Beryl, Mrs. Gaspilton, had always looked indulgently on the country as a place where people of irreproachable income and hospitable instincts cultivated tennis-lawns and rose-gardens and Jacobean pleasaunces, wherein selected gatherings of interested week-end guests might disport themselves. (For the Duration of the War) ‘I’m afraid there is nowhere for you to sit,’ I said […]
All posts found when searching for saki
The Toys of Peace by Saki (1919)
Posted in Comedy, Short stories
Tagged A Bread and Butter Miss, Ada Bleek, Alethia Debchance, Augustus Mellowkent, Aunt Gurtleberry, aunts, Balkan wars, Baroness Gruebel, Bertie Steffink, Bertie’s Christmas Eve, British Empire, Caiaphas Dwelf, Canossa, Cernogratz, Charles II, Clover Fairy, Clovis, Clovis Sangrail, Colonial Secretary, comedy, Demosthenes Platterbaff, Edward Umberleigh, Edwardian England, Edwardian era, Eleanor Bope, Elinor Rapsley, Ellen Niggle, Envy of the Neighbourhood, EON, Excepting Mrs. Pentherby, Falconer Report, Fate, For the Duration of the War, Forewarned, Fraulein Schmidt, General Election, Georg Znaeym, Ghurab, Great War, Gwenda Pottingdon, Harvey Bope, Hector Hugh Munro, Henry IV, horse racing, hyacinth, irony, James Cushat-Prinkly, Jane Thropplestance, Joan Sebastable, John Stuart Mill, Lady Beanford, Lady Cullompton, Lady Prowche, Lena Strudwarden, Lloyd-George, local election, London Zoo, Louis, Louise, Luitpold Wolkenstein, Luke Steffink, Major Dagworth, Major Latton, Marconi scandal, Mark, Mesopotamia, Mexican Revolution, Morlvera, Mr Scarrick, Mr. Strinnit, Mrs Dole, Mrs Hatch-Mallard, Mrs Thundleford, Mrs. Gaspilton, non-conformisity, Occasional-Oasis Supply Association, Octavian Ruttle, OOSA, Ottoman Empire, P.G. Wodehouse, Peter Pigeoncote, political satire, Quail Seed, Reggie Bruttle, religion, Reverend Wilfrid Gaspilton, Rex Dillot, Rhoda Ellam, Rhodesia, Robert Bludward, Robert Raikes, Rothay Reynolds, Saki, Salvation Army, satire, Serbia, Shock Tactics, short stories, Sir James Drakmanton, Sir John Chobham, Sir Lulworth Quayne, Smithly-Dubbs, St. Chuddocks, suffragette, Suffragettes, tea, the Baroness, The Bull, The Cupboard of the Yesterdays, the Derby, The Disappearance of Crispina Umberleigh, The Guests, The Hedgehog, The Interlopers, the macabre, The Mappined Life, The Occasional Garden, The Oversight, The Penance, The Phantom Luncheon, The Purple of the Balkan Kings, The Seven Cream Jugs, The Sheep, The Threat, The Toys of Peace, The Wolves of Cernogratz, Tom Yorkfield, Ulrich von Gradwitz, vivisection, Votes For Women, When William Came, Wilfred the Snatcher, Yondershire
Posted by Simon on July 5, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/07/05/the-toys-of-peace-saki/
Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki (1914)
As the name suggests, Saki’s propensity for introducing wild animals into sedate Edwardian society with comic, ironic or gruesome effect goes into overdrive in many of the stories in this collection. Beasts and Super-Beasts is a collection of 36 Saki short stories. I give brief plot summaries and one or two quotes from each story […]
Posted in Comedy, Short stories
