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Caprice
The stage-struck daughter of an English rural dean runs off with the family plate to London and a theatrical career–only to die tragically by the bite of a mousetrap in her moment of triumph as a sensational Juliet.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1917
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193 people want to read
About the author
Ronald Firbank
45 books55 followersBritish novelist Ronald Firbank was born in London, the son of society lady Harriet Jane Garrett and MP Sir Thomas Firbank. He went to Uppingham School, and then on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He converted to Catholicism in 1907. In 1909 he left Cambridge, without completing a degree.
Living off his inheritance he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. Ronald Firbank died of lung disease while in Rome.
Living off his inheritance he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. Ronald Firbank died of lung disease while in Rome.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 2, 2020
Ronald Firbank is one of those authors that are regularly praised by highly regarded authors, but now largely ignored. While I was living with a bibliophile, I was introduced into the historical gay canon & of course Firbank was mentioned. Valmouth is his most famous, so I was excited to see any of his books on the local library shelves.
I observed a strong similarity between Firbank and early Aldous Huxley: both wrote witty, brittle social comedies heavily laced with caricatures of real people. This works well for those in the know, but loses its appeal over time. I suspect those that praised Firbank – Forster, Evenlyn Waugh, Powell, etc – all recognised the people or types and had a hearty laugh.
Firbank had a waspish tongue and it is very apparent in this novel. Nothing is sacred in the novel and all things – even slightly mentioned – get attacked. The opening & closing paragraphs take a lovely swipe at cathedral towns (know your Barsetshire Trollope novels and you get a giggle), social circles in the theatrical world, the cut-throat behaviour between cast and crew of theatres, and so on. Fools are exploited, the devious prey on the less worldly, and incompetence are exposed. Those that have read the Benson Mapp & Lucia will recognise the battles people play to expose the weaknesses of their opposition; friendships are truly shallow.
Firbank also liked to shock. There is a hint of homosexuality (the two manly lead actors that share a studio, & take in laundry during the off season), and lesbianism (Sally’s sleeping arrangements with May Mant) puts a bit of spice in the tale.
Firbank is not ideal as an introduction into the Bright Young Things of the 20s, and I would suggest entering by another author such as Waugh. What Firbank does do, is strip the novel back to almost nothing. The dialogue often doesn’t say who the speaker is, and descriptions, or even an advancement on plot are scant. In many ways he is similar with the experimentation of Ivy Compton-Burnett in dialogue over descriptive narrative, although his subject matter is vastly different.
However, his novels represent an exciting period in British literature when the 2nd wave of removing Victorian writing shackles was happening. His writing is also another voice of the expanding and more open gay canon; significantly he is exposing a period that still have much of the homosexual society as underground and historically, hard to understand the period.
I observed a strong similarity between Firbank and early Aldous Huxley: both wrote witty, brittle social comedies heavily laced with caricatures of real people. This works well for those in the know, but loses its appeal over time. I suspect those that praised Firbank – Forster, Evenlyn Waugh, Powell, etc – all recognised the people or types and had a hearty laugh.
Firbank had a waspish tongue and it is very apparent in this novel. Nothing is sacred in the novel and all things – even slightly mentioned – get attacked. The opening & closing paragraphs take a lovely swipe at cathedral towns (know your Barsetshire Trollope novels and you get a giggle), social circles in the theatrical world, the cut-throat behaviour between cast and crew of theatres, and so on. Fools are exploited, the devious prey on the less worldly, and incompetence are exposed. Those that have read the Benson Mapp & Lucia will recognise the battles people play to expose the weaknesses of their opposition; friendships are truly shallow.
Firbank also liked to shock. There is a hint of homosexuality (the two manly lead actors that share a studio, & take in laundry during the off season), and lesbianism (Sally’s sleeping arrangements with May Mant) puts a bit of spice in the tale.
Firbank is not ideal as an introduction into the Bright Young Things of the 20s, and I would suggest entering by another author such as Waugh. What Firbank does do, is strip the novel back to almost nothing. The dialogue often doesn’t say who the speaker is, and descriptions, or even an advancement on plot are scant. In many ways he is similar with the experimentation of Ivy Compton-Burnett in dialogue over descriptive narrative, although his subject matter is vastly different.
However, his novels represent an exciting period in British literature when the 2nd wave of removing Victorian writing shackles was happening. His writing is also another voice of the expanding and more open gay canon; significantly he is exposing a period that still have much of the homosexual society as underground and historically, hard to understand the period.
