Introduction

[Manuel]

The fourth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, "An Average Man," first published in 1913, is a far from average production. The novel may well be Benson's finest achievement, ripping to shreds the assumptions on which Edwardian upper class society believed civilization itself was built. Worldly success destroys one "average man," while it presents another, afflicted with seemingly endless and crushing defeats, with the opportunity of practicing virtue of a heroic stature.

[Jane]

Great intro. Thanks

[Rinstinkt]

I wanted to note something:
I started reading it last night, and the second chapter had a few new characters introduced, and I usually need to keep notes about the characters that are introduced, so I searched online for a list of characters and was very surprised there was nothing. I also tried the microsoft bing chatbot but it was unable to produce any details regarding the content/characters of the book. (It offered to explain themes found in toher books by the author but not in this one).
This means that this book is almost unknown to modern audiences, or that in the last 30 years there have been no online discussions or written text on this book. (with the exception of short blurbs that you find on bookselling websites).

[Manuel]

Jane wrote: "Great intro. Thanks"

I got this intro from the Amazon page for this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Average-Man-Mi...

[Manuel]

Rinstinkt wrote: "I searched online for a list of characters and was very surprised there was nothing"

I found this paper:
https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstreams/c5...
It revises content/characters in Average Man and other novels by Benson.

[Fonch]

Jane wrote: "Great intro. Thanks"

I totally agree with Jane about the great intro.

[Fonch]

Manuel wrote: "Rinstinkt wrote: "I searched online for a list of characters and was very surprised there was nothing"

I found this paper:
https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstreams/c5......"
Excellent the only thing that i regret it is that the book it is not into spanish. My friend Sergio Gomez Moyano tried to translate to Spanish but he did not conclude the labor.

[Richard]

As Fonch has written elsewhere only Joseph Pearce is paying any attention to Hugh Benson these days.

https://theimaginativeconservative.or...

[Fonch]

Richard wrote: "As Fonch has written elsewhere only Joseph Pearce is paying any attention to Hugh Benson these days.

https://theimaginativeconservative.or......"
Well it is truth and not "The Lord of World" nowadays is really popular and it was republished in several ocassions. Spain has a big expert in Robert Hugh Benson Sergio Gómez Moyano. De Prada 8th of May publishes his new novel. In his "Una Biblioteca en el Oasis" "A library in the Oasis" spoke about "Necromancers" the Father of the "Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty and he wrote the foreword of "By what authority? The unfair that we are comitting with Robert Hugh Benson is judging for only one book. De Prada knew "The sentimentalists" because he said that the main character was inspired in Frederick Rolfe. In my case i would like read "Oddfish" about the conversion of Charles II but i have the impression that only it will this a dream.

[Jane]

Wow. Thanks for the link to The Imaginative Conservative. I am learning so much from this group! Thank you!

[Fonch]

Jane wrote: "Wow. Thanks for the link to The Imaginative Conservative. I am learning so much from this group! Thank you!"

I love the articles of the Imaginative Conservative i am a reader of this digital weekly.

[Kristi]

It is unfortunate for the reading public that Robert Hugh Benson is so little known. I confess though that part of the enjoyment of reading his books is knowing so little about them! I had no idea how this one was going to turn out, which kept me riveted and reading quickly!