The Comic and the Compulsive

by Suzette A. Hill

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7 books

Below are seven books that, for me, are truly distinctive. Being myself a writer of largely absurd tales, the first three on the list are ridiculously funny and keep me laughing again and again. However, the following four are not so much comic as enthralling. But all seven share the same feature: the manipulation of language to brilliant effect.

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The Best of Saki

A wonderful collection of outrageous, yet drily witty, short stories by the mordant satirist Saki (aka H.H. Munro tragically killed in W.W.1 – a great loss to literature). The milieux may be “cosy” in that the setting is upper-class England of the early twentieth century, but the style is cuttingly astringent (darker than Wodehouse), yet the situations are farcical. To be enjoyed with a generous libation to hand – though a malt whisky rather than a softer gin might be appropriate. A bonus to this edition is the excellent introduction by the late and great Graham Greene.

Miss Mapp

E. F. Benson, 2015

Part of Benson’s much loved ‘Lucia’ series. Gentler than Saki, this comedy of manners (also set in a bygone England) is deliciously entertaining, with its eccentric characters gleefully etched. Miss Mapp herself – prim and genteel but with lethal eyes – is a social snooper par excellence, and whose insidious wiles and steely shafts create havoc among the gossiping residents of sedate Tilling (firmly based on the ancient Sussex town of Rye, once home to Henry James.) As they negotiate the delicate snares of bridge, golf and “charming” tea-parties, cronies and quarries alike are pawns in her ruthless game of one-upmanship. It is a game she plays with relish and practised ease . . . that is, until she is upstaged by the awesome Lucia. Hilarious.

Mortification: Writers’ Stories of their Public Shame

Robin Robertson, 2012

I doubt if my listed writers would have suffered the mortification described here, but the scenarios certainly resonated with this pen-pusher! Seventy contemporary authors – novelists, poets, biographers – describe in wincing detail the embarrassment they had sometimes felt in the course of promotional appearances: book-signings, talks, interviews, etc. Their anecdotes are at once funny and cringingly painful. Distinguished names as diverse as Margaret Attwood, Val McDermid, Michael Holroyd, Edna O’Brian, Colm Tóibín, Willian Boyd, poets Thom Gunn and Simon Armitage, and a host of other literary heroes bravely and vividly recount their worst moments under the public gaze. In some ways, the humorous revelations are reassuring . . . evidently the eminent can be as vulnerable as the lesser known. But in reading this book, my comradely laughter is tinged with a frisson of fear!

The Heart of the Matter

Graham Greene, 2018

I first encountered this novel as a teenager in the 1950s and subsequently read every book of Greene’s I could lay my hands on. I love them all. But this is the one that I find the most haunting and distinctive; and in its now shabby Heinemann jacket it holds an honoured place on my bookshelf. Why? Because it has all the ‘Greeneland’ hallmarks: a narrative that is clear, spare and sharply vivid; subtle handling of an insidious suspense; fusion of wit and cynical melancholy; brilliant evocation of place and social milieu; drama born of conflict and . . . inevitably, the compassionate portrayal of the seedy and the needy. Indeed, it is this tacit compassion that characterizes all Greene’s novels, but seems especially affecting here. All the characters - the spiritually lacerated Major Scobie, his complaining wilting wife, the boorish Harris, the vicious Wilson, the blinkered priest, the slippery and treacherous Yusef, and others variously flawed - are portrayed with insight and humanity. The book is a study in human vulnerability and loneliness. Yet despite its tragic overtones, because the characters and events are made so compellingly real, one is delighted as much as moved.

An Officer and a Spy

Robert Harris, 2014

It is many years since I have been so enthralled with a novel (yet one so deeply rooted in historical fact). The term "page-turner" is a bit of a cliché, but I literally could not stop reading this book. All domestic tasks and daily chores went on hold until I had finished, and I haven't ceased banging on about it to my friends ever since! Yes, one knew the bare bones of the Drefus affair and the fact that the victim was finally reprieved and reinstated . . . But having intellectual knowledge is one thing, being presented so vividly and palpably with the details of the case is quite another. The narrative is clear, precise and poised; the facts meticulously researched, and the personalities of the many characters compellingly conveyed (not least that of the central protagonist Major Georges Picquart, whose perplexities, natural decorum and resolute search for truth make him an engaging hero). The measured pace builds up a subtle tension, and the action – neatly woven into the political and social context of the period – holds an insidious drama that grips and fascinates. This is a book that is immensely entertaining, but one that is also sharply provocative, for the