What do you think?
Rate this book
Five Novels
The rococo, or as we might call them "high camp" novels of Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) have always had a small though fanatically loyal following of readers in this country. With the publication of Miriam Benkovitz's biography, it seems likely that Firbank's work will command the attention of a far wider audience, and we are now re-issuing the collection of Five Novels which we first published in 1949. It includes the complete texts of Valmouth, The Flower Beneath the Foot, The Artificial Princess, Prancing Nigger, and Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, together with a long introduction-memoire by the late Sir Osbert Sitwell.
342 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
11 people are currently reading
606 people want to read
About the author
Ronald Firbank
45 books53 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
partial-credit
November 23, 2014Terribly torn here, sitting at my desk and thinking on Ronald Firbank. I can't call him BURIED. For shame, if only because for what I think he represents in regard to fictioning, he is at a minimum UNDERREAD, like everything by Djuna Barnes that is NOT Nightwood. But, let's be a bit Frank about Firbank: ESSENTially he has two volumes of importance, Five Novels and 3 More Novels: Vainglory, Inclinations, Caprice {also there exists The Complete Firbank} plus there's some stories and plays and other assorted things (which must constitute enough to require a bibliography by Mr Moore, Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Materials, 1905-1995, which is perhaps more a story of BURIAL than anything else); and so Firbank has 197 ratings (mostly for what's included in those two novel collections) and 44 reviews, with 44 ratings alone to the Five Novels. Not quite BURIED today, but jeebuz, he deserves muchmuch moremore reading.
ME? I've only read the first novel(la) of Five Novels and, well, I like it. I can't say I know what I can say about it now two years removed from that reading, but he is doing something which, I suspect, only Firbank can do/has done. Maybe the closest I can guess today would be a continum with early Hawkes?
If much is known by too many it would be Susan Sontag's inclusion of Firbank as an example of what she famously describes as "camp." I still don't know what she means because I've not yet read the essay, but here it is: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/ir...
ME? I've only read the first novel(la) of Five Novels and, well, I like it. I can't say I know what I can say about it now two years removed from that reading, but he is doing something which, I suspect, only Firbank can do/has done. Maybe the closest I can guess today would be a continum with early Hawkes?
If much is known by too many it would be Susan Sontag's inclusion of Firbank as an example of what she famously describes as "camp." I still don't know what she means because I've not yet read the essay, but here it is: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/ir...
February 15, 2018
"Just because I want so much, it's extraordinary how little
I require," says a player in Firbank's fantasia, "Valmouth,"
wherein the bedizened denizens at a UK spa pleasure themselves
with misalliances and infatuations. Capt. Dick Thoroughfare,
heir to Hare-Hatch House, doesn't appear at his wedding - he has a special jolliness w teen sailor Jack Whorwood - and the bride is last seen in pursuit of a butterfly. Meantime, Lady Parvula explains her unconcealed emotions for a shepherd: "I know I should despise myself, but I don't."
Plot? It doesn't matter. Firbank (d. 1926, age 39) is about linguistic style and the dance of words. Edmund Wilson called him one of those English writers "most likely to become a classic." He impressed Waugh, Norman Douglas, Brigid Brophy and, importantly, Joe Orton. Mixing cultures, gender and race, Firbank ignored social-moral conventions.
His hilarious "Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli" reaches a climax with foreshadowing of Orton dialogue as a cleric chases a choirboy named Chicklet :
"You'd do the handsome for me, sir?" the lad asks.
"Eh?..."
"You'd be surprised at the stinginess of some."
"I'll give you the slipper, child, if you don't come here."
"Ole, your Purpleship!"
Firbank creates an X-rated Dizzyland. Or as Chicklet teases His Eminence, "Oh, tral-a-la, sir."
I require," says a player in Firbank's fantasia, "Valmouth,"
wherein the bedizened denizens at a UK spa pleasure themselves
with misalliances and infatuations. Capt. Dick Thoroughfare,
heir to Hare-Hatch House, doesn't appear at his wedding - he has a special jolliness w teen sailor Jack Whorwood - and the bride is last seen in pursuit of a butterfly. Meantime, Lady Parvula explains her unconcealed emotions for a shepherd: "I know I should despise myself, but I don't."
Plot? It doesn't matter. Firbank (d. 1926, age 39) is about linguistic style and the dance of words. Edmund Wilson called him one of those English writers "most likely to become a classic." He impressed Waugh, Norman Douglas, Brigid Brophy and, importantly, Joe Orton. Mixing cultures, gender and race, Firbank ignored social-moral conventions.
His hilarious "Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli" reaches a climax with foreshadowing of Orton dialogue as a cleric chases a choirboy named Chicklet :
"You'd do the handsome for me, sir?" the lad asks.
"Eh?..."
"You'd be surprised at the stinginess of some."
