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The Chronicles of Clovis
Saki (pseudonym of H. H. Munro), English author, is best known for his witty, sometimes whimsical, often cynical and bizarre short stories; they are collected in Reginald, The Chronicles of Clovis, Beasts and Super-Beasts, and other volumes. Contents of The Chronicles of Clovis include: Esme, The Match-Maker, Tobermory, Mrs. Packletide's Tiger, The Stampeding of Lady Bastable, The Background, Hermann the Irascible, The Unrest-Cure, The Jesting of Arlington Stringham, Sredni Vashtar, Adrian, The Chaplet, The Quest Wratislav, The Easter Egg, Filboid Studge, The Music on the Hill, The Story of St. Vespaluus, The Way to the Dairy, The Peace Offering, The Peace of Mowsle Barton, The Talking-out of Tarrington, The Hounds of Fate, The Recessional, A Matter of Sentiment, The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope, Ministers of Grace, The Remoulding of Groby Lington, and Robert Stockton.
171 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
About the author
Saki
1,298 books557 followersBritish writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as
The Chronicles of Clovis
(1911).
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.
His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.
Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
June 18, 2022
Irascible!
Born in 1870, and died in 1916, during WWI, Hector Hugh Munro aka Saki, was a witty and satirical writer of short stories during Edwardian, England.
The Chronicles of Clovis, written in 1911, starred the irascible
Clovis Sangrail. Although all the stories in this collection are not about young Clovis, most of them are.
My favorite Clovis story has always been The Stampede of the Lady Bastable, and l never get tired of reading it.
There are some others that I enjoy, though I must say that I sometimes find Saki a bit of a bigot and class snob, which isn’t unusual in this historical period. Still, l find myself a fan.
Born in 1870, and died in 1916, during WWI, Hector Hugh Munro aka Saki, was a witty and satirical writer of short stories during Edwardian, England.
The Chronicles of Clovis, written in 1911, starred the irascible
Clovis Sangrail. Although all the stories in this collection are not about young Clovis, most of them are.
My favorite Clovis story has always been The Stampede of the Lady Bastable, and l never get tired of reading it.
There are some others that I enjoy, though I must say that I sometimes find Saki a bit of a bigot and class snob, which isn’t unusual in this historical period. Still, l find myself a fan.
May 10, 2024
I managed to get through five or six stories and gave up. They were rather irrelevant and extremely dated. The topics were unengaging and to some extent silly.
It may have been because the stories were rather short – mostly under five pages – allowing little for character interaction or plot development. None of the stories spoke to me and the characters, what little there was of them, were caricatures.
It may have been because the stories were rather short – mostly under five pages – allowing little for character interaction or plot development. None of the stories spoke to me and the characters, what little there was of them, were caricatures.
February 11, 2021
”In a world that is supposed to be chiefly swayed by hunger and by love Mrs. Packletide was an exception; her movements and motives were largely governed by dislike of Loona Bimberton.”
Sentences like the above are true gems, or rather tiny mosaics of gems. It is not only that every single word falls exactly into place – quite mosaic-like – but what is said is also remarkably truthful: It did not take me a lot of introspection to bring my own Mrs. Packletide to daylight because there have been moments, and there will be, when my own particular dislike of someone made me think of that person more than would have been required by that person’s degree of importance or intellect.
Hector Hugh Munro, who wrote under the pen name of Saki, seems to have been very good at creating little mosaics like this as can be seen from the collection of short stories The Chronicles of Clovis, a bunch of tales that mainly satirize Edwardian mores but also give insight into human nature as such. The eponymous Clovis is a young man in his early twenties, well-heeled, reasonably well-educated and a typical representative of the British jeunesse dorée. His tendency to self-centredness shows most remarkably when the baby of a family he is staying with as a guest has gone missing, and he is more worried about the sauce that is going to be served at lunch that day. He also dabbles amiably in playing pranks on other people – as for example in The Unrest-Cure, where he tries, quite successfully, to get a middle-aged clergyman and his sister out of their tedious ruts, or in The Recessional, where he undergoes the mental throes of writing an ode with the sole aim of spiting a young poetess. He is, however, primarily an observer or a story-teller rather than a man given over-much to action, and although from the glimpses we get of him we are able to draw a pretty detailed character sketch, he is more of an author’s device to knit the various stories together under the heading of The Chronicles of Clovis. Saying this, there are a few stories where Clovis does not make any appearance at all, among which figure two rather eerie tales, namely Sredni Vashtar and The Music on the Hill. Sredni Vashtar, which is a masterpiece and would deserve a review of its own, is about a sickly little boy, his animal god and his mean-spirited cousin, who probably intends to hurry the boy to his early grave, but then finds the tables suddenly turned, whereas The Music of the Hill reminded me of Algernon Blackwood or Arthur Machen.
Most other tales in this collection could be classified as satirical or grotesque, as for example Tobermory, which is one of my favourite stories, and which deals with a man who has developed a method of teaching animals to talk human language. The house party of whom he makes one member demand proof of this, and get more than they have bargained for in the shape of the hosts’ cat Tobermory, and soon the family plot ways of how to get rid of the cat who talks too much. The already-mentioned The Unrest-Case cruelly shows us how most average people would probably react when faced with a gross crime that is so much out of the ordinary that one can hardly believe what is going on. Together with Esmé, this story flaunts such a biting and sarcastic humour that it would easily make Saki another object of cancel culture in our highly prim and proper society today. How could he get away with it at the beginning of the last century? Other stories are more conventional and more comfortably humorous but still genuinely breath-taking with the witticisms you can come across while reading them. To conclude this little review, here are some of my favourite gems gleaned from this collection:
”’[…] I love Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English. […]’”
“The wine lists had been consulted, by some with the blank embarrassment of a schoolboy suddenly called on to locate a Minor Prophet in the tangled hinterland of the Old Testament, by others with the severe scrutiny which suggests that they have visited most of the higher-priced wines in their own homes and probed their family weaknesses.”
