As We Are

by E.F. Benson

World War I brings about many social changes in Britain that leave Lord and Lady Buryan completely at a loss

Genres: History

307 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 1987

About the author

Edward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.

E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.

Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.

Last paragraph from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

"As We Are is a comic elegy on the devastating -- and liberating -- effects of the First World War. Lord and Lady Buryan are vintage Benson characters of the stately traditional school, comfortably ensconced in their hideous family seat, separated from the coming generation by the yawning chasm of 1914-18. Entrenched in their armchairs, they can come to terms with the war raging on the Continent, but what are they to make of girls who smoke, of ungrateful villagers and shrinking incomes, let alone a daughter-in-law who absconds to Venice with a dubious princess?

"Into the tragi-comedy of their crumbling lives, E.F. Benson weaves his own shrewd and highly coloured opinions. A unique blend of fiction and comment, As We Are is an often hilarious portrait of post-war revolution and the snobberies and certainties it overturned -- the effervescent world of art and aristocracy he knew so well, vanishing like the bubbles of old champagne."
~~back cover

I rather enjoyed the chapters devoted to the Buryans and appreciated the picture of their dwindling, vanishing world. It was harder to wade through the essays: Eminent Men, Grub Street, and Stock-taking. The author's assessment of the situation in each of these areas, and his opinions of what went wrong and what should have gone right, are very cogent -- they're just tedious to gnaw through.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the Buryan family, but their story is completely abandoned by the end of chapter 10. The final three chapters are devoted entirely to social commentary. That was a bit exhausting.