June 24, 2015
On the basis of this book, I feel confident saying that Firbank's family tree obviously leads to early Evelyn Waugh, Ivy Compton-Burnett, and Muriel Spark: extreme minimalism, a high dose of dialogue, and far greater attention to sentences than to the tropes of realism (character, setting, etc...). I imagine this would be a great litmus test for those who claim that they value literature as literature rather than literature as cod philosophy, because it has many characteristics of modernism (the aforementioned minimalism demands a lot from the reader; if you're not paying attention from line to line, you'll get completely lost)--but it avoids the usual ideas of the modernists (nothing here about the ineradicable absurdity of existence, no ultra-individualism, no epatering of the bourgeoisie).
I'm not sure I enjoyed reading it at the time, but in hindsight I do enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to more. It's funny, it's gleefully artificial, and it's completely uninterested in all the things that serious literature is meant to be about (other than linguistic playfulness), and, quite frankly, that makes me very happy.
I'm not sure I enjoyed reading it at the time, but in hindsight I do enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to more. It's funny, it's gleefully artificial, and it's completely uninterested in all the things that serious literature is meant to be about (other than linguistic playfulness), and, quite frankly, that makes me very happy.
December 1, 2013
Il vuoto come cifra narrativa
Ronald Firbank non è certo uno degli autori più conosciuti della letteratura anglosassone di inizio del XX secolo, e questo Capriccio (del 1917), peraltro oggi difficilmente trovabile, rappresenta il primo romanzo che ho letto di questo autore. Devo dire che si è trattato di una piacevole sorpresa.
Si tratta di un piccolo libro, di 90 pagine, che narra le vicende di Sally Sinquier, giovane figlia di un canonico di campagna, che sogna di calcare le scene. Fugge a Londra rubando una collana di famiglia e, vendutala, riesce a mettere in scena “Giulietta e Romeo”. Il finale è a sorpresa e d'effetto, per cui non lo anticipo, anche se è sicuramente difficile esprimersi sul testo prescindendo dal finale.
Il libro è suddiviso in ben 17 capitoli, e la lettura prosegue veloce, soprattutto perché in genere l'autore, dopo brevi frasi introduttive per descrivere la situazione, in ogni capitolo ci presenta dialoghi serrati, nei quali le battute dei protagonisti non sono quasi mai intervallate da commenti o annotazioni, ma la cui vacuità emerge tutta. Ne deriva un ritmo sincopato, quasi teatrale, che contribuisce non poco al fascino del breve romanzo. Questo ritmo, questa assenza di intervento dell'autore è del tutto funzionale al clima del romanzo, che descrive la meschina società dei piccoli teatri londinesi, tra attori vanesi, ricchi signori di mezza età che si occupano di lanciare e “proteggere” le aspiranti attrici (naturalmente in cambio di precisi favori), agenti teatrali ingordi e giovani di belle speranze.
Firbank lascia che siano loro a parlare, a dimostrare, con il loro vuoto chiacchiericcio, la vacuità del loro orizzonte culturale e morale.
In questo mondo Sally Sinquier si muove apparentemente ingenua e spesata, ma in realtà del tutto determinata a ottenere ciò che vuole: la gloria sul palcoscenico. E ci riuscirà, o almeno ci sarebbe probabilmente riuscita, se...
Il grottesco finale offre a Firbank la possibilità di terminare, in maniera quasi circolare, il romanzo con un superbo capitolo, nel quale si disvela ancora di più la grettezza e la ingordigia da sanguisuga che vengono attribuiti al mondo del teatro.
Un piccolo libro, dunque, il cui titolo non resterà certo scolpito tra quelli dei capolavori del suo tempo, ma che è scritto con uno stile personale, che fa della leggerezza l'arma per scavare in profondità l'animo umano, che racconta il vuoto che c'è dietro le apparenze usando proprio il vuoto come cifra narrativa, che sembra dirci con estrema crudeltà che il caso e l'imponderabile non possono che essere gli artefici del nostro destino, per quanto noi ci impegniamo per raggiungere i nostri fini, e come ci sia comunque sempre qualcuno pronto ad avvantaggiarsi in ogni situazione.
Sicuramente un libro da leggere d'un fiato, in una sera, sperando che venga ristampato presto.
Ronald Firbank non è certo uno degli autori più conosciuti della letteratura anglosassone di inizio del XX secolo, e questo Capriccio (del 1917), peraltro oggi difficilmente trovabile, rappresenta il primo romanzo che ho letto di questo autore. Devo dire che si è trattato di una piacevole sorpresa.