“’When love is over, how little of love even the lover understands,’ quoted Clovis to himself.”
“‘I don’t want Wratislav. My poor Elsa would be miserable with him.’
‘A little misery wouldn't matter very much with her; it would go so well with the way she does her hair, and if she couldn't get on with Wratislav she could always go and do good among the poor.’”
“In the same way, whenever a massacre of Armenians is reported from Asia Minor, every one assumes that it has been carried out ‘under orders’ from somewhere or another, no one seems to think that there are people who might LIKE to kill their neighbours now and then.”
“’Discipline to be effective must be optional.’”
“’Who are those depressed-looking young women who have just gone by?’ asked the Baroness; ‘they have the air of people who have bowed to destiny and are not quite sure whether the salute will be returned.’”
“’I am sure I don’t know what I should do without Florinda,’ admitted Mrs. Troyle; ‘she understands my hair. I’ve long ago given up trying to do anything with it myself. I regard one’s hair as I regard husbands: as long as one is seen together in public one’s private divergences don’t matter. […]’”
Sentences like the above are true gems, or rather tiny mosaics of gems. It is not only that every single word falls exactly into place – quite mosaic-like – but what is said is also remarkably truthful: It did not take me a lot of introspection to bring my own Mrs. Packletide to daylight because there have been moments, and there will be, when my own particular dislike of someone made me think of that person more than would have been required by that person’s degree of importance or intellect.
Hector Hugh Munro, who wrote under the pen name of Saki, seems to have been very good at creating little mosaics like this as can be seen from the collection of short stories The Chronicles of Clovis, a bunch of tales that mainly satirize Edwardian mores but also give insight into human nature as such. The eponymous Clovis is a young man in his early twenties, well-heeled, reasonably well-educated and a typical representative of the British jeunesse dorée. His tendency to self-centredness shows most remarkably when the baby of a family he is staying with as a guest has gone missing, and he is more worried about the sauce that is going to be served at lunch that day. He also dabbles amiably in playing pranks on other people – as for example in The Unrest-Cure, where he tries, quite successfully, to get a middle-aged clergyman and his sister out of their tedious ruts, or in The Recessional, where he undergoes the mental throes of writing an ode with the sole aim of spiting a young poetess. He is, however, primarily an observer or a story-teller rather than a man given over-much to action, and although from the glimpses we get of him we are able to draw a pretty detailed character sketch, he is more of an author’s device to knit the various stories together under the heading of The Chronicles of Clovis. Saying this, there are a few stories where Clovis does not make any appearance at all, among which figure two rather eerie tales, namely Sredni Vashtar and The Music on the Hill. Sredni Vashtar, which is a masterpiece and would deserve a review of its own, is about a sickly little boy, his animal god and his mean-spirited cousin, who probably intends to hurry the boy to his early grave, but then finds the tables suddenly turned, whereas The Music of the Hill reminded me of Algernon Blackwood or Arthur Machen.
Most other tales in this collection could be classified as satirical or grotesque, as for example Tobermory, which is one of my favourite stories, and which deals with a man who has developed a method of teaching animals to talk human language. The house party of whom he makes one member demand proof of this, and get more than they have bargained for in the shape of the hosts’ cat Tobermory, and soon the family plot ways of how to get rid of the cat who talks too much. The already-mentioned The Unrest-Case cruelly shows us how most average people would probably react when faced with a gross crime that is so much out of the ordinary that one can hardly believe what is going on. Together with Esmé, this story flaunts such a biting and sarcastic humour that it would easily make Saki another object of cancel culture in our highly prim and proper society today. How could he get away with it at the beginning of the last century? Other stories are more conventional and more comfortably humorous but still genuinely breath-taking with the witticisms you can come across while reading them. To conclude this little review, here are some of my favourite gems gleaned from this collection:
”’[…] I love Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English. […]’”
“The wine lists had been consulted, by some with the blank embarrassment of a schoolboy suddenly called on to locate a Minor Prophet in the tangled hinterland of the Old Testament, by others with the severe scrutiny which suggests that they have visited most of the higher-priced wines in their own homes and probed their family weaknesses.”
“’When love is over, how little of love even the lover understands,’ quoted Clovis to himself.”
“‘I don’t want Wratislav. My poor Elsa would be miserable with him.’
‘A little misery wouldn't matter very much with her; it would go so well with the way she does her hair, and if she couldn't get on with Wratislav she could always go and do good among the poor.’”
“In the same way, whenever a massacre of Armenians is reported from Asia Minor, every one assumes that it has been carried out ‘under orders’ from somewhere or another, no one seems to think that there are people who might LIKE to kill their neighbours now and then.”
“’Discipline to be effective must be optional.’”
“’Who are those depressed-looking young women who have just gone by?’ asked the Baroness; ‘they have the air of people who have bowed to destiny and are not quite sure whether the salute will be returned.’”
“’I am sure I don’t know what I should do without Florinda,’ admitted Mrs. Troyle; ‘she understands my hair. I’ve long ago given up trying to do anything with it myself. I regard one’s hair as I regard husbands: as long as one is seen together in public one’s private divergences don’t matter. […]’”
July 16, 2011
These remain my favorite short stories of all time. Saki's caustic wit and social subversion are wickedly funny. The central protagonist, Clovis, is a trickster to the bone who can rarely resist an opportunity to upset the social apple cart, even if the fallout lands on himself. While there are other authors who depict a slice of upper class British life in the pre-WWI period, the putative innocence of this age (e.g. in P.G. Wodehouse) is revealed by Saki to have swirling undercurrents of human cruelty and the bleak meaninglessness heard in the happy but empty tinkling sounds of tea time. And while Clovis rejects conventional morality he finds joy and transcendence in being fully in the world. He fondly remembers the ecstasy of devouring a perfectly ripe peach as a child, and to complete the experience, drops the peach pit down the neck of another child who assumed in terror that the pit was a giant spider. "A thoughtless child would have thrown it away," Clovis reminisces. This worldview is wonderfully encapsulated when Clovis remarks during lunch that "I think oysters are more beautiful than any religion."