Tagged 'Down Pens', A Defensive Diamond, A Holiday Task, A Touch of Realism, Adela Chemping, Adela Pingsford, Amblecope, antisemitism, art world, Arthur Wimperis, Baron Munchausen, Basil HallamArthur Treacher, Beasts and Super-Beasts, Bertie van Tahn, Bertram Kneyght, Betty Coulterneb, Betty Mullen, Billy Yuttley, Blanche Boveal, Blenkinthrope, Charles Dickens, Clovis on Parental Responsibilities, Clovis Sangrail, Colonel Harrowcluff, Cousin Teresa, Cyril Skatterly, Duke of Falvertoon, Duke of Syria, Dusk, Edwardian era, Edwardian society, Eleanor Saxelby, Ferdinand and Isabella, Framton Nuttel, Fur, Gaspare, Gebhard Knopfschrank, Gilbert The Filbert, H.G. Wells, Herman Finck, Hugo Peterby, Hyde Park, irony, Jocantha Bessbury, John James Abbleway, Kenelm Jerton, knut, Lady Blonze, Lady Carlotta, lampoon, Latimer Springfield, Laura, Leonard Bilsiter, Lord Grimford, Lord Pabham, Lulu Duchess of Dulverton, magic, Martha Crale, Mary Hampton, Matilda, Merv Griffin, metrosexual, Miss Hope, mistaken identity, Morton Crosby, Mr Penricarde, Mrs Attray, Mrs Bebberly Cumble, Mrs Cuvering, Mrs Durmot, Mrs Eggelby, Mrs Ladbruk, Mrs Olston, Mrs Quabarl, Mrs Sappleton, Mrs Stroope, Mrs Thackenbury, Mrs Thropplestance, Mrs Yonelet, Mrs. Philidore Stossen, music hall, Norman Gortsby, nut, On Approval, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, Rape of the Sabine Women, reincarnation, Saki, satire, short stories, short story, Sir Lulworth Quayne, Slogberry Moor, Sophie Chattel-Monkheim, Stake, strikes, The Blind Spot, The Boar-Pig, The Brogue, The Byzantine Omelette, The Cobweb, The Dreamer, The Elk, The Feast of Nemesis, The Forbidden Buzzards, The Hen, The Lull, The Lumber Room, The Name-Day, The Open Window, The Philanthropist and the Happy Cat, The Quince Tree, The Romancers, The Schartz-Metterklume Method, The Seventh Pullet, The She-Wolf, The Stalled Ox, The Story-Teller, The Treasure-Ship, The Unkindest Blow, The Yarkand Manner, Theophil Eshley, Treddleford, Vasco Honiton, Vera Durmot, Waldo Plubley, Woldshire, wolves
Posted by Simon on July 2, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/beasts-and-super-beasts-saki/
When William Came by Saki (1913)
Invasion literature According to Wikipedia: Invasion literature (also The Invasion Novel) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the outbreak of the First World War 1914. The invasion novel was first recognised as a literary genre in the UK, and is generally said to have started with George Tomkyns […]
Tagged 1905 Aliens Act, antisemitism, Arnold White, Boer War, British Brothers League, Burlington Arcade, Canon Mousepace, Cicely Yeovil, collaborator, Cornelian Valpy, Dr Holham, Empire and Efficiency, fiction, First World War, Franco-Prussian War, George Tomkyns Chesney, Germany, Gorla Mustelford, Gräfin von Tolb, Herr Rebinok, Herr von Kwarl, High Society, Hubert Herlton, immigration, imperialism, Invasion literature, Jews, jingiosm, Joan Mardle, Kaiser, Kaiser Wilhelm, Kipling, Lady Greymarten, Lady Shalem, Larry Meadowfield, Leutnant von Gabelroth, London, Mrs Mentieth-Mendlesohnn, Murrey Yeovil, novel, Oscar Wilde, patriotism, Pitherby, Quisling, Rhapsodie Pantril, Ronnie Storr, Siberia, Suffragettes, The Battle of Dorking, the Landgraf, Tony Luton, Torywood, war, When William Came, William Cowper, xenophobia
Posted by Simon on June 30, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/06/30/when-william-came-saki/
The Unbearable Bassington by Saki (1912)
The spirit of mirthfulness…certainly ran riot in the boy, but it was a twisted wayward sort of mirth ‘Comus,’ she said quietly and wearily, ‘you are an exact reversal of the legend of Pandora’s Box. You have all the charm and advantages that a boy could want to help him on in the world, and […]