"I'll give you the slipper, child, if you don't come here."
"Ole, your Purpleship!"
Firbank creates an X-rated Dizzyland. Or as Chicklet teases His Eminence, "Oh, tral-a-la, sir."
October 16, 2014
If you enjoy cloying whimsy thick as treacle but dainty as a glass ballerina (or a treacly ballerina pirouetting on glass) these books are for you.
August 30, 2016
Еще один дивный английский эксцентрик (дождавшийся у меня на полке своего часа прочтения) — из той породы, что размечена такими именами, как Лоренс Стерн, Оскар Уайлд, Уильям Джерхарди, Мервин Пик, а из нынешних, пожалуй, — Дейвид Бриттон, хотя Фёрбэнк, конечно, не так трансгрессивен, пусть для своего времени и был, я допускаю, чрезмерен). Да, в первую очередь — стилисты, у которых порой единственный мессидж сводится к медии.
Пленных при этом Фёрбэнк не берет — изящество у него загоняется в читателя по самую рукоятку: все, что он говорит, «…неизменно заострено, и часто впрямь так тонко, что слова кажутся слишком грубым средством, дабы передать неуловимые смыслы», как он сам описывал одну свою персонажицу. А персонажи эти — язык не поднимается называть их «героями» — суть смутные особы неведомых королевских кровей, негритянская аристократия, 120-летние дамы, благородные священнослужители малопонятных убеждений… Порой кажется, что все это как-то чересчур, автор писал сказки, но увлекся транскрипцией разговоров. Разбегающиеся диалоги, рудиментарные фабулы, едва набросанные пейзажи и детально прописанные интерьеры и туалеты — все это высшая абстракция, чистое искусство, и ценности в этом не меньше, чем в чем угодно написанном.
Стиль кучеряв, манерен и куртуазен до того, что часто возникает ощущение — автор просто издевается над своими персонажами, но при этом лучше не забывать, что к издевательству все отнюдь не сводится. Сам автор еще и упивается этой тонкой филигранью с фиоритурами, этой разреженной атмосферой тлена, пробивающейся из под описываемых экзотических ароматов. Комедия манер у него прописана — не набросана жирными мазками, как у Уайлда, проработана настолько тоньше, что следы ее иногда теряются. И в этом кружевном плетенье словес — могучая правда жизни.
Судить его за такие экзерсисы невозможно — нам просто не понять, таких людей больше не делают. Романы Фёрбэнка — вот настоящий десант на машине времени на 100 лет назад.
Пленных при этом Фёрбэнк не берет — изящество у него загоняется в читателя по самую рукоятку: все, что он говорит, «…неизменно заострено, и часто впрямь так тонко, что слова кажутся слишком грубым средством, дабы передать неуловимые смыслы», как он сам описывал одну свою персонажицу. А персонажи эти — язык не поднимается называть их «героями» — суть смутные особы неведомых королевских кровей, негритянская аристократия, 120-летние дамы, благородные священнослужители малопонятных убеждений… Порой кажется, что все это как-то чересчур, автор писал сказки, но увлекся транскрипцией разговоров. Разбегающиеся диалоги, рудиментарные фабулы, едва набросанные пейзажи и детально прописанные интерьеры и туалеты — все это высшая абстракция, чистое искусство, и ценности в этом не меньше, чем в чем угодно написанном.
Стиль кучеряв, манерен и куртуазен до того, что часто возникает ощущение — автор просто издевается над своими персонажами, но при этом лучше не забывать, что к издевательству все отнюдь не сводится. Сам автор еще и упивается этой тонкой филигранью с фиоритурами, этой разреженной атмосферой тлена, пробивающейся из под описываемых экзотических ароматов. Комедия манер у него прописана — не набросана жирными мазками, как у Уайлда, проработана настолько тоньше, что следы ее иногда теряются. И в этом кружевном плетенье словес — могучая правда жизни.
Судить его за такие экзерсисы невозможно — нам просто не понять, таких людей больше не делают. Романы Фёрбэнка — вот настоящий десант на машине времени на 100 лет назад.
June 29, 2017
Five Novels by Ronald Firbanks is period writing from the World War I modernists, experimental writers. In length these are more like long, short stories. They are thematically repetitious. There may be plots but of the five the plot line is barely important in first and last stories. Prancing N*g (cannot use that word even if it is the title), has a plot but so predictable as to be unimportant. Character s mostly begin and end as they are, although Convening the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli dose have a nice turn on a main character. Nothing is conventional or esp straightforward. Descriptions are florid, focused on fashion and gardening. The rest is a series of conversations that can float in and out. This is not your basic reading and not for those with any preference for “the usual". There is little violence, some harsh language, racial stereotyping and implied sex. Many major institutions are parodied or insulted esp religion. Consider yourself warned or at least challenged.