Clovis anticipates the later invention of the rebellious teenager, the generation gap, and the backlash to the dream of suburban bliss (in the songs of the Kinks, for example). Yet Munro himself was deeply principled, volunteering as an enlisted man in his 40s to serve in WWI despite offers to make him an officer kept far from harm. He was shot and killed, leaving us to wonder what he would have written following the great war.
Clovis anticipates the later invention of the rebellious teenager, the generation gap, and the backlash to the dream of suburban bliss (in the songs of the Kinks, for example). Yet Munro himself was deeply principled, volunteering as an enlisted man in his 40s to serve in WWI despite offers to make him an officer kept far from harm. He was shot and killed, leaving us to wonder what he would have written following the great war.
May 1, 2022
Ingenioso, mordaz, irónico, irreverente son solo unos pocos adjetivos que definen el estilo de Saki, autor eduardiano que hizo las delicias de autores como Borges con sus personalísimas caricaturas de la clase media alta inglesa. En esta colección de cuentos breves encontramos de todo: desde comedias de enredo, historias que rozan casi el terror, otras más amables y socarronas, y algunas directamente disparatadas. El Clovis al que hace referencia el título de esta antología suele presentarse, aunque no siempre, como narrador, testigo o protagonista. Si Clovis está de por medio en la historia, o es la causa de esta, puedo garantizaros que el relato va a ser muy divertido, pues Clovis, joven descarado, epigramático y sinvergüenza donde los haya, no se le ocurre ni una buena idea cuando está aburrido.
Por destacar algún cuento, Sredni Vashtar sería el mejor, que haya figurado en innumerables antologías de relato fantástico -no lo entiendo- y de terror -ahí ya sí- lo confirma. El resto no hace falta destacarlos, pues su calidad es bastante pareja; no hay ninguno que destaque por su mediocridad: Saki no podía permitirse eso.
Si os gusta el humor ingles vais a disfrutar de los disparates de Saki, cuya vida, al igual que la de otros autores contemporáneos, se vio truncada en su mejor momento artístico a causa de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Y aún así, su muerte podría, perfectamente, ser una escena de uno de sus cuentos. Pues si ya de por si es absurdo morir en una guerra, hacerlo por gritarle a tu compañero, en plena noche, que apague su puto cigarrillo es directamente ridículo.
Por destacar algún cuento, Sredni Vashtar sería el mejor, que haya figurado en innumerables antologías de relato fantástico -no lo entiendo- y de terror -ahí ya sí- lo confirma. El resto no hace falta destacarlos, pues su calidad es bastante pareja; no hay ninguno que destaque por su mediocridad: Saki no podía permitirse eso.
Si os gusta el humor ingles vais a disfrutar de los disparates de Saki, cuya vida, al igual que la de otros autores contemporáneos, se vio truncada en su mejor momento artístico a causa de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Y aún así, su muerte podría, perfectamente, ser una escena de uno de sus cuentos. Pues si ya de por si es absurdo morir en una guerra, hacerlo por gritarle a tu compañero, en plena noche, que apague su puto cigarrillo es directamente ridículo.
April 3, 2010
I agree with A.A. Milne when, in the introduction to the edition of The Chronicles of Clovis that I own, he writes:
"There are dearly loved books of which we babble to a neighbor at dinner, insisting that she shall share our delight in them; and there are books, equally dear to us, of which we say nothing, fearing lest the praise of others should cheapen our discovery. The books of "Saki" were, for me at least, in the second class."
The same is true for me, and for many others I imagine, because I have NEVER encountered another human animal who has read Saki before my recommendation.
Once you reach the end of this collection, you'll be surprised at how many stories it contains. Nearly all of them are enjoyable, with only three or four that seem blindingly expendable, and a handful that are so enjoyable you'll read them two or three times in a row.
Far and away my favorite of the bunch is "The Music on the Hill", and after that stories like "The Peace of Mowsle Barton", "The Hounds of Fate", "The Remoulding of Groby Lington" and on, and on. It's pointless to try and pick without looking foolish. Let's just say I enjoy the gloomier, darker stories most, but there are some classically funny ones in here also.
Highly recommended, as long as you keep him a secret too.
"There are dearly loved books of which we babble to a neighbor at dinner, insisting that she shall share our delight in them; and there are books, equally dear to us, of which we say nothing, fearing lest the praise of others should cheapen our discovery. The books of "Saki" were, for me at least, in the second class."
The same is true for me, and for many others I imagine, because I have NEVER encountered another human animal who has read Saki before my recommendation.
Once you reach the end of this collection, you'll be surprised at how many stories it contains. Nearly all of them are enjoyable, with only three or four that seem blindingly expendable, and a handful that are so enjoyable you'll read them two or three times in a row.
Far and away my favorite of the bunch is "The Music on the Hill", and after that stories like "The Peace of Mowsle Barton", "The Hounds of Fate", "The Remoulding of Groby Lington" and on, and on. It's pointless to try and pick without looking foolish. Let's just say I enjoy the gloomier, darker stories most, but there are some classically funny ones in here also.
Highly recommended, as long as you keep him a secret too.
April 18, 2022
The worst element of this edition is the cringe-worthy introduction by Auberon Waugh. For some reason, he feels the need to apologize for the tone of this collection by Saki, when he might instead have mentioned the word "satire". He is even confused by the cause of the cat's demise in Tobermory.
Of course some pieces are better than others. However some in this collection are among Saki's best and are widely anthologized (Tobermory, again).
In other news, there is a typo on the back cover. Such an abomination rarely happens in book world. Must lie down.
Of course some pieces are better than others. However some in this collection are among Saki's best and are widely anthologized (Tobermory, again).
In other news, there is a typo on the back cover. Such an abomination rarely happens in book world. Must lie down.
