Saki - The Fiction - Complete and Unabridged

by Saki

Book Overview

Social and political life in Edwardian Britain is satirized in a collection of fiction and drama. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760782733
• ISBN13: 9780760782736
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Weight: 2.86 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This book is just what I wanted and more!

I wanted a hardcover version of the Short Stories of Saki and was pleasantly surprised to instead find this book of the author's Complete Works including novels and plays. The page edges are rough-cut, and the hard cover has a basic, classy look. The item arrived in wonderful condition much sooner than I imagined after ordering. I was very proud to present such a nice gift to my husband, who was also delighted by the extra contents, and would highly recommend this item.

The short story master

Ah, Saki. I am currently purchasing my third copy of this Complete Works edition, and I highly doubt this will be the last. Saki is the sort of author where, once you identify a person who would appreciate his humor, it's impossible to keep yourself from going out and getting them a collection of his stories, or giving them your current copy and having to go out and buying a new one. At his best (his short stories) he is cutting, incisive, yet just compassionate enough with his subjects to keep them human. Whether he is deconstructing turn-of-the-century English foibles in "Tobermory" (the most frequently anthologized of his short stories), where a cat learns to speak and proceeds to spill the secrets of all members of the previously uneventful dinner party, or simply building up to a plot-twist conclusion that leaves you shaking your head and laughing (as in "The Open Window"), each of his stories is a quick read that you'll probably find yourself re-reading soon afterwards. His novels (also included here) are worth reading if you love the short stories, but don't have quite the same verve. "The Unbearable Bassington" is the strongest, and basically takes the archetypal Saki male lead (other examples being Reginald and Clovis Sangrail) and develops him over a full short novel - the moments of greatness that are frequent in his short story are a bit more spread out here, probably a natural consequence of the greater length. And finally, we have his plays. These are, in comparison to his short stories, quite weak - the characters aren't memorable, the dialogue isn't credible, and the conclusions aren't surprising and/or satisfying. Their inclusion here seems to be more for completeness than anything else. Overall, this is (as the title says) pretty much all the Saki you could ask for, except perhaps his Russian history book published still under his real name (H. H. Munro) - hardly a glaring omission. Read a few of his stories online and, if they catch your attention, this book will become your new nightstand companion.

Still fresh after 100 years!

Saki (H.H. Munro, 1870-1916) is unique. His mise-en-scène is the world of P.G. Wodehouse, with its Edwardian country houses and formidable noblewomen. On the other hand, his septic view of human nature is closer to that of Ambrose Bierce, or Juvenal. His protagonists - not really heroes - are typically youthful scapegraces, idlers, and dandies. Self-absorbed and perverse, they may come to bad ends, like Comus Bassington. Despite, or perhaps because, of their character defects, they make gorgeous epigrammatic observations, worldly beyond their years, on human nature: "You needn't tell me that a man who doesn't love oysters and asparagus and good wine has got a soul, or a stomach either. He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed." "People may say what they like about the decay of Christianity; the religious system that produced green Chartreuse can never really die." "Waldo is the sort of person who would be immensely improved by death." Saki is politically incorrect. Like W.S. Gilbert, he lampooned suffragettes; this has led some to call him "misogynistic." His Jewish characters are not always portrayed in a flattering light; this has led some to call him "anti-Semitic." Earnest folk full of impractical good intentions for the uplift of humanity got the fullest dose of his venom. In "The Toys of Peace," children brought up by insufferably and sanctimoniously progressive parents who refuse to give them "warlike" playthings nonetheless improvise violent and destructive games. In "Filboid Studge" he describes a "health food" fad that succeeds wildly on the assumption that if it tastes disgusting, it must be good for you. Saki would have revelled in the gruesome irony of a recent news account about an "animal rights" protestor mauled at Yellowstone by a grizzly. He was no friend to the puritan, the do-gooder, and the reformer; critics accordingly tag him "reactionary."Bizarre scenarios abound. Pet hyænas, werewolf boys, riotous young women mistaken for newly-hired governesses, exploding babies, and other violent plots and twisted themes are related in spare narrative, often with absurdity at the end. Evelyn Waugh followed Saki's lead in such novels as "Black Mischief" and "A Handful of Dust." But if these Waugh novels might be described as resembling minor Mozart symphonies, Saki's tales are more like Scarlatti sonatas: short, dense with information, virtuosic, and perfect things of their kind. The taste for them is perhaps an acquired one, but it is easy to acquire.

Perfectly Written, Mordantly Witty, Astonishing

No one writes as Saki did. The only writers even vaguely similar are Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and such columnists as Russell Baker and Maureen Dowd. He is a true genius in compression, wild imagination, wicked humor. In virtually each line, there is a twist, an extraordinary turn of phrase. I imagine the Clovis and Reginald stories being read by John Gielgud or Rex Harrison in high dudgeon. His stories with surprise endings are simply better and more sophisticated than O. Henry. He is a true master of the extreme short story genre that he seems to have created (far superior to say, Bruce Jay Friedman whose work I do like). I haven't read A.J. Liebling or S.J. Perelman, but cannot imagine the exquisite touch of Saki. They are a true joy - each little story a gem of 3-7 pages. Have fun.

Extremely entertaining and well written

Stories are typical of Saki. Extremely humourus with an underlying bite ridiculing prevalent pretensions and beliefs. Languages is long winded yet entertaining. A pleasure to read.