, that, compared to England, Africa is vast, terrifying & too damn hot. He also shows CB watching kids only a few years younger than him dancing around & playing. That makes CB realise how alone he is.
Ch 17 falls on you like a cement wall. It is, I think, beautiful as CB's mother, who has always cared for things, realises that material things don't matter & that it is too late to cry for the only thing that did matter.
I LOVED this book.
TUB is the story of the short & rather unsatisfactory life of one Comus Bassington (CB). The book consists of only 153 pages & 17 chapters. 14 of those 17 chapters are very Wildean. Saki assures us that CB is a wonderful person but presents no evidence to support this. Although we are assured that CB is a wild free spirit he plays no pranks, unlike Reginald or Clovis &,in fact, seems drearily predictable as a prefect who takes delight in caning junior boys. Likewise, we are told CB can be amusing but not offered any witticisms.
Now, generally, anyone who's had to read Dorothy L Sayers, or, indeed, 'Tender is the Night', will know there is nothing worse than reading a book featuring a protagonist that the author assures you, incorrectly, is wonderful.
In this case I didn't find it a problem. Saki totally makes clear that he loves CB who is a very good-looking boy & he doesn't require anyone else to. Saki more or less says that CB is as thick as 2 short planks & that he was good at sports at school but nothing else. This is clearly deliberate because the book is replete with wonderful one-liners & Saki could've given them to CB. Instead he doles them out to CB's mentor &, fatefully, love rival Courtney Youghal & to the rather wonderful Lady Caroline Benaresq who is given all the best lines. My personal favourites being 'The House of Commons remains rather at the opposite pole to the Kingdom of Heaven' (on wealth) & when a partner at bridge assures her she can concentrate on both the game & a conversation because 'I think I've got a sort of double brain' Lady Caroline responds 'Much better to economise & have one good one'.
14 of the 17 chapters consist of this. Saki being Wildean & having his characters say frightfully witty things.
Ch 8 is odd, it just feels like an idea for a short story dropped into the book for no reason.
Ch 16 I was dreading. It is set in Nigeria &, lets be honest, English people of Saki's age had views that were unpalatable. In fact, I needn't have worried. What Saki says is the obvious, that, compared to England, Africa is vast, terrifying & too damn hot. He also shows CB watching kids only a few years younger than him dancing around & playing. That makes CB realise how alone he is.
Ch 17 falls on you like a cement wall. It is, I think, beautiful as CB's mother, who has always cared for things, realises that material things don't matter & that it is too late to cry for the only thing that did matter.
I LOVED this book.
November 20, 2025
I had only read Saki's short stories before, and this novella is a bit different; just as witty and acerbic, but more philosophical as he delves into his characters more deeply. I don't want to reveal more, as it would spoil the plot. Other reviewers have done a better job of reviewing than I can.
Goodreads reviewer Claire wrote, "The Unbearable Bassington is like hanging out with Oscar Wilde at 4 in the morning at a bar after he's had a bad breakup. It's laugh-out-loud funny, it's got snarky put-downs in spades, and it has an undercurrent of cynicism, even bitterness."
Reviewer Magill wrote, "All the bon mots, clear-eyed dissections and witty observations ultimately serve to present a little jewel of a human tragedy, even several, whether from short-sightedness, selfishness, lack of awareness or self-knowledge, self-deception. ... The lightness of tone and sharpness of observation are a bit deceptive in that they bite deeper than the short stories. But, at the same time, it seems, the author reveals sympathy towards the characters trapped in the worlds of their choosing or in which they can never entirely fit."
Here are two quotes from the book:
My only quibble is that chapter VIII, while interesting, is a strange aside that does nothing for the story. We never again see the central character, a world traveler who has settled at a small farm. It could stand as a short story by itself, but here, it detracts from the flow of the bigger story.
Also, warning for anyone who has not read older British lit, the characters are often racist and classist.
Goodreads reviewer Claire wrote, "The Unbearable Bassington is like hanging out with Oscar Wilde at 4 in the morning at a bar after he's had a bad breakup. It's laugh-out-loud funny, it's got snarky put-downs in spades, and it has an undercurrent of cynicism, even bitterness."
Reviewer Magill wrote, "All the bon mots, clear-eyed dissections and witty observations ultimately serve to present a little jewel of a human tragedy, even several, whether from short-sightedness, selfishness, lack of awareness or self-knowledge, self-deception. ... The lightness of tone and sharpness of observation are a bit deceptive in that they bite deeper than the short stories. But, at the same time, it seems, the author reveals sympathy towards the characters trapped in the worlds of their choosing or in which they can never entirely fit."
Here are two quotes from the book:
"My dear Mr. Greech," said Lady Caroline, "we all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other wedded couples they sometimes live apart."
Such was Stephen Thorle, ... a skilled window-dresser in the emporium of his own personality, and needless to say, evanescently popular amid a wide but shifting circle of acquaintances. He improved on the record of a socially much-travelled individual whose experience has become classical, and went to most of the best houses-twice.
My only quibble is that chapter VIII, while interesting, is a strange aside that does nothing for the story. We never again see the central character, a world traveler who has settled at a small farm. It could stand as a short story by itself, but here, it detracts from the flow of the bigger story.
Also, warning for anyone who has not read older British lit, the characters are often racist and classist.
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