May 6, 2015
I don't know if it was the pompous lugubriousness of the narrator or that was the tone of the book anyway, but I mostly found the stories unbearable in their snobbishness, misanthropy and weak humour. Maybe they are just dated and such attitudes were not only acceptable but considered funny at the time.
There were 28 stories, three days listening, and some of them I had forgotten by the time I started the next one and had to replay them in order to be sure I'd 'read' them.
I was going to say that there were some high spots but that would be exaggerating - there were some stories that were quite funny is more accurate. The branding of a breakfast cereal in Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse that Helped was amusing. However, Herman the Irascible - A story of the Great Weep was about as misanthropic and anti-feminist as anything I have read anywhere. The Unrest-Cure and Stampeding of Lady Bastable were a waste of time, they weren't funny at all. I could see the Unrest-Cure being a Monty Pythonesque sketch involving Nazis, upper-class twits and the possibility of Jews, and working quite well, but as a story, no.
This review is quite long enough, it was bad enough deciding I would definitely finish the book, but now that's behind me, and so is this review.
There were 28 stories, three days listening, and some of them I had forgotten by the time I started the next one and had to replay them in order to be sure I'd 'read' them.
I was going to say that there were some high spots but that would be exaggerating - there were some stories that were quite funny is more accurate. The branding of a breakfast cereal in Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse that Helped was amusing. However, Herman the Irascible - A story of the Great Weep was about as misanthropic and anti-feminist as anything I have read anywhere. The Unrest-Cure and Stampeding of Lady Bastable were a waste of time, they weren't funny at all. I could see the Unrest-Cure being a Monty Pythonesque sketch involving Nazis, upper-class twits and the possibility of Jews, and working quite well, but as a story, no.
This review is quite long enough, it was bad enough deciding I would definitely finish the book, but now that's behind me, and so is this review.
December 8, 2020
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«یکعالمهی دیگر از اینها هست؛ برای نمونه:
«کورا، چشم تو جام شرابه منه.
کورا، اخم تو رنج و عذاب منه. »
این از ترانههای موفق اوایل کارم است و هنوز هم برایم حکم اعتبار و آبرو را دارد. این هم هست : «ازمرالدا، عشق تو داغونم کرد.» و «تریسا، ببین چطور دلم افتاده به پات.» هر دو ترانه حسابی گل کردهاند.» سپتیمس با گونههای گلانداخته ادامه داد:«یک ترانهی وحشتناک هم دارم که از باقی ترانهها پول بیشتری نصیبم کرده :
«لوسی، انگاری آتیش به لبات کشیدی
تو این چشا رو از کجا خریدی؟»
گفتن ندارد که از تمامشان متنفرم؛ در اصل، طوری رویم تاثیر گذاشتهاند که دیگر از زنجماعت دارم متنفر میشوم. اما بعد مالی قضیه برایم قابل چشمپوشی نیست. از طرف دیگر اگر روزی معلوم شود ترانهی «کورا، چشم تو جام شرابه منه.» و همهی آنهای دیگر را من سرودهام خودت میدانی که جایگاهم به عنوان کارشناس معماری کلیسایی و آداب عبادت اگر نابود نشود دستکم تا چه حد تضعیف خواهد شد.»
از داستان : معصیت مخفیانهی سپتیمس بروپ
ـ ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ ـ ـ ـ ــ ـ ـ
اگر یک نویسنده باشد که بخواهم با او چای بخورم و گپ بزنم همین ساقی رند و ناقلا است.
«یکعالمهی دیگر از اینها هست؛ برای نمونه:
«کورا، چشم تو جام شرابه منه.
کورا، اخم تو رنج و عذاب منه. »
این از ترانههای موفق اوایل کارم است و هنوز هم برایم حکم اعتبار و آبرو را دارد. این هم هست : «ازمرالدا، عشق تو داغونم کرد.» و «تریسا، ببین چطور دلم افتاده به پات.» هر دو ترانه حسابی گل کردهاند.» سپتیمس با گونههای گلانداخته ادامه داد:«یک ترانهی وحشتناک هم دارم که از باقی ترانهها پول بیشتری نصیبم کرده :
«لوسی، انگاری آتیش به لبات کشیدی
تو این چشا رو از کجا خریدی؟»
گفتن ندارد که از تمامشان متنفرم؛ در اصل، طوری رویم تاثیر گذاشتهاند که دیگر از زنجماعت دارم متنفر میشوم. اما بعد مالی قضیه برایم قابل چشمپوشی نیست. از طرف دیگر اگر روزی معلوم شود ترانهی «کورا، چشم تو جام شرابه منه.» و همهی آنهای دیگر را من سرودهام خودت میدانی که جایگاهم به عنوان کارشناس معماری کلیسایی و آداب عبادت اگر نابود نشود دستکم تا چه حد تضعیف خواهد شد.»
از داستان : معصیت مخفیانهی سپتیمس بروپ
ـ ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ ـ ـ ـ ــ ـ ـ
اگر یک نویسنده باشد که بخواهم با او چای بخورم و گپ بزنم همین ساقی رند و ناقلا است.
September 21, 2012
Clovis (like Reginald, the other Saki character)is a young man with an attitude. If you like the mischievous wit of Wilde's four comedies, you should try Saki. Between the two of them Wilde and Saki invented trolling. Clovis operates at tea parties, dance parties and lunches in the garden of the mansion etc. He drives everyone who deserves it (and then some) to distraction with his very original verbal wickedness.
November 21, 2012
I want to BE Clovis - so clever, so wicked, so good at getting away with it!
February 6, 2023
This was Saki's third collection and his penultimate one. You can really see him hitting his stride as an author and to use a cricketing analogy hitting a hundred in story after story (think home runs in baseball). Here they are Tobermoy, Mrs Packletide's Tiger, The Un-Rest Cure, Adrian, Sredni Vashtar, The Story of St Vespaluus, The Hounds of Fate any many, many more utterly wonderful, funny stories. I can't think of a pre World War I author whose work can still be read with such delight. Although it isn't seem absurd the only author who immediately comes to mind is Jane Austen. It doesn't matter that the whole world describes is utterly alien yet her humour, her characters, her love of life and sympathies make her work utterly believable, understandable and real. The same can be said for Saki's stories. They carry truths that stand outside the specifics of their settings. They are full of truth and even in a few pages he presents people you know, love or hate.