Si tratta di un piccolo libro, di 90 pagine, che narra le vicende di Sally Sinquier, giovane figlia di un canonico di campagna, che sogna di calcare le scene. Fugge a Londra rubando una collana di famiglia e, vendutala, riesce a mettere in scena “Giulietta e Romeo”. Il finale è a sorpresa e d'effetto, per cui non lo anticipo, anche se è sicuramente difficile esprimersi sul testo prescindendo dal finale.
Il libro è suddiviso in ben 17 capitoli, e la lettura prosegue veloce, soprattutto perché in genere l'autore, dopo brevi frasi introduttive per descrivere la situazione, in ogni capitolo ci presenta dialoghi serrati, nei quali le battute dei protagonisti non sono quasi mai intervallate da commenti o annotazioni, ma la cui vacuità emerge tutta. Ne deriva un ritmo sincopato, quasi teatrale, che contribuisce non poco al fascino del breve romanzo. Questo ritmo, questa assenza di intervento dell'autore è del tutto funzionale al clima del romanzo, che descrive la meschina società dei piccoli teatri londinesi, tra attori vanesi, ricchi signori di mezza età che si occupano di lanciare e “proteggere” le aspiranti attrici (naturalmente in cambio di precisi favori), agenti teatrali ingordi e giovani di belle speranze.
Firbank lascia che siano loro a parlare, a dimostrare, con il loro vuoto chiacchiericcio, la vacuità del loro orizzonte culturale e morale.
In questo mondo Sally Sinquier si muove apparentemente ingenua e spesata, ma in realtà del tutto determinata a ottenere ciò che vuole: la gloria sul palcoscenico. E ci riuscirà, o almeno ci sarebbe probabilmente riuscita, se...
Il grottesco finale offre a Firbank la possibilità di terminare, in maniera quasi circolare, il romanzo con un superbo capitolo, nel quale si disvela ancora di più la grettezza e la ingordigia da sanguisuga che vengono attribuiti al mondo del teatro.
Un piccolo libro, dunque, il cui titolo non resterà certo scolpito tra quelli dei capolavori del suo tempo, ma che è scritto con uno stile personale, che fa della leggerezza l'arma per scavare in profondità l'animo umano, che racconta il vuoto che c'è dietro le apparenze usando proprio il vuoto come cifra narrativa, che sembra dirci con estrema crudeltà che il caso e l'imponderabile non possono che essere gli artefici del nostro destino, per quanto noi ci impegniamo per raggiungere i nostri fini, e come ci sia comunque sempre qualcuno pronto ad avvantaggiarsi in ogni situazione.
Sicuramente un libro da leggere d'un fiato, in una sera, sperando che venga ristampato presto.
July 5, 2020
Lots of people whose taste in literature I respect - Forster, Waugh, Auden, Woolf - admire Firbank tremendously, and I always feel like I should enjoy him more, because he ticks all my boxes. His books are fun, I guess? But that's all they are, and also they really haven't aged well. The experience of reading Firbank is not dissimilar to the experience of eating a croquembouche, except that with alarming regularity you bite in and scrape your teeth on something bitter and nasty, and when you stop and wipe the off the cream you're like "oh, it's the n-word".
I don't know. I think I'm also reading his books wrong, somehow. I always feel like if I'm not consuming this while wearing crepe-de-chine pyjamas and eating plover's eggs what is even the fucking point
I don't know. I think I'm also reading his books wrong, somehow. I always feel like if I'm not consuming this while wearing crepe-de-chine pyjamas and eating plover's eggs what is even the fucking point
August 12, 2011
I suspect this wasn't at all a novel I just read, as it was more a collection of disembodied voices attempting to be witty. Such confusing dialogue (who was talking to whom?) didn't help a serious flaw for the reader: where the hell are these people? Firbank's feel for setting is as keen as Melville's love of terseness. Had this "novel" not been less than 100 pages and full of white space because of the single-lined dialogue, I would not have finished. I didn't care about the main character and certainly none of the secondary characters. The book is this: Woman wants to become actress, is a horrible actress (IMHO), audience loves her, she dies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2022
delightful like a shot of vermouth
December 17, 2018
Vähän turhan sekava teos. Kirjassa oli liikaa henkilöitä, jonka vuoksi en aina tiennyt, kuka heistä puhuu ja mitä, koska puhujia ei ollut aina merkitty selvästi. Päähenkilö (neiti Sinclair) oli aika mitäänsanomaton persoona, mikä on ehkä huono juttu, jos sattuu haaveilemaan urasta näyttelijättärenä. Kirjan huumori ei myöskään oikein purrut minuun, tai sitten en vain tajunnut kaikkia ns. hauskoja juttuja.
