The last two weeks of August are hot, thunderstormy, full of mosquitoes, and I'm moving s..l..o..w..l..y.. I want to read something... but something that is light, undemanding, witty, trenchant, brief, satirical, and (did I say it?) light.
In other words, I'm in the mood for Saki (H.H. Monro, 1870--1916), a British author whose short stories apparently few people read any more.They are set in pre-World War One Edwardian England. It's a P.G. Wodehouse atmosphere. (Indeed, PGW was strongly influenced by him)
In reading over the Wikipedia article on Saki I realized I had read "The Interlopers" in school--can't remember grade or teacher--and been moved by the irony. All of his stories are now in the public domain and you can read them online.
In the volume "Beasts and Super-Beasts" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/269 I especially enjoyed the stories "The Hen", "The Cobweb", and "The Lull".
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2 comments:
Just came back from the Wiki article on your "Saki" - sounds interesting - later tonight I'll go read some of his short stories.
Didn't PBS work up some of P.G. Wodehouse stuff for their TV schedule some years ago - that name is so familiar.
Yes, they did a few PGW stories on TV, a good series as I remember. I love his stories. Did you know he lived on Long Island? In Remsenberg, a lovely little community about 20 miles east of here. I sent him a birthday card on his 80th birthday, from me and all my cats--had 5 or 6 at that time--and darned if he didn't send me a thank-you letter!
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