As almost all Saki's stories are individually listed on Goodreads I am gradually commenting on my favourites. If you know Saki's writing then you need no encouragement to enjoy the pleasures this volume contain. If you don't I can only beg you to track down anyone of the numerous editions/anthologies of his work. Once you do you have a wonderful treat in store.
As almost all Saki's stories are individually listed on Goodreads I am gradually commenting on my favourites. If you know Saki's writing then you need no encouragement to enjoy the pleasures this volume contain. If you don't I can only beg you to track down anyone of the numerous editions/anthologies of his work. Once you do you have a wonderful treat in store.
April 1, 2016
En este conjunto de cuentos, podemos ver a un mismo personaje recurrente (Clovis) que está presente de manera indirecta en cada relato. Centrémonos en el primer cuento: Tobermory, que fue, tal vez, el cuento que más me gustó. Aquí, Saki nos presenta una reunión entre gente adinerada (no recuerdo si había nobleza presente), incrédula ante las afirmaciones de Cornelius Appin, quien asegura que ha enseñado, luego de arduo trabajo (e incontables intentos con otras especies), a hablar. Naturalmente nadie lo cree... hasta que hablan con el gato y éste les responde con toda la inferencia propia de un gato.
(RESEÑA COMPLETA: http://eveletta.blogspot.mx/2016/04/C...)
A mi parecer, estos cuentos están lejos de ser mordaces, como dice el título del libro. Me parece que se clasifican de "mordaz" porque, en su época, debieron ser imprudentes, pero lo más mordaz aquí, fue el gato, Tobermory, pues Saki sólo resaltaba los sentimientos y emociones mezquinas (como la envidia) en los personajes.
(RESEÑA COMPLETA: http://eveletta.blogspot.mx/2016/04/C...)
A mi parecer, estos cuentos están lejos de ser mordaces, como dice el título del libro. Me parece que se clasifican de "mordaz" porque, en su época, debieron ser imprudentes, pero lo más mordaz aquí, fue el gato, Tobermory, pues Saki sólo resaltaba los sentimientos y emociones mezquinas (como la envidia) en los personajes.
September 25, 2023
♦️9 de diamantes♦️
En esta colección de cuentos (mejor, sketches) llenos de ácido y sátira, Saki consigue -en mayor o menor medida- entretener al lector con narraciones que exploran a través del humor (a veces hasta del terror) la naturaleza contradictoria (mejor, ridícula) de una sociedad que vive prendada del estatus, las etiquetas y posturitas.
No todos los cuentos son memorables, pero seguro que todos te sacarán una carcajada porque apelan a la inteligencia y evitan el pastelazo innecesario.
Lo recomiendo para un día lluvioso (en el patio o en la choya).
Y ya está.
En esta colección de cuentos (mejor, sketches) llenos de ácido y sátira, Saki consigue -en mayor o menor medida- entretener al lector con narraciones que exploran a través del humor (a veces hasta del terror) la naturaleza contradictoria (mejor, ridícula) de una sociedad que vive prendada del estatus, las etiquetas y posturitas.
No todos los cuentos son memorables, pero seguro que todos te sacarán una carcajada porque apelan a la inteligencia y evitan el pastelazo innecesario.
Lo recomiendo para un día lluvioso (en el patio o en la choya).
Y ya está.
December 29, 2015
You know that kid?
The one who is so smart that they don’t have to study? The super pompous one who made you feel like dirt because you got a B on your math test, and you didn’t know some archaic adjective that they wove into their purple prose teenage wangst poem? They also wikied all the books for English class, but still got better marks than you?
Yeah, that kid.
This book will give you the magic power to stick it to them in between the eyes.
Bam.
Here’s why:
1. Its writer, Saki, was a certified wizard.
2. That pompous prat probs hasn’t read it.
3. It has a cult like following: make your friends read it, and you can start your own cult chapter.
4. It turned my life around. I went from hating that kid to the smug understanding that that kid could no longer pull one over on me.
What I had: A beat up book, the kind of post-teen ennui that 2000’s Pop-Punk bands wrote odes to, and a grudge on a kid from my secondary school days.
The Chronicles of Clovis is one of those books that I would have passed over except I played that game with my bookshelf. You know the one “eenie meenie miney mo”? Yeah that.
My copy’s cover was sort of beat up and it kind of smelled like burnt toast. It was pretty pungent, but honestly it didn’t take away from this books charm. Saki’s book a series of short stories that all usually feature the eponymous Clovis at some point or another.
It has a long list of pros. In fact at this point I cannot think of any cons.
Its characters are strong, and Clovis is a punk. He’s a puck. Today he would be a successful Internet troll. So successful in fact the level of his trolling would be beyond the grasp of most. He’s eloquent and cunning. He’s the kind of guy you want to be when someone insults you. His silver tongue would deliver to them a blow that would pierce their high and mighty armour.
I rarely encounter people that have read this book. The author of foreword mentions that tries to keep it on the down low. When I do meet others that have read it they all have a fervent love for it, and I seem to instantly get along with them. Add that to the tally of pros this book has: “instant friendship”.
You know a book is good when it enters your lexicon to the point that when you are at a party and you don’t know what to talk about, you down your beer and attempt to retell the “The Turning Away of Terrington” or “Esme” to the uninitiated. Poorly, mind you, even sober your prose is only a fraction of the quality of the mighty wizard Saki’s.
But still when you encountered that horrid guy that belittled you in school you popped on a pleasant smile said “ so have you read The Chronicles of Clovis?”
A blank stare back, they pause, assuming it’s the latest YA fad. “ I did, but I don’t like contemporary… ”
“What are you talking about it was published in 1912.” They turn pink.