Itse tarinakin oli loppujen lopuksi aika mitäänsanomaton ja hengetön, jonka vuoksi annan tälle teokselle vain 2 tähteä. Odotin tältä kirjalta ehkä jotain muuta kuin mitä sain.
Itse tarinakin oli loppujen lopuksi aika mitäänsanomaton ja hengetön, jonka vuoksi annan tälle teokselle vain 2 tähteä. Odotin tältä kirjalta ehkä jotain muuta kuin mitä sain.
August 8, 2025
Caprice by Ronald Firbank is supposed to be one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... and it depends what advise you want to take, for the same work makes it on Realini’s 250 books to avoid http://realini.blogspot.com/
Seven out of 10 as a personal take, but it could be five stars of five as well
‘Caprice, first published in 1917, was Ronald Firbank's third novel…His much-vaunted eccentric concision is here at a high point, as is his exotic treatment of character and breathless conversational camp…’ you could also take the fact that it is placed by The Guardian on the 1,000 best novels list and run with it.
If you want to know the opinion of the under signed however, he was less than thrilled, indeed, although the opus is only one hundred pages (perhaps a few short of that actually) long and quite a few pages have short dialogue on them (to repeat the acclaim ‘vaunted eccentric concision’) this reader could not bring himself beyond page thirty and even reaching that point was rather insipid and pointless.
On the other hand, it is also true that Caprice may be a ‘capricious’ choice, seeing as it only has sixty four (in some days sixty five) votes on goodreads and notwithstanding the criticism frequently thrown by yours truly at the pathetic figures that some Divine Comedies have, especially when compared with Dan Brown, The Fifty Shades of Grey type of book, only sixty four votes might indicate a lack of appeal.
If we put the monumental, hilarious Lucky Jim https://www.economist.com/culture/202... by the greatest comedy writer of the last seventy years, Kingsley Amis, against Caprice, the latter falls by the wayside and lands on my list of books to avoid, however irrelevant the rejection might be, the notion that it must be read could be equally preposterous…
Martin Amis is the son of the ‘Comic Genius’https://www.economist.com/culture/202... and an equally talented writer – there is Nothing like the Sun’ to paraphrase a famous sonnet, a father and son team like this is unprecedented and could happen again in one million years – has given the public a good number of extraordinary books, this scrivener has started with Money http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/m...
The first try was less than elating, but The Information brought exultation and bliss, with the prospect of further catharsis when Time’s Arrow will be engaged http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/t...
Alan Bennett is another favorite and his The Uncommon Reader also makes Caprice pale, this time the parallel may be more appropriate – yes, the foolishness of setting valuable works against each other is admitted to and mea culpa should be the way to follow, but this is all about preferences, we do not have professional notes in this space -some have complained and it is their prerogative, just as I can point out that for serious exegesis, one should buy and consult the best in the field, not look for epiphany with the crowd of failed authors that find an outlet, vent their frustration and lack of talent in an open space, presumably hoping somebody might read and appreciate, but also timid, afraid that their failure, shortcomings would be exposed and they keep writing useless lines, just because they got used with it and often destroy one writer or another – Ronald Firbank here – envious and jealous
This scrivener has had some hopes when encountering the majestic Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/o... which makes the case for Exercise, Practice for three hours every single day – there is a brilliant movie, The Conductor aka De Dirigent, where the first female conductor talks about this exact point http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/03/t... if you do not practice as a professional musician for one day, you know it, if it is two days of absence, then the orchestra knows and by the third day of neglect, the public will hear it too – which would accumulate to ten thousand hours over ten years, and then you can aspire to be on the top of the world, if other conditions are met.
Ergo, the effort to write insignificant notes, with the dream that suddenly, once the ten years will have passed, a miracle will take place and voila, the lines are at least as good as Caprice, only there needs to more to this, other ingredients are missing, talent cannot be sweated out – even if there is that saying or maybe quote, that ninety nine percent of genius is perspiration, which would confirm the thesis of Outliers – the Story of Success
A Good Man in Africa is another opus magnum, by one of the favorite writers of the under signed William Boyd http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/a... - this one of a few magnificent sagas taking place on that continent, the others would be Black Mischief and Scoop by the Magister Ludi, Evelyn Waugh…we have episodes of black magic, fetish priests, rotten corpses and wars, as in An Ice-cream War http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/a...