Tagged Ada Spelvexit, Aldous Huxley, Black Mischief, British Empire, Burmese Days, Christianity, Comus Bassington, Conservative Party, Courtenay Youghal, Disraeli, Edwardian England, Elaine de Grey, Emmeline Chetrof, Ernest Klopstock, Evelyn Waugh, fiction, Francesca Bassington, George Orwell, George St Michael, Graham Greene, Henry Greech, High Society, Hyde Park, imperialism, John Buchan, Joseph Conrad, Lady Caroline Benaresq, Lady Veula Croot, Lancelot Chetrof, Liberal Party, London, London Zoo, Merla Blathlington, Mervyn Quentock, Molly McQuade, Mr Standfast, Mrs. Goldbrook, novel, Richard Hannay, Saki, satire, Serena Golackly, short novel, Sir Julian Jull, socialism, Sophie Chetrof, Stephen Thorle, Suzette Brankley, The Heart of The Matter, Tom Keriway, Vienna, West Africa, West Indies
Posted by Simon on June 28, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/06/28/the-unbearable-bassington-saki/
The Chronicles of Clovis by Saki (1911)
The spirit of mirthfulness which one associates with the name certainly ran riot in the boy, but it was a twisted wayward sort of mirth… (The Unbearable Bassington) In 1908, Hector Hugh Munro gave up foreign reporting and returned to London. Throughout his career as a foreign correspondent he had also been publishing short fictional […]
Posted in Comedy, Short stories
Tagged 1911, A Matter of Sentiment, Adrian, Andreas Pincini, anecdote, Baroness Sophie, Belturbet, Bertie van Tahn, British Empire, Burma, Camp, Christianity, Clovis Sangrail, Conradin, Constance Broddle, Crefton Lockyer, Duncan Dullamy, E.M. Foster, Edwardian age, Edwardian society, Eleanor Stringham, Esmé, fiction, Filboid Studge, Frau Hofrath Schilling, Gertrude Upton, Hector Hugh Munro, Henri Deplis, Hermann the Irascible — A Story of the Great Weep, homosexuality, imperialism, irony, J. P. Huddle, King Hkrikros, Kipling, Lady Barbara, Lady Blemley, Lady Isobel, Lester Slaggby, Loona Bimberton, Mark Spayley, Martin Stoner, Michael Ley, Ministers of Grace, Miss Mebbin, Monsieur Aristide Saucourt, Mortimer Seltoun, Mr. Cornelius Appin, Mrs Momeby, Mrs Riversedge, Mrs Troyle, Mrs. de Ropp, Mrs. Packletide's Tiger, Oscar Wilde, Pan, Pipenta, Recessional, Reginald, Robert Ross, Rose-Marie Gilpet, Saki, satire, short stories, short story, Sredni Vashtar, Suffragettes, Susan Sontag, Sylvia Seltoun, The Background, the Baroness, The Chaplet, The Chronicles of Clovis, The Duke of Scaw, The Easter Egg, The Hounds of Fate, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Jesting of Arlington Stringham, The Match-Maker, The Music on the Hill, The Peace of Mowsle Barton, The Peace Offering, the Quest, The Recessional, The Remoulding of Groby Lington, The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope, The Stampeding of Lady Bastable, the Story of a Mouse that Helped, The Story of St. Vespaluus, The Talking-Out of Tarrington, The Unrest-Cure, The Way to the Dairy, Tobermory, Vespaluus, Votes For Women, witches, Wratislav
Posted by Simon on June 25, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/06/25/the-chronicles-of-clovis-saki/
Reginald in Russia, and other sketches by Saki (1910)
Hector Hugh Munro was born in Burma in 1870 to an official of the British Raj. Aged 23 he followed his father into the Burmese police, which he stuck at for two years before getting ill and chucking it in the 1890s. He returned to London to scrape a living by journalism and began writing […]
Posted in Comedy, Short stories