“Um. Oh. Uh.”
Beaten at their own game, they crawl away, tail between their legs, mumbling about getting more punch. You smirk, but in your head you are screaming “Nice shoelaces punk! Made you look! Suck it! I win! Thanks Clovis, Thanks Saki”
What I gained: Victory.
Add “talking point” and the “sweet feeling of revenge” to the tally of pros.
Even if you don’t have a petty grudge to settle it’s a funny memorable and light read. I highly recommend it.
February 7, 2017
The Chronicles of Clovis is a collection of short stories written by H. H. Munro under the pseudonym "Saki." Many of these tales first appeared in English periodicals during the early nineteen hundreds. I am sure that these fantastical adventures generated quite a following.
The best description that I can give of Clovis is that of a dandyish scamp who travels within an imaginary upper circle of English society and collects humorous accounts of daily life. While he plays a part in many of the stories, there are those that Clovis simply narrates and those that go unreferenced. I think that many of my favorites feature Clovis because of his deviltry in dealing with any situation that dares to impose itself upon him.
I must confess that a copy of this book sat on my parents' bookshelf for years but failed to capture my attention. It was hard to get excited over the thought of leisurely reading what I perceived to be an ancient religious discourse attributed to a sainted French king. Had I given it deeper consideration, then the juxtaposition of the title and author should immediately have produced question marks. Thankfully, a reading challenge encouraged me to investigate this anomaly and sample some wonderful British satire.
The best description that I can give of Clovis is that of a dandyish scamp who travels within an imaginary upper circle of English society and collects humorous accounts of daily life. While he plays a part in many of the stories, there are those that Clovis simply narrates and those that go unreferenced. I think that many of my favorites feature Clovis because of his deviltry in dealing with any situation that dares to impose itself upon him.
I must confess that a copy of this book sat on my parents' bookshelf for years but failed to capture my attention. It was hard to get excited over the thought of leisurely reading what I perceived to be an ancient religious discourse attributed to a sainted French king. Had I given it deeper consideration, then the juxtaposition of the title and author should immediately have produced question marks. Thankfully, a reading challenge encouraged me to investigate this anomaly and sample some wonderful British satire.
August 22, 2017
Clovis is the spiritual successor to Saki's well-loved Reginald character. He's a bit more of a prankster than a simple snarker than Reginald, but there's plenty of deadpan humor in the stories which feature him.
It's actually the stories not about Clovis that I find most interesting in this collection. In particular, I enjoy "Srendi Vashtar," about a boy whom turns a pet ferret into his own private and bloodthirsty god. It's dark and vibrant and terrible. "Filboid Studge" is good for anyone rolling their eyes at the current trend of superfoods. And "Esme" is good for a mix of absurdity and light gore. And all these stories poke fun at the social mores of early 20th century England.
This story is in the public domain. I particularly encourage potential readers to check out the free audio production available from Librivox.
It's actually the stories not about Clovis that I find most interesting in this collection. In particular, I enjoy "Srendi Vashtar," about a boy whom turns a pet ferret into his own private and bloodthirsty god. It's dark and vibrant and terrible. "Filboid Studge" is good for anyone rolling their eyes at the current trend of superfoods. And "Esme" is good for a mix of absurdity and light gore. And all these stories poke fun at the social mores of early 20th century England.
This story is in the public domain. I particularly encourage potential readers to check out the free audio production available from Librivox.
September 11, 2012
A really snarky, condescending book of short stories- most of which have a dark angle or humorously macabre twist (somebody ends up dead in the majority of them...). Each story is told by, or involves, the character "Clovis," your average trouble making rich kid circa the late 19th /early 20th century. You'll wonder what it is you like about Clovis, until you realize he's much like a leprechaun: an amusing deviant with too much money.
March 14, 2021
What if Psmith were chaotic evil? What if Lord Henry Wotton and Uncle Fred were combined in a lab to produce an offspring who, instead of spreading sweetness and light, spread chaos and discord? What if I laughed very, very hard at this book full of suicides, gruesome murders, and small children being messily devoured by hyaenas?
May 14, 2021
Lo más rescatable de estos cuentos de Saki es la enorme creatividad del autor. Son cuentos con un humor negro brillante, personajes que parodian la clase alta inglesa y, sobre todo, los finales son magistralmente ingeniosos.
Saki utiliza el humor para burlarse de la clase alta a través de sus estereotipos y su absurda visión del mundo y de lo que es conocido como "modales".
Saki utiliza el humor para burlarse de la clase alta a través de sus estereotipos y su absurda visión del mundo y de lo que es conocido como "modales".
January 23, 2013
If you love Evelyn Waugh (and wish he had written more short stories), go for Saki! Not every single story in this collection will make you laugh mischievously but those that will you won't forget.
February 17, 2017
delightfully droll
May 15, 2018
Hilarious, Witty, Fun, Must read.
I want someone like Clovis in my life. Like seriously.
I want someone like Clovis in my life. Like seriously.
December 9, 2019
Slight but sharp and often delicious.
April 19, 2022
There are good things which we want to share with the world and good things which we want to keep to ourselves. The secret of our favourite restaurant, to take a case, is guarded jealously from all but a few intimates; the secret, to take a contrary case, of our infallible remedy for seasickness is thrust upon every traveller we meet, even if he be no more than a casual acquaintance about to cross the Serpentine. So with our books. There are dearly loved books of which we babble to a neighbour at dinner, insisting that she shall share our delight in them; and there are books, equally dear to us, of which we say nothing, fearing lest the praise of others should cheapen the glory of our discovery. The books of "Saki" were, for me at least, in the second class.
Ah, he puts so well something I've always felt. For me Saki definitely belongs to the first (books such as Till We Have Faces, The Charioteer and especially The Nun's Story fall deep into the second category for me. I would be genuinely afraid if anyone I knew read all three of them that they would know me too well).