If you want to know what else I would recommend from the 1,000 Novels list, Malcolm Bradbury would be in the top 20, with History Man and Rates of Exchange http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/04/r... and To The Hermitage is on the to read list for the next months, Insha’Allah
Cheese by Willem Elsschot, Towards The End of the Morning by Michael Frayn http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/t... and his Headlong are also highly recommended by this reader, if you care to know, the above will be much better choices than Caprice…
You find Realini here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...?
Seven out of 10 as a personal take, but it could be five stars of five as well
‘Caprice, first published in 1917, was Ronald Firbank's third novel…His much-vaunted eccentric concision is here at a high point, as is his exotic treatment of character and breathless conversational camp…’ you could also take the fact that it is placed by The Guardian on the 1,000 best novels list and run with it.
If you want to know the opinion of the under signed however, he was less than thrilled, indeed, although the opus is only one hundred pages (perhaps a few short of that actually) long and quite a few pages have short dialogue on them (to repeat the acclaim ‘vaunted eccentric concision’) this reader could not bring himself beyond page thirty and even reaching that point was rather insipid and pointless.
On the other hand, it is also true that Caprice may be a ‘capricious’ choice, seeing as it only has sixty four (in some days sixty five) votes on goodreads and notwithstanding the criticism frequently thrown by yours truly at the pathetic figures that some Divine Comedies have, especially when compared with Dan Brown, The Fifty Shades of Grey type of book, only sixty four votes might indicate a lack of appeal.
If we put the monumental, hilarious Lucky Jim https://www.economist.com/culture/202... by the greatest comedy writer of the last seventy years, Kingsley Amis, against Caprice, the latter falls by the wayside and lands on my list of books to avoid, however irrelevant the rejection might be, the notion that it must be read could be equally preposterous…
Martin Amis is the son of the ‘Comic Genius’https://www.economist.com/culture/202... and an equally talented writer – there is Nothing like the Sun’ to paraphrase a famous sonnet, a father and son team like this is unprecedented and could happen again in one million years – has given the public a good number of extraordinary books, this scrivener has started with Money http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/m...
The first try was less than elating, but The Information brought exultation and bliss, with the prospect of further catharsis when Time’s Arrow will be engaged http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/t...
Alan Bennett is another favorite and his The Uncommon Reader also makes Caprice pale, this time the parallel may be more appropriate – yes, the foolishness of setting valuable works against each other is admitted to and mea culpa should be the way to follow, but this is all about preferences, we do not have professional notes in this space -some have complained and it is their prerogative, just as I can point out that for serious exegesis, one should buy and consult the best in the field, not look for epiphany with the crowd of failed authors that find an outlet, vent their frustration and lack of talent in an open space, presumably hoping somebody might read and appreciate, but also timid, afraid that their failure, shortcomings would be exposed and they keep writing useless lines, just because they got used with it and often destroy one writer or another – Ronald Firbank here – envious and jealous
This scrivener has had some hopes when encountering the majestic Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/o... which makes the case for Exercise, Practice for three hours every single day – there is a brilliant movie, The Conductor aka De Dirigent, where the first female conductor talks about this exact point http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/03/t... if you do not practice as a professional musician for one day, you know it, if it is two days of absence, then the orchestra knows and by the third day of neglect, the public will hear it too – which would accumulate to ten thousand hours over ten years, and then you can aspire to be on the top of the world, if other conditions are met.
Ergo, the effort to write insignificant notes, with the dream that suddenly, once the ten years will have passed, a miracle will take place and voila, the lines are at least as good as Caprice, only there needs to more to this, other ingredients are missing, talent cannot be sweated out – even if there is that saying or maybe quote, that ninety nine percent of genius is perspiration, which would confirm the thesis of Outliers – the Story of Success
A Good Man in Africa is another opus magnum, by one of the favorite writers of the under signed William Boyd http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/a... - this one of a few magnificent sagas taking place on that continent, the others would be Black Mischief and Scoop by the Magister Ludi, Evelyn Waugh…we have episodes of black magic, fetish priests, rotten corpses and wars, as in An Ice-cream War http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/a...
