Short Stories of Saki (H. H. Munro)
Short Stories of Saki (H. H. Munro) |
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Reginald in RussiaPublished: 1910 Saki's second collection of short stories did not appear until six years after the first, and there are significant changes. Reginald was a monothematic collection of extremely short commentaries on the British upper class social scene centred around the ascerbic, effete young man Reginald. Here, he features in only one story, providing the title for the collection, and it is half hearted in comparison with the earlier Reginald stories. One of the strands in Saki's story telling is to write about something unpleasant behind a facade of apparently normal British life, usually something on the very of the supernatural; Sredni Vashtar in Beasts and Superbeasts is the most famous example. They are from a genre which today includes writers such as Robert Holdstock, and many of them are quite disturbing to read. The earliest of them, Gabriel-Ernest appears in this collection, incongrous alongside the society satire. REGINALD IN RUSSIAReginald sat in a corner of the Princess's salon and tried to
forgive the furniture, which started out with an obvious intention
of being Louis Quinze, but relapsed at frequent intervals into
Wilhelm II.
THE RETICENCE OF LADY ANNEEgbert came into the large, dimly lit drawing-room with the air of a
man who is not certain whether he is entering a dovecote or a bomb
factory, and is prepared for either eventuality. The little
domestic quarrel over the luncheon-table had not been fought to a
definite finish, and the question was how far Lady Anne was in a
mood to renew or forgo hostilities.
THE LOST SANJAKThe prison Chaplain entered the condemned's cell for the last time, to give such consolation as he might. "The only consolation I crave for," said the condemned, "is to tell
my story in its entirety to some one who will at least give it a
respectful hearing."
THE SEX THAT DOESN'T SHOPThe opening of a large new centre for West End shopping,
particularly feminine shopping, suggests the reflection, Do women
ever really shop? Of course, it is a well-attested fact that they
go forth shopping as assiduously as a bee goes flower-visiting, but do they shop in the practical sense of the word?
THE BLOOD-FEUD OF TOAD-WATER - A WEST-COUNTRY EPICThe Cricks lived at Toad-Water; and in the same lonely upland spot
Fate had pitched the home of the Saunderses, and for miles around
these two dwellings there was never a neighbour or a chimney or even
a burying-ground to bring a sense of cheerful communion or social
intercourse. Nothing but fields and spinneys and barns, lanes and
waste-lands. Such was Toad-Water; and, even so, Toad-Water had its history.
A YOUNG TURKISH CATASTROPHE - IN TWO SCENESThe Minister for Fine Arts (to whose Department had been lately
added the new sub-section of Electoral Engineering) paid a business
visit to the Grand Vizier. According to Eastern etiquette they
discoursed for a while on indifferent subjects. The minister only
checked himself in time from making a passing reference to the
Marathon Race, remembering that the Vizier had a Persian grandmother
and might consider any allusion to Marathon as somewhat tactless.
JUDKIN OF THE PARCELSA figure in an indefinite tweed suit, carrying brown-paper parcels.
That is what we met suddenly, at the bend of a muddy Dorsetshire
lane, and the roan mare stared and obviously thought of a curtsey.
The mare is road-shy, with intervals of stolidity, and there is no
telling what she will pass and what she won't. We call her Redford.
GABRIEL-ERNEST"There is a wild beast in your woods," said the artist Cunningham,
as he was being driven to the station. It was the only remark he
had made during the drive, but as Van Cheele had talked incessantly
his companion's silence had not been noticeable.
THE SAINT AND THE GOBLINThe little stone Saint occupied a retired niche in a side aisle of
the old cathedral. No one quite remembered who he had been, but
that in a way was a guarantee of respectability. At least so the
Goblin said. The Goblin was a very fine specimen of quaint stone
carving, and lived up in the corbel on the wall opposite the niche
of the little Saint.
THE SOUL OF LAPLOSHKALaploshka was one of the meanest men I have ever met, and quite one
of the most entertaining. He said horrid things about other people
in such a charming way that one forgave him for the equally horrid
things he said about oneself behind one's back. Hating anything in
the way of ill-natured gossip ourselves, we are always grateful to
those who do it for us and do it well. And Laploshka did it really well.
THE BAG"The Major is coming in to tea," said Mrs. Hoopington to her niece.
"He's just gone round to the stables with his horse. Be as bright
and lively as you can; the poor man's got a fit of the glooms."
THE STRATEGISTMrs. Jallatt's young people's parties were severely exclusive; it
came cheaper that way, because you could ask fewer to them. Mrs.
Jallatt didn't study cheapness, but somehow she generally attained
it.
CROSS CURRENTSVanessa Pennington had a husband who was poor, with few extenuating
circumstances, and an admirer who, though comfortably rich, was
cumbered with a sense of honour. His wealth made him welcome in
Vanessa's eyes, but his code of what was right impelled him to go
away and forget her, or at the most to think of her in the intervals
of doing a great many other things.
THE BAKER'S DOZENScene--Deck of eastward-bound steamer. Major Dumbarton seated on deck-chair, another chair by his side, with the name "Mrs. Carewe" painted on it, a third near by. (Enter R. Mrs. Carewe, seats herself leisurely in her deck-chair, the Major affecting to ignore her presence.) Major (turning suddenly): Emily! After all these years! This is fate!
THE MOUSETheodoric Voler had been brought up, from infancy to the confines of
middle age, by a fond mother whose chief solicitude had been to keep
him screened from what she called the coarser realities of life.
When she died she left Theodoric alone in a world that was as real
as ever, and a good deal coarser than he considered it had any need
to be.
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Map started on Nov. 5, 2009