Tagged 1910, A Young-Turkish Catastrophe, and other sketches, comedy, Cross Currents, Gabriel-Ernest, humour, Judkin of the Parcels, Reginald in Russia, Saki, short stories, The Bag, The Baker's Dozen, The Blood-Feud of Toad-Water, The Lost Sanjak, The Mouse, The Reticence of Lady Anne, The Saint and the Goblin, The Sex that Doesn't Shop, The Soul of Laploshka, The Strategist
Posted by Simon on June 23, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/06/23/reginald-in-russia-saki/
Reginald by Saki (1904)
Hector Hector Hugh Munro was born in 1870 in Burma, then still part of the British Empire. He was the son of Charles Augustus Munro, an Inspector General for the Indian Imperial Police, and Mary Frances Mercer, daughter of Rear Admiral Samuel Mercer. Her nephew, Cecil William Mercer, later became a famous novelist under the […]
Tagged 1904, Anglo-Saxon Empire, apothegms, aunts, Boer War, bon mots, British Empire, Burma, comedy, comic sketches, Dornford Yates, Edwardian, fiction, foreign correspondent, Hector Hugh Munro, irony, Kipling, Oscar Wilde, paganism, quotes, Recessional, Reginald, Reginald at the Carlton, Reginald at the Theatre, Reginald on Besetting Sins, Reginald on Christmas Presents, Reginald on House-Parties, Reginald on Tariffs, Reginald on the Academy, Reginald on Worries, Reginald's Choir Treat, Reginald's Christmas Revel, Reginald's Drama, Reginald's Peace Poem, Reginald's Rubaiyat, Royal Academy of Art, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, short fiction, short stories, The Innocence of Reginald, The Price They Paid For Empire, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, The Woman Who Told The Truth
Posted by Simon on June 21, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/06/21/reginald-saki/
The Complete Short Stories of Evelyn Waugh
Waugh was a professional writer from the year he published his first short story in 1926 till his death in 1966. During that period he published some 26 short stories. There are several editions of his collected short stories, notable the Everyman one and the Penguin one. I read the Penguin one but the Everyman […]
Posted in Literature, Short stories
Tagged A boyhood memory, A Handful of Dust, A House of Gentlefolks, Abyssinia, Alfred Döblin, Alistair Trumpington, Amazonas, Ambrose Silk, An Englishman’s Home, Angela Lyne, Ann Fleming, Auden, “Wireless”, Bakic, Ballingar, Bari, Basil Seal Rides Again, BBC, Begoy, Bella Fleace, Bella Fleace Gave a Party, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Beverley Metcalfe, Billy Cornphillip, Black Mischief, Boggett, Brian Howard, Brideshead Revisited, Bullingdon Club, By Special Request, Cantos, Charles Albright, Charles Ryder's Schooldays, Christ Church, cinema, Clarence Albright, Claridges, Colonel Hodge, Colonel Jasper Cumberland, comedy, Compassion, Croatia, Cruise, Cruise or Letters from a Young Lady of Leisure, Daily Excess, decline and fall, Dorian Gray, Dr Kakophilos, Dr Messinger, Duke of Vanburgh, elitism, Elizabeth Stayles, Elizabeth Verney, Ernest Vaughan, Eton, Evelyn Waugh, Excursion in Reality, Ezra Pound, fiction, Gertrude Stein, Gervase Kent-Cumberland, Gilpin, Gladys Cruttwell, Guy Crouchback, Harpers Bazaar, Hector, Hetton Hall, High Society, incest, Incident in Azania, insanity, irony, James Joyce, Joab, John Verney, Lady Amelia, Lady Brakehurst, Lady Metroland, Lady Moping, Lady Peabury, Lancing, Lord Brakehurst, Lord Cornphillip, Love Among The Ruins, Love in