If you want to know what else I would recommend from the 1,000 Novels list, Malcolm Bradbury would be in the top 20, with History Man and Rates of Exchange http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/04/r... and To The Hermitage is on the to read list for the next months, Insha’Allah
Cheese by Willem Elsschot, Towards The End of the Morning by Michael Frayn http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/t... and his Headlong are also highly recommended by this reader, if you care to know, the above will be much better choices than Caprice…
You find Realini here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...?
June 23, 2012
It was about posh fluttery people talking inanely and fluttering about doing prettywell sodall. Thankfully it was short.
November 27, 2018
Well, Oikkuja was a letdown. Firbank surely knows how to write and the flow of the text as well as the translation worked well, but the content is the one lacking. It's hard to pinpoint what is happening in the book, really. The plot is nonexistent and it's mostly just talking without any deeper meaning. In the center of the story we have Sarah Sinquier, who runs from home in order to act and eventually opens her own theater. The ending was so unfit, though. The premise sounded great, but then it was just everyone talking and not making sense. The problem is that you don't really know who is talking and to whom. The whole thing is tenuous at best and very hard to grasp. Supposedly there are many caricatures about famous people in the book, but I couldn't recognize them, but that's probably my fault and not Firbank's.
Still' it's great that we have this in Finnish, since this is the first book translated into Finnish from Ronald Firbank and I adore when old classics get translated. Especially those not so known, since it opens up a different worlds into literature in my country. I wish this made more sense, though. All the elements were there.
Still' it's great that we have this in Finnish, since this is the first book translated into Finnish from Ronald Firbank and I adore when old classics get translated. Especially those not so known, since it opens up a different worlds into literature in my country. I wish this made more sense, though. All the elements were there.
June 14, 2023
Oikkuja on ilahduttava ja virkistävä, satiirin sävyttämä pienoisromaani taiteilijaelämästä 1900-luvun alun Lontoossa.
Sarah pakkaa hameensa täyteen arvoesineitä ja karkaa kotoaan Lontooseen tavoittelemaan unelmaansa. Hän haluaa olla juhlittu näyttelijä, ja vanhemmatkin varmaan antavat anteeksi kunhan pääsevät aition sohvalle katsomaan tyttärensä esiintymistä.
Kun arvoesineet on myyty, elämä täyttyy nopeasti uusista taitelijaystävistä, juhlista ja suureellisista teatteriproduktioista. Kaikki ei kuitenkaan mene ihan suunnitelmien mukaan. Ilakoivan elämän rivien välistä tihkuu surua ja komedia alkaa saada tragedian sävyjä.
Tässä on sujuvaa, nokkelaa dialogia ja hauskoja hahmoja. Juoni kulkee eteenpäin enimmäkseen sanailun kautta, joka on vauhdikasta ja terävää. Useita kohtauksia sai lukea todella ajatuksella pysyäkseen perässä. Suomennos on onnistunut, mutta tuli sellainen fiilis, että ehkä tää olisi sittenkin kannattanut lukea englanniksi. Ja haluan ehdottomasti tutustua myös Firbankin muuhun tuotantoon!
Sarah pakkaa hameensa täyteen arvoesineitä ja karkaa kotoaan Lontooseen tavoittelemaan unelmaansa. Hän haluaa olla juhlittu näyttelijä, ja vanhemmatkin varmaan antavat anteeksi kunhan pääsevät aition sohvalle katsomaan tyttärensä esiintymistä.
Kun arvoesineet on myyty, elämä täyttyy nopeasti uusista taitelijaystävistä, juhlista ja suureellisista teatteriproduktioista. Kaikki ei kuitenkaan mene ihan suunnitelmien mukaan. Ilakoivan elämän rivien välistä tihkuu surua ja komedia alkaa saada tragedian sävyjä.
Tässä on sujuvaa, nokkelaa dialogia ja hauskoja hahmoja. Juoni kulkee eteenpäin enimmäkseen sanailun kautta, joka on vauhdikasta ja terävää. Useita kohtauksia sai lukea todella ajatuksella pysyäkseen perässä. Suomennos on onnistunut, mutta tuli sellainen fiilis, että ehkä tää olisi sittenkin kannattanut lukea englanniksi. Ja haluan ehdottomasti tutustua myös Firbankin muuhun tuotantoon!