Perhaps the two most important things to know before deciding to read these Firbanks novels is that they were written 5 to 10 words at a time on post cards by a man who drank more than he ate. It is perhaps important to know that the author was homosexual and may not have worked to concealed it.
Every novel, novella<?>has certain themes. There are always lots of time on the fashions of his main characters, especially the ladies. Much is given over to lavish descriptions and critiques of who was wearing what made of what materials. Almost as much page space goes to detailing plant life and particulars of interior decoration. Every one of these stories has some combination of a pending royal wedding and a major social event with lots of insider talk about who will and will not be invited. Characters are always of the moneyed and titled set. Religious leaders and institutions always carry a faint or overwhelming order of corruption and except for Cardinal Pirelli no one seems to care so much as to be entertained. There is always at a suggestion of lesbianism, adultery and assorted sordid sexual innuendo.
Mostly stories are not so much stories as conversations strung together with varying degrees of continuity. Firbanks use of language can be over whelming. Fanfare is not good enough if fanfaronade is available. A boy is described " Witching as Eros in his loose flowing alb."
Reading Firbanks has to be done from another mental point of view. Individual sentences can be dazzling. Sometimes entire paragraphs can transport. Always you are in a world not quite this one. There is no consistent political view point even if government institutions come in for their share of lambast.
I did not hate this book but I do not know who is likely to enjoy it. Mostly The Five Novels read like they were written a few words at a time, on post cards, but by a person with a vast vocabulary and a keen eye for the ironies of the world around him.
Perhaps the two most important things to know before deciding to read these Firbanks novels is that they were written 5 to 10 words at a time on post cards by a man who drank more than he ate. It is perhaps important to know that the author was homosexual and may not have worked to concealed it.
Every novel, novella<?>has certain themes. There are always lots of time on the fashions of his main characters, especially the ladies. Much is given over to lavish descriptions and critiques of who was wearing what made of what materials. Almost as much page space goes to detailing plant life and particulars of interior decoration. Every one of these stories has some combination of a pending royal wedding and a major social event with lots of insider talk about who will and will not be invited. Characters are always of the moneyed and titled set. Religious leaders and institutions always carry a faint or overwhelming order of corruption and except for Cardinal Pirelli no one seems to care so much as to be entertained. There is always at a suggestion of lesbianism, adultery and assorted sordid sexual innuendo.
Mostly stories are not so much stories as conversations strung together with varying degrees of continuity. Firbanks use of language can be over whelming. Fanfare is not good enough if fanfaronade is available. A boy is described " Witching as Eros in his loose flowing alb."
Reading Firbanks has to be done from another mental point of view. Individual sentences can be dazzling. Sometimes entire paragraphs can transport. Always you are in a world not quite this one. There is no consistent political view point even if government institutions come in for their share of lambast.
I did not hate this book but I do not know who is likely to enjoy it. Mostly The Five Novels read like they were written a few words at a time, on post cards, but by a person with a vast vocabulary and a keen eye for the ironies of the world around him.
August 17, 2015
Ronald Firbank's work is difficult to describe, even after you've read it. In fact, if I described his work in detail, you'd still think I was making it up, as surely nobody would actually write something like that. Abandon all sense of propriety, ye who enter here, though propriety, nicety, and manners are very much at the center of Firbank's material. Is it "gay" fiction? Is it decadent, the way Wilde is decadent? Is it preposterously funny and fey? All of those things. "Oh God, let me be decorative and do right," prays one of his heroines to the Divine powers. That might be Firbank's motto as well.
Read
September 23, 2018Oscar Wilde is frequently mentioned as an influence on Firbank. At least in the sense that both authors seem to focus their satiric/comic attention on a society in which they are also willing participants, the comparison is fair. Firbank is hard to classify. He largely eschews plot. His characters, even the royalty, are mostly obsessed with social climbing. A few tragic moments slip under a frilly, lacy, gossamer foundation of relatively mild mockery of social posturing and pretension. In brief, Firbank’s later fiction is very much like a coconut-cream, Key-lime, olive (pits intact) meringue pie.
August 28, 2011
I managed one and a half of these stories before giving up. I don't 'get' him either; I could appreciate a few flashes of lambent brilliance but the extreme precious surrealistic style I found too much like hard work
October 25, 2014
Sigh... I wanted to like this but I didn't... a very dated and effete authoress. As much as I love everything fey and camp, this fell like a bag of bricks. OH well. But it is an interesting historical relic.
