''The Unbearable Bassington'' is a novel by the British author

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

(the pseudonym of Hector Hugh Munro) published in 1912.Brian Gibson, ''Reading Saki: The Fiction of H.H. Munro'' (McFarland, 2014, ) p. 202

Plot

Set almost entirely in the capital city, the novel focuses on the

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

social scene of bridge, dinner parties, concerts, and the sporting events of the season. At the beginning of the book, the

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

, Comus Bassington, a "beautiful wayward laughing boy", the spoilt only child of Francesca Bassington, a rich and fashionable widow, is in his last year at school, where he is a sadistic prefect. After he ends his school career, he lives with his mother and joins a group of bores and savage society wits. Without a career or a fortune of his own, Bassington hopes to marry Elaine de Frey, a rich young heiress, facing competition from his friend Courtney Youghal, a rising politician. Of the two, Elaine prefers Comus, but she is put off by his habit of borrowing money from her and his carelessness towards her. When her engagement to Youghal is announced, Francesca is angry with her son, blaming him for losing his one chance of financial security. On the advice of his uncle Henry Greech, he is sent away to take up a job in West Africa, where he soon dies.

Reception

The novel was seen as a success and was one of the works recommended to readers by Frank Swinnerton in his revision of

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

's '' Literary Taste: How to Form It'' (1937).

Notes

External links

The full text
of ''The Unbearable Bassington'' at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

1912 British novels Novels by Saki Novels set in London {{1910s-novel-stub