March 3, 2025
Picking up Firbank's "Caprice," I expected a clever social satire, but honestly found myself mostly lost. The writing jumps all over the place, and what was probably razor-sharp wit in the 1920s feels about as fresh as last century's newspaper. While it's supposedly packed with humor and social commentary, most of it went straight over my head. Think of trying to understand inside jokes from your great-grandparents' era - that's how it feels. Though respected in literary circles, this short novel is a tough sell for modern readers unless you have a PhD in Edwardian lit. Even as someone who devours books, this one left me scratching my head more than smiling. I'm particularly baffled by its inclusion in The Guardian's "1000 Novels Everyone Must Read" list from 2009 - perhaps the selection committee was feeling especially nostalgic that day, because "must read" is definitely not how I'd describe this dated curiosity.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Historical significance: ★★★★☆
Modern readability: ★☆☆☆☆
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Historical significance: ★★★★☆
Modern readability: ★☆☆☆☆
August 24, 2019
Ronald Firbank oli merkittävä varhainen LGBT-kirjailija, ja Oikkuja on ensimmäinen Firbankin tuotannosta suomennettu teos. Tämä Tuomas Kilven suomennos ilmestyi viime vuonna ja jäi kovin vähälle huomiolle. Sarah Sinquier karkaa kotoaan perintökalleuksien kanssa ja perustaa oman teatterin Lontooseen. Muuta ei sitten oikeastaan tapahdukaan. Yhtä sun toista komeljanttaria kaakattaa ja huiskii ympäriinsä, ja rivien välissä ehkä tapahtuu jotain, mitä en vain ymmärrä. Pitäisi kai tuntea 1900-luvun alun Lontoota ja sen teatterimaailmaa paremmin, jotta teos avautuisi. Minä olen kai sen verran sivistymätön lukija, että minulle ei ihan selvinnyt miksi Firbank on merkittävä ja miksi hän on LGBT-kirjailija. Varhainen hän epäilemättä oli, hän syntyi 1886 ja kuoli 1926.
March 4, 2025
Sarah Sinquier, the daughter of a wealthy English provincial family, arrives in London to become an actress in Shakespeare's plays.She meets a variety of people and looks for opportunities, and finally lands the lead role in the play Romeo and Juliet, which is well received...I managed to make sense of the story up to this point, but the ending is half-hearted ...The author, Ronald Firbannk, is famous for writing stories in a euphemistically suggestive and unintelligible (?) way. So, in the end, it came down to an ‘open-ended conclusion’. It was a very undesirable(?) reading for my mental health.
December 12, 2018
Hajanainen kokoelma dialogia, jonka väliin jääviä aukkoja lukija saa aktiivisesti täytellä. Lukijalta vaaditaan täysi keskittyminen, jotta puhujista pääsee selvyyteen, eikä tarinakaan kovin pitkälle kanna.
Tuntuu keskeneräiseltä, raakileelta, jota kirjoittaja olisi voinut työstää enemmänkin. Ilmeisesti Firbank on kirjoittanut enemmänkin pienoisromaaneita, mutta ei tämä mikään mestariteos ole.
Tuntuu keskeneräiseltä, raakileelta, jota kirjoittaja olisi voinut työstää enemmänkin. Ilmeisesti Firbank on kirjoittanut enemmänkin pienoisromaaneita, mutta ei tämä mikään mestariteos ole.
September 27, 2018
I was, a a younger age, fascinated by Firbank. His name came up again and again in discussions of many writers, particularly in the period between the wars.
He does not age graceful.
Still, it's useful as a waypoint in modern literature, even if not particularly a joy to read.
He does not age graceful.
Still, it's useful as a waypoint in modern literature, even if not particularly a joy to read.
March 22, 2020
“Charming”
Read
December 8, 2023Caprice is a short novel from a writer who I have never read before. The book is from 1917, and that’s a kind of lost period of English literature in some ways because of the war and the often held sense that the teens produced some great literature but also contained many works straddling the transition between distinctly different periods in literature. Firbank’s name comes up in various other writers’ novels and criticism. Cyril Connolly mentions him in Enemies of Promise, and I think someone is reading some one of his books in Crome Yellow, but he’s just one of those figures known to a public for a certain amount of time, and somewhat lost to the ages.
And I can’t say that I enjoyed or thought much of this book either. Its style is frenetic and bizarre at times and it’s tone is quite cynical and cutting. So there’s a sense of a language that I couldn’t pin down enough to really follow carefully or enjoyably combined with a voice that was rather unpleasant, and not in a pleasantly unpleasant way.
The novel itself is about a young woman who runs off with her parents’ savings in order to make a go of it in theater in London. There she comes across a snide cast of characters all of whom we’ve met in any number of movies and novels about the theater and early days of film.While working for her chance to make it on stage, well, something quite unexpected and shocking happens to her.