August 6, 2016
3 1/2 stars
August 26, 2023
Earlier in 2023 I reread 'Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli' and 'The Artificial Princess' and enjoyed them both; so I decided to embark on reading this anthology. Unfortunately it has an introduction by Osbert Sitwell in which he relates that Firbank always had a potted palm tree he moved from place to place with and that when he temporarily lived in a flat in Sloane Square he had a man (no doubt referred to as a 'little man' no matter what his size in the same way black males were referred to as 'boy' no matter what their age) from a local florist come and water and tend to the palm tree several times a week. The man would appear in a green baize apron and clutching a miniature watering can. When, after a few months, Firbank moved to another flat in Piccadilly he insisted the same man come and tend his palm tree but, because Firbank thought his appearance was so wonderfully bucolic in his green apron and watering can, he insisted that the man walk, no matter the weather, the two miles, in his baize green apron clutching the watering can hand.
Unfortunately my anger with this appalling anecdote made it impossible to read the novels. The Greeks used to refer to their slaves as 'tools with hands' and clearly Firbank and Osbert Sitwell thought of that employee of the flower shop in a similar way. If Firbank (or Sitwell) had thought of the whole business as some sort of joke, it would have been cruel, but at least they would have recognised the man humiliated was a human being who had feelings. But no, all it was to them both, was a wonderful aesthetic artwork.
It used to be said that any person when young who was not a communist had no heart and if they remained a communist after 30 they had no brains, well I am over sixty and back to the attitudes of my Bolshevik youth. If ever I have heard an example of the 'Let them eat cake' attitude which leads to revolutions and the slaughter of the rich in the streets this is one.
In truth I don't hate Firbank's work, nor would I want him to have written social improving tales of the working class. I will read his other novels in the future, but I will steer clear of editions with introductions from very rich, very smug, self-satisfied and mediocre English 'aesthetes'.
Provisionally I award this anthology three stars because Firbank is a great writer even if he has been let down by his editor.
Unfortunately my anger with this appalling anecdote made it impossible to read the novels. The Greeks used to refer to their slaves as 'tools with hands' and clearly Firbank and Osbert Sitwell thought of that employee of the flower shop in a similar way. If Firbank (or Sitwell) had thought of the whole business as some sort of joke, it would have been cruel, but at least they would have recognised the man humiliated was a human being who had feelings. But no, all it was to them both, was a wonderful aesthetic artwork.
It used to be said that any person when young who was not a communist had no heart and if they remained a communist after 30 they had no brains, well I am over sixty and back to the attitudes of my Bolshevik youth. If ever I have heard an example of the 'Let them eat cake' attitude which leads to revolutions and the slaughter of the rich in the streets this is one.
In truth I don't hate Firbank's work, nor would I want him to have written social improving tales of the working class. I will read his other novels in the future, but I will steer clear of editions with introductions from very rich, very smug, self-satisfied and mediocre English 'aesthetes'.
Provisionally I award this anthology three stars because Firbank is a great writer even if he has been let down by his editor.
September 25, 2021
The charm of this largely escapes me. Plotless, except for the final brief novel “Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli“ there’s little or nothing to amuse or entertain or inform or instruct. Pretty much a waste of time. And effort.
July 13, 2007
Firbank was referred to as a "master of the camp novel"---so I thought "what's not to like. . . .?"
I just didn't get him and found it very tough slogging---only read two of the five novels in this book. I suspect that I didn't "get it" but was not willing to try any harder than I did.
W.H. Auden was quoted as saying that "A person who dislikes Ronald Firbank may possess some admirable quality, but I do not ever wish to see him again." Conversely, I don't ever wish to encounter Firbank's writing again.
The books were written in the first quarter of the 20th Century and that may have made the social satire out of reach for me.
I just didn't get him and found it very tough slogging---only read two of the five novels in this book. I suspect that I didn't "get it" but was not willing to try any harder than I did.
W.H. Auden was quoted as saying that "A person who dislikes Ronald Firbank may possess some admirable quality, but I do not ever wish to see him again." Conversely, I don't ever wish to encounter Firbank's writing again.
The books were written in the first quarter of the 20th Century and that may have made the social satire out of reach for me.
August 17, 2017
The entry in the Oxford Companion to English Literature (5th ed.) for Firbank states, "some writers have claimed that he did more to liberate the novel from 19th-cent. concepts of realism than Joyce himself." Wow. How could I resist? I took away a vast admiration for his use of language and happily dipped into various dictionaries and internet searches for terms, phrases, historical places, mythical personages, etc., at least 3 or 4 times a page. It was not an easy read--at least, not for me. I did find the five novels in this volume a rewarding and deeply campy read.
July 20, 2021
Nothing overtly or exclusively gay happens in this collection, but these books are of interest for the distinctly gay aesthetic this Edwardian writer exudes.
May 22, 2022
To call Ronald Firbank a writer of singular fictions is both correct and insufficient. There is no doubt that the works here are singular in every possible sense of the word. However, I do not recall having ever read any novels that in any way resemble these productions from Ronald Firbank. These stand alone in their originality and in Ronald Firbank's unique, exquisite style. These works are readable and entertaining in so many ways. I find these works to be enigmatic in all the best possible ways.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews