Marge Askinforit: 'But I knew how near she was to a nervous breakdown''

by Barry Pain

Barry Eric Odell Pain was born at 3 Sydney Street in Cambridge on 28th September 1864. He was one of 4 children.



He was educated at Sedbergh School and then Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.



In 1889, Cornhill Magazine published his short story ‘The Hundred Gates’. This opened the way for Pain to advance his literary career on several fronts. He became a contributor to Punch and The Speaker, as well as joining the staff of both the Daily Chronicle and Black and White.



Pain was also a noted and prominent contributor to The Granta and from 1896 to 1928 a regular contributor to the Windsor Magazine.



It is often said that Pain was discovered by Robert Louis Stevenson, who compared his work to that of Guy de Maupassant. It’s an apt comparison. Pain was a master of disturbing prose but was also able to inject parody and light comedy into many of his works. A simple premise could in his hands suddenly expand into a world very real but somehow emotionally fraught and on the very edge of darkness.



Barry Pain died on 5th May 1928 in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

58 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Born in Cambridge, Barry Eric Odell Pain was educated at Sedbergh School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He became a prominent contributor to The Granta. He was known as a writer of parody and lightly humorous stories.

Reviews

[Miss M]

Spoof of Margot Asquith's memoirs.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the humorous turn of phrases that were constantly being used by the writer as Marge tells about her life. However, Sometimes the story became wearying, stretching the interest.
I would have given 5 stars, but the end seemed quite abrupt, the play on words somehow incomprehensible. Perhaps it had something to do with an idiom of the time which I have not come across.
The narrator was well matched to the story.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having not read the original of which this is the parody, I enjoyed it less than I would have. It's cute, but it would probably have been much more funny with the original in mind. One can enjoy Spaceballs, but unless one has watched the original Star Wars, its depth of parody is lost.

[Dave Nicoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Autobiographical Comedy

Marge Askinforit, inspired by another autobiography, decides to partake of a little 'artistic license' to tell her story.
What follows is much comedy, suitors who line up to try to win her hand, and a marriage where 58 rejected suitors club together to buy her a handbag "'of no importance'.
Barry Pain writes a great short autobiographical story, and it certainly deserves a read. Being almost 100 years old, it shows that even in the early part of the 20th century there were great writers of satire.

Some writers of today could certainly learn how comedy works in all walks of life, according to 'Marge Askinforit' by Mr Pain. Glad I took the chance on adding this to my ebook collection without knowing the author's work

[Melissa Hills · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty blah, but cute.