''The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners'' is a 1975 non-fiction humorous book by J. P. Donleavy.

Overview

The book offers an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek guide for social climbers. As such, it is packed with humorous guidelines for managing every possible contingency as a parvenue amongst the ranks of the upper crust. Chapters: #Social Climbing #Extinctions and Mortalities #Vilenesses Various #In Pursuit of Comfortable Habits #Perils and Precautions

Advice

The book consists of hundreds of anecdotes and events one may encounter throughout life, and how to deal with them. Some examples include: *Upon Embellishing your Background * Accent Improvement *Upon the Sudden Reawakening of your Sordid Background * Ass kissing and other types of Flattery *

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

Cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

*Upon Saucy Assemblages *Upon Marrying a Lady for Her Money * Stripping and Streaking *When the Overwhelming Desire to Goose a Lady Cannot be Suppressed *Upon Being a Member of the Titled Classes *Blowing upon Your Soup *Wife Beating *Shabby People *Shabby Shabby People *Shabby Shabby Shabby People

Quotations

Shaving Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down—to the level of the skin or otherwise. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove the ...

: "Hey why are you growing that beard."..."I say, you unpleasantly unfortunate radoteur, I'm not doing a thing. You're shaving every day." When Some Supercilious

Cunt "Cunt" () is a vulgar word for the vulva in its primary sense, and it is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. "Cunt" is often used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleas ...

Asks Is There Anything Wrong: "Yes, you evil little man, I'm looking at your tie." How to Prevent People from Detesting You: "Don't try." The

Psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

: "This smug son of a bitch."

Reception

Several critics noted that the book is a very humorous read, and that it points out many of the aspects of human behaviour as exhibited by the wealthy and famous individuals it describes. In a 1975 review for ''

The Herald-Sun ''The Herald-Sun'' is an American, English language daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the McClatchy Company. History ''The Herald-Sun'' began publication on January 1, 1991, as the result of a merger of ''The Durham Morn ...

,'' Robert Salisbury calls it “The best work of its kind since Flaubert’s ''Dictionary of Received Ideas''”, and a small experimental aside from onleavy’snovelistic chores that is enjoyable in form and content”, but notes a desire for Donleavy to return to writing novels, citing ''The Ginger Man'', possibly Donleavy’s most well-recognized work. Bill Erdman, writing for ''

The World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

'' of Coos Bay, Oregon notes that the book is humorous, and that “the advice Donleavy provides seems both ludicrous and accurate", concluding with “''The Unexpurgated Code'' is best read alone. When others are around, you might be required to explain why you’re laughing out loud…” An April 7, 2025, review by

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' was published around the book’s 50th anniversary, calling it “…possibly, the funniest book ever written”.

References

External links

jpdonleavycompendium.org
via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unexpurgated Code 1975 non-fiction books Satirical books