Beerbohm, Max. (1872 - 1956).
L i f e
- studied Oxford where he became a part of the Oscar Wild set
- considered a great wit and entertaining companion x but: exhausted his inspiration by the age of 35
- followed G. B. Shaw as a drama critic for the Saturday Review
W o r k
- a parodist and caricaturist
- mocks both the Victorian earnestness and the Aesthetes and Decadents
The Works of Max Beerbohm (1896):
- his first published book
Zuleika Dobson; or, An Oxford Love Story (1911):
- his only novel
- Zuleika: a femme fatale and a professional conjurer, gains access to the then all-male Oxford University to enchant all of the undergraduates, refuses proposals by all of them, and so drives all of them to suicide
- conclusion: the university staff hardly notice that all of their undergraduates have vanished, and Zuleika leaves for Cambridge
A Christmas Garland (1912):
- a parody of literary styles
Seven Men (1919):
"Enoch Soames":
- a tale about a poet making a deal with the Devil to find out how his work will be appreciated in future
Quote
"To say that a man is vain means merely that he is pleased with the effect he produces on other people. A conceited man is satisfied with the effect he produces on himself."
From "Quia Imperfectum" in And Even Now (1920).
Basics
(Photo: Grammar About com).
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Author
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm. (1872 - 1956). British. -
Work
Parodist. Caricaturist. Critic.
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Genres
Parody. Satire.
Literature
Abrams, Meyer Howard, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.
Barnard, Robert. Stručné dějiny anglické literatury. Praha: Brána, 1997.
Baugh, Albert C. ed. A Literary History of England. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967.
Coote, Stephen. The Penguin Short History of English Literature. London: Penguin, 1993.
Sampson, George. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. New York: Clarendon Press, 1994.