The Unbearable Bassington

1912. 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. At the beginning of Munro's first novel, The Unbearable Bassington, the reader assumes that what they are reading is going to be exactly like his Reginald stories, but on a larger scale. Comus Bassington is another of the upper class young men with a cynical outlook on life. The plot is basically that his mother keeps trying to arrange things for Comus; a job as a secretary or an advantageous marriage, only for Comus to spoil things by selfishness or an unwillingness to be guided by another. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916). His witty and sometimes shocking stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) is the author of Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, and Vile Bodies.