I think the Way to the Diary was the best of them, or at least the one I enjoyed most. A genuine delight to read and a rare instance of a Saki story wherein 'the good end happily and the bad, unhappily'.
The Peace of Mowlse Barton was the most descriptive I've seen Saki yet, but it didn't have any kind of ending. Along with the tantalisingly ambiguous Hounds of Fate , it was one of his rare serious stories, without any humour at all.
Ministers of Grace was a strange one and I suppose quite pointed to the politics of the time, which is why I found it so confusing.
As always, his name game is absolutely unparalleled. He has that knack of coming up with names that aren't real (usually), but sound as if they are, or should be. Somehow each of them rings with the whole idea of a personality and his place in life.
I also discovered this excellent blog, which has published many of Saki's stories with much-needed annotations.
Since this concludes my sojourn with Saki for now, I thought this was as good a time as any to give some moderately-collected thoughts on This Type of Thing. What you might call the Wilde-Saki-Wodehouse-Waugh continuum of British comic writing.
The thing that stands out, reading Saki from the arse-end of history, is how pre-war Edwardian society, for all that Saki pokes fun at it, was essentially and overwhelmingly innocent. For crying out loud, the depraved young people (in their twenties) eat peaches at the parties and play childish parlour games requiring a knowledge of recent and ancient history I doubt one in a million Western youths possess today. It seems almost impossibly wholesome and quaint (even with the furtive lashing in the library). Nowadays binge-drinking, drug-taking and casual and open sex is de rigueur at parties hosted for school students in their teens, and even preteens! People are nasty to each other, yes, but in a way that's almost endearing, almost sweet, when compared to how people behave towards one another now.
His satire rests on the assumption that the institutions and mores he mocks are more or less stable and permanent, that Britain would continue to be like this for time immemorial. Christie's stuff is the same, even though her books aren't often funny. There is no sense of progress, of the forward, or downward, motion of time. The world, one feels when one reads them, has always been this way and always will be. And in this age when the only thing constant is change, the only certain, uncertainty, where the world is every day making leaps and bounds into the abyss, that can be immensely reassuring.
But now all such silly but comforting staples of the human (or at least the English) condition as interfering aunts, tea-time, prayerbooks and village greens have crumbled, barely leaving behind a memory. Even the Britishness of Britain is rapidly receding.
I think this, paradoxically, is why there is so little satire written under genuine dictatorships, which one would think would produce them the most. They certainly need or justify them the most. But perhaps that, in the counter-intuitive way of things, is why they don't get them. Even aside from the fear of censorship, how can one parody a society that is already a parody of itself? How can one draw a caricature of a system that is already more outlandish than the most demented, or demonic, fantasy? Satire needs above all a light tough to keep from becoming a sermon, and any attempt to send up the absurdities of our present age, apart from the fact that they are so absurd and so numerous they became stupefying, impossible to grapple with, and become normalised in one's mind, is that they demand outrage and grief, not laughter, even snide laughter. Even absurdity requires a baseline of normal life from which to deviate. But now our everyday life consists of almost nothing but monstrous absurdities, and it is the normal which is portrayed as deviant.
The fact is, that all fun-poking of the Sakian or Wodehouse satire nonetheless has a core of love for that which it deflates. In fact, it depends on it; the snarkiness flows from it. There is absolutely nothing lovable or lovely about the 21st century West. It is grotesque and hideous behind the power of humour to redeem. When I'm reading or writing, which I do for enjoyment, I just want to get away from it all, as far away from it as I can. Saki lets me do that, which is why I love him.
Some misc. snippets:
She was not actually nervous about the wild beast, but she had a morbid dread of performing an atom more service than she had been paid for.
...
Louisa Mebbin adopted a protective elder-sister attitude towards money in general, irrespective of nationality or denomination. Her energetic intervention had saved many a rouble from dissipating itself in tips in some Moscow hotel, and francs and centimes clung to her instinctively under circumstances which would have driven them headlong from less sympathetic hands.
It was a gala evening at the Grand Sybaris Hotel, and a special dinner was being served in the Amethyst dining-hall. The Amethyst dining-hall had almost a European reputation, especially with that section of Europe which is historically identified with the Jordan Valley. Its cooking was beyond reproach, and its orchestra was sufficiently highly salaried to be above criticism. Thither came in shoals the intensely musical and the almost intensely musical, who are very many, and in still greater numbers the merely musical, who know how Tchaikowsky's name is pronounced and can recognize several of Chopin's nocturnes if you give them due warning; these eat in the nervous, detached manner of roebuck feeding in the open, and keep anxious ears cocked towards the orchestra for the first hint of a recognizable melody.
"'Ah, yes, Pagliacci,' they murmur, as the opening strains follow hot upon the soup, and if no contradiction is forthcoming from any better-informed quarter they break forth into subdued humming by way of supplementing the efforts of the musicians. Sometimes the melody starts on level terms with the soup, in which case the banqueters contrive somehow to hum between the spoonfuls; the facial expression of enthusiasts who are punctuating potage St. Germain with Pagliacci is not beautiful, but it should be seen by those who are bent on observing all sides of life. One cannot discount the unpleasant things of this world merely by looking the other way.
"In addition to the aforementioned types the restaurant was patronized by a fair sprinkling of the absolutely nonmusical; their presence in the dining-hall could only be explained on the supposition that they had come there to dine.
(This is one of the funniest passages I've read in ages, especially the second paragraph. For some reason I can see the scene so clearly in my mind)
"There is no such thing as rheumatism," said Miss Gilpet. She said it with the conscious air of defiance that a waiter adopts in announcing that the cheapest-priced claret in the wine-list is no more. She did not proceed, however, to offer the alternative of some more expensive malady, but denied the existence of them all.
But she's getting on, you know, and has no pretensions to brains or looks or anything of that sort."
"You seem to forget that she's my daughter."
"That shows my generosity.
Knobaltheim, an upland township in one of those small princedoms that make inconspicuous freckles on the map of Central Europe.