And I can’t say that I enjoyed or thought much of this book either. Its style is frenetic and bizarre at times and it’s tone is quite cynical and cutting. So there’s a sense of a language that I couldn’t pin down enough to really follow carefully or enjoyably combined with a voice that was rather unpleasant, and not in a pleasantly unpleasant way.
The novel itself is about a young woman who runs off with her parents’ savings in order to make a go of it in theater in London. There she comes across a snide cast of characters all of whom we’ve met in any number of movies and novels about the theater and early days of film.While working for her chance to make it on stage, well, something quite unexpected and shocking happens to her.
November 30, 2014
"There she sits all day, reading Russian novels. Talk of gloom!" So says Mr. Smee of his wife, Mrs. Smee, in Firbank's Caprice, which is here to dispel any such gloom with its campy and satirical take on London's theatre scene in the early twentieth century. A modernist contemporary of Woolf and Joyce, Firbank wrote Caprice mostly in zany dialogue, quickly jumping from one scene to the next as if dubious of the reader's attention span.
Miss Sally Sinquier, daughter of a respectable provincial clergyman, sneaks off to London with some family heirlooms and a grandiose ambition to be an actress. Careless of an intriguing world about her, she falls in with a theatre crowd who both help and exploit her. She rejects the suggestion to start with small roles... I shall play Juliet. I shall have a season.... and throws her ill-gotten money into financing a production of Romeo and Juliet. Improbably it opens with great success, only for Miss Sinquier to fall through a stage trap door to her death the following day. C'est la vie, eh?
My dear, I once was thought to be a very pretty woman... All I can do now is to urge my remains.
Miss Sally Sinquier, daughter of a respectable provincial clergyman, sneaks off to London with some family heirlooms and a grandiose ambition to be an actress. Careless of an intriguing world about her, she falls in with a theatre crowd who both help and exploit her. She rejects the suggestion to start with small roles... I shall play Juliet. I shall have a season.... and throws her ill-gotten money into financing a production of Romeo and Juliet. Improbably it opens with great success, only for Miss Sinquier to fall through a stage trap door to her death the following day. C'est la vie, eh?
My dear, I once was thought to be a very pretty woman... All I can do now is to urge my remains.
January 27, 2019
Halusin niin pitää tästä, mutta... sekava (taitto? Kirjan ladonta? tai sitten koko tarina alun alkaen) ja höpsöllä tavalla aukkoinen ”oikku”. Motiivi ja aihe yms hukkui johonkin (en edes tiedä mihin) kokonaisuudessa. Sijoittuu Lontooseen 1900-luvun alkupuolelle, jonne päähenkilö neiti S pakenee tehdäkseen teatteria. Jos tuntisi teatterihistoriaa tuolta ajalta Lontoosta, niin tarina aukeaisi luultavasti paremmin. Jäi tuntu, että satirisoitiin aikalaisia. Juoni eteni dialogivetoisena nykivän sinkoilevana kapriisina (oikkuja!) ja tulinpa lukemisen aikana ja jälkeen pohtineeksi, että olisiko tämä toiminut minulle alkukielisenä paremmin. Viihdyttävä pyrähdys.
March 1, 2013
Firbank's obscurity has diminished with each novel (I'm reading them by publication date). CAPRICE, which Anthony Powell said may be Firbank's best, tells the story of another beautiful naif out of her element. . Powell is right about the dialogue ("splendid"), though oddly wrong about the setting. Mrs Sixsmith could be one of Waugh's invincible cheats.
[Read in THE COMPLETE RONALD FIRBANK, Duckworth 1961]
[Read in THE COMPLETE RONALD FIRBANK, Duckworth 1961]
Want to read
July 12, 2016* 1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list
Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.
Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.
October 18, 2010
I bought this book about 15 years ago after reading about Ronald Firbank and I just got around to reading it now. It is very arch and story moves quite quickly.
John Ash wrote in the Village Voice wrote that the effect of the book is "as charming as the top of an apple-tree above a wall"...and I tend to agree.
John Ash wrote in the Village Voice wrote that the effect of the book is "as charming as the top of an apple-tree above a wall"...and I tend to agree.
March 2, 2013
A friend made the perfect analogy: it's like walking into a party where you vaguely know a few people, and you trying to piece together a story based on snippets of conversation. Read this for my British Novella class, beat my head against the wall for a bit, but I can now analyze it cover to cover. Boom!
November 12, 2014
I was assured he was worth reading by credible readers/writers. I don't see it.
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