Customer Reviews

The Complete Saki

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like many people who came from the upper-class, Hector Hugh Munro (pen-name Saki) was very "old school" right-wing and conservative in his political views, which would come under criticism in our more enlightened age. There's an underlying cruelty and lack of compassion and sympathy in his work, as these views and outlook of his influenced his literary work. But an author's work should be judged on the work itself, not on the man. Saki's great achievement is his short stories, which were published in a newspaper and then collected into volumes. He was enjoying his literary success when the First World War broke out. He enlisted immediately in 1914. In 1916, he was shot dead in the head by an enemy sniper while hiding in a shallow shell-hole or trench. It was this single sporadic shot in the dusk that silenced one of England's finest writers. Two more volumes of his stories were published posthumously.

To appreciate Saki, one must apreciate witty, sophisticated humor and "old world" dialogue. This author is a master of dialogue, and his short stories (often very short) are full of upper-class types who are portrayed with a delicious malice as Saki shows us their follies, eloquence, and foibles. Wit, satire, and a sort of macabre humor are characteristic of this author's work. Wickedly amusing. You won't soon forget his characters, like the opinionated and divinely dressed Reginald, or the acid-tongued and refined Clovis.

David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"

Saki is good, you may not like his politics, but he is good. He is anti-altruistic, through and through, as he despises do gooders as self-serving and self-martyring and having no real good in mind. The "good" lays in good food, done by a good cook. Saki, interestingly, mocks futurism (the art form of Italian fascism) and Wagnerians and Nietzschians (the not unjustly adopted composer and unjustly misconstrued philosophical guru of the Nazis). He was also anti-suffragette and one of his stories is pathetic in his denounciations of them; but he was not misogynist as he has many smart female charaters in his stories. He is a joy to read, maybe the antithesis of Charles Dickens who one could claim is way too verbose and a dreamer on the virtues of strangers (although I like Dickens), Saki is concise and holds little value in the supposed goodness of strangers. One of the books one should read in their late teens. His novels are interesting and moderately entertaining but lack a sense of completion and posssibly nimbus a show at some limit to his depth. Of his plays only the last in the book was decent.

Saki's short (and, in general, they are VERY short) stories are masterpieces of wit and social comment. Although they are all set in the Europe (in general, England) that existed prior to the First World War (in which the author was killed), they remain fresh today; the period and location can usually be identified, but the point of the humor is timeless. The overall high quality is illustrated by the fact that, if you ask two dozen Saki aficionados to name their one favorite story, you'll probably get a dozen different answers.

Saki is one of those authors who was a master of the short story, but not of longer genres. The novels and plays lack the tight construction of his stories. The collection still gets five stars, however, because the stories alone would be a bargain at twice the price of this volume.

If I could imagine Saki writing for the present day, he'd probably be a sitcom writer for 'Frasier'. Oh, to make jolly good fun of the nobility, the upper-class, the 'idle' rich, is a delectable, sinful treat you'd indulge in time and time again. And the veiled insults his characters heap onto its hapless victims? They are meant to be quoted, appraised, and collected -- like jewels for its gem-like execution. My favorite story would have to be the "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" -- everything else comes a very close second.

Saki (H.H. Munro, 1870-1916) is unique. His mise-en-scÃne 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 hyÃnas, 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.

The collected works of Saki should be required reading for any P.G. Wodehouse fan who might like a little savory to go with the sweet. Both authors are masters at precise, witty writing that captures spirit of the age in which they wrote. Saki is like Wodehouse's evil twin brother; or is Wodehouse Saki's softer side?
I 'discovered' Saki's writing when I was very young and before I 'discovered' P.G. Wodehouse. Somehow, they have always seemed to be two sides of the same coin. I can only be saddened that Saki's output was not as voluminous. Unfortunately, H.H. Munro did not survive World War I.
Owning this collection would be the best possible way to add immeasurably to your library. Being able to give copies to friends, so that they may enjoy this somewhat forgotten writer, is one of the joys in life.

Saki is not your consoling Jerome K. Jerome humorist.He wants you to laugh,yes...but whit clenched teeth.He is a corrosive satyrist of human nature.He is Tobermory,the cat,and for victorian delusions on the fundamental goodness of human nature,a veritable Sredni Vashtar.He has seen (read The Unrest Cure and shiver) the horrors that the now ended 20th Century was to bring.You'll laugh at the Byzantyne Homelette,and recognize in St Vespaluus a most common politician.And you'll wonder why the cobra in the gloaming gloats...

H. H. Munro or Saki (his pseudonym) wrote short stories with ironic twists and surprise, much like O. Henry.

You may have "The Open Window" in school, and there are so many, many more funny, tart and twisted little gems in this volume. The famous Sredni Vashtar, the Lumber Room and the Open Window are known to most readers. In Sredni Vashtar, a young, neglected and abused boy who lives with a relative gets his odd revenge (this is a recurring theme with Saki, who himself was raised by two aunts who "bellowed like mastodons across a primeval swamp" at each other when piqued.) "The Occasional Garden" is utterly delightful; here hapless ladies who lunch can one-up their snooty guests by subscribing to the Occasional Garden Club. For a few pounds a year, they can phone the club when The Envy of the Neighborhood is due to dine. A temporary garden, lush with pagodas, ponds and lemon groves is installed for the purpose of annoying any garden braggart. Of course, the club comes by to roll it right up when the guest leaves, and that can prove somewhat inconvenient.

Or what about Quail Seed, where a painter and a few actor-friends conspire to help a friend increase trade at his suburban grocery. Ladies who only infrequently shop at this sleepy store can't tear themselves away when day after day, an exotic boy with blue-black hair and a bowl of beaten brass instead of a basket stops in to collect an order for wine, figs, the "best" Smyrna halvah and quail seed, ever more quail seed. What is the meaning of this mystery--you'll find out.

There are so many more delicious morsels in this book. Reading each one is like unwrapping a chocolate bon-bon.

One day i was reading something by Jorge Luis Borges (don't ask me what, i can't remember) and i came to some lines that informed me that Saki was "very amusing". That was all i needed: when Borges says something is good, it always is, i know that for a fact.

These short stories are all wonderful, perfect little bites of literature, full of humour and colour and more than occasionally with a little twist.

The stories are also perfect little portraits of the times - Monroe makes comment on the people, the fashions and whatever was in vogue. And he does it very, very well.

My favourite is "The Open Window", which is deliciously funny, but they are all marvellous.