The combination of sentiment and plovers' eggs appealed strongly to his Teutonic mind.
"I want to marry your daughter," said Mark Spayley with faltering eagerness.
"Well," said Clovis, "the beginning of their tragedy was that they found an aunt. The aunt had been there all the time, but they had very nearly forgotten her existence until a distant relative refreshed their memory by remembering her very distinctly in his will; it is wonderful what the force of example will accomplish. The aunt, who had been unobtrusively poor, became quite pleasantly rich, and the Brimley Bomefields grew suddenly concerned at the loneliness of her life and took her under their collective wings. She had as many wings around her at this time as one of those beast-things in Revelation."
The aunt of Clovis responded gamely to the suggestion, and churned away like a Nile steamer, with a long brown ripple of Pekingese spaniel trailing in her wake.
(I love how she's referred to as 'the aunt of Clovis')
"I came here to get freedom from the inane interruptions of the mentally deficient," said Clovis, "but it seems I asked too much of fate."
Bertie van Tahn prepared to use his towel as a weapon of precision, but reflecting that he had a good deal of unprotected coast-line himself, and that Clovis was equipped with a fountain-pen as well as a towel, he relapsed pacifically into the depths of his chair.
February 23, 2021
Wickedly funny short stories.
December 27, 2020
Recommended by Olivia! We were chatting about books and she mentioned one of Saki's short stories was one of those Vital Pieces of Literature in her life, and I'm a sucker for vitality. (That one being "Sredni Vashtar," a delight.)
Saki's stories are mostly political or social satire of a certain era of British mainland concerns; they are Quite Funny, both in snarky dialogue and in the punchlines of the story, usually, and a typical narrator is the rather self-involved but clever and amusing Clovis. Milne puts it as "the cruelty of youth," which works as well as anything- absurdities and faith rewarded and skewerings of language and blowhards.
Sometimes, though, there are sprinkled within the typical fare of satiric social puncturings, a few far more straightforward horror stories. I quite enjoyed those creepy diversions, such as "Hounds of Fate" and "The Peace of Mowsle Barton."
The language, I keep hammering on about, but "the talking-out of tarrington" has the most luscious description of a peach and a summer afternoon as to make a winter-stranded woman weep.
A note: stories being a product of a people and a time, this collection (the one I have published by Xist, with an intro by AA Milne, and is available on hoopla) drops the n-word casually once (in The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope), and is as snarky about women's suffrage as it is about anything else; caveat lector, but I enjoyed the vast majority of the stories quite a bit.
Saki's stories are mostly political or social satire of a certain era of British mainland concerns; they are Quite Funny, both in snarky dialogue and in the punchlines of the story, usually, and a typical narrator is the rather self-involved but clever and amusing Clovis. Milne puts it as "the cruelty of youth," which works as well as anything- absurdities and faith rewarded and skewerings of language and blowhards.
Sometimes, though, there are sprinkled within the typical fare of satiric social puncturings, a few far more straightforward horror stories. I quite enjoyed those creepy diversions, such as "Hounds of Fate" and "The Peace of Mowsle Barton."
The language, I keep hammering on about, but "the talking-out of tarrington" has the most luscious description of a peach and a summer afternoon as to make a winter-stranded woman weep.
A note: stories being a product of a people and a time, this collection (the one I have published by Xist, with an intro by AA Milne, and is available on hoopla) drops the n-word casually once (in The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope), and is as snarky about women's suffrage as it is about anything else; caveat lector, but I enjoyed the vast majority of the stories quite a bit.
March 11, 2022
Lo bueno de este libro es que al tener historias cortas permite cortar y continuar leyendo otro día, en otro momento. La mejor, por lejos, es la de Tobermory.
Hay algunas cosas salidas de la galera que tiene Saki que demuestran que no fue una persona criada con lo estereotipado de la educación actual, con salidas dignas de cuentos de hadas que nunca llegaron a serlo porque ni son adorables, ni son para niños. Y sí, tiene un problemita con la clase alta donde tuvo que moverse durante su vida, si eso les va a molestar esta no sería su lectura porque a la clase alta le va a dar para que tenga, guarde y reparta.
Hay algunas cosas salidas de la galera que tiene Saki que demuestran que no fue una persona criada con lo estereotipado de la educación actual, con salidas dignas de cuentos de hadas que nunca llegaron a serlo porque ni son adorables, ni son para niños. Y sí, tiene un problemita con la clase alta donde tuvo que moverse durante su vida, si eso les va a molestar esta no sería su lectura porque a la clase alta le va a dar para que tenga, guarde y reparta.
April 4, 2021
Many of these are delightful (especially the one about the hyena), but they don't do so well in large doses. Very arch, dry sarcasm at the expense of the not-so-nobly-born and the not terribly bright. After a half-dozen or so, they become pretty tiresome. Sort of Wodehouse with a malicious edge.
I think if I had read two or three of these stories and then stopped to rate them, they would have gotten at least three stars, maybe more. It's just the sheer quantity of a mean kind of humor that leaves me thinking "How much longer can this go on?"
I think if I had read two or three of these stories and then stopped to rate them, they would have gotten at least three stars, maybe more. It's just the sheer quantity of a mean kind of humor that leaves me thinking "How much longer can this go on?"
December 11, 2021
A collection with a schoolboy-like appetite for the grisly, leading to stories with the most overly-macabre of endings. Often tasteless and shocking. Perhaps, most disturbingly, you darkly suspect the author is sniggering into his school jumper at our shock and discomfort (and that of his characters).
Lots of Wodehouse-type eccentrics but with interests in hunting and overt racism that makes the collection difficult to read. There are redeeming features - I liked some of the set-ups, Clovis' prankish impudence and the times it was being irreverent and not just downright grotesque for shocks.
Lots of Wodehouse-type eccentrics but with interests in hunting and overt racism that makes the collection difficult to read. There are redeeming features - I liked some of the set-ups, Clovis' prankish impudence and the times it was being irreverent and not just downright grotesque for shocks.
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