the Slump, madness, Major Gordon, Matodi, Mayfair, Millicent Blade, Miss Annabel Rochfort-Doyle-Fleace, Miss Grits, Miss Myers, Mme. Kanyi, Modernism, Mr Graves, Mr Hargood-Hood, Mr Loveday, Mr McMaster, Mr Todd, Mr Youkoumian, Mr. Loveday’s Little Outing, Mrs Kent-Cumberland, Much Malcock, murder, narrative, Novella, On Guard, Out of Depth, Oxford, Parsnip, partisans, Paul Henty, Peninsular War, Period Piece, Peter Pastmaster, Piccadilly Circus, Pimpernell, Pobbles, Professor Anderson, Prunella, Put Out More Flags, Ralph Bland, Remote People, Roald Dahl, Rossetti, satire, science fiction, Scoop, Scott-King's Modern Europe, Sebastian Flyte, Second World War, Shakespeare, Shameless Blonde, Shiriana Indians, short stories, short story, Simon Lent, Sir Alexander Dreadnought, Sir James MacRea, Sir Joseph Mannering, snobbery, Sonia Trumpington, Spierpoint Down, Sword of Honour, T.S. Eliot, Tactical Exercise, Tales of the Unexpected, The Balance, The Complete Short Stories, The Man Who Liked Dickens, The Manager of 'The Kremlin', The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, The Patriotic Honeymoon, The Sympathetic Passenger, Thomas Kent-Cumberland, Tony Last, Too much tolerance, Ulysses, Unconditional Surrender, Vile Bodies, Virginia Woolf, Waste Land, Waugh, Winner Takes All, Work Suspended, Work Suspended: Two Chapters of an Unfinished Novel, Yugoslavia, Zanzibar
Posted by Simon on January 17, 2022
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2022/01/17/complete-short-stories-evelyn-waugh/
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold: A Conversation Piece by Evelyn Waugh (1957)
‘Why does everyone except me find it so easy to be nice?’ (Mr Pinfold after an uncomfortable visit to his mother, in The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold) As I’ve commented umpteen times while reviewing his oeuvre, Evelyn Waugh had a lifelong (fictional) interest in mental illness, with numerous of his characters going mad, having nervous breakdowns, […]
Posted in Literature, Novel
Tagged Algernon Clutton-Cornforth, Angel, auditory hallucination, aural hallucination, “Wireless”, Bellamy's Club, Brideshead Revisited, Catholicism, Ceylon, Colombo, Colonel and Mrs. Bagnold, Colonel Garbett, Conversation piece, cruise ship, delusion, Evelyn Waugh, fiction, General Franco, Ghezira. The Loved One, Gilbert Pinfold, Gilbert The Filbert, Goneril, hallucination, How It Is, Insomnia, Jazz, Lady Fawdle-Upton, Literature, Lychpole, madness, Margaret, mental illness, Miss Clarissa Bagnold, Miss Garbett, Mr Murdoch, Mr Pinfold, Mr. and Mrs. Graves, Mrs. and Miss Fawdle, novel, paranoia, Peinfeld, Picasso, Pinfold, Port Said, Samuel Beckett, sex, Sword of Honour, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, The Unnamable
Posted by Simon on January 14, 2022
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/the-ordeal-of-gilbert-pinfold-evelyn-waugh/
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Books & Boots 
The Square Egg and Other Sketches by Saki (1924)
Eight amusing short pieces by Hector Hugh Munro (pen name Saki) who was shot dead by a sniper while serving on the Western Front during the First World War. These last few pieces were collected and published posthumously in 1924. The Square Egg: a badger’s eye view of the mud war in the trenches The […]
Posted by Simon on July 7, 2021
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/07/07/the-square-egg-and-other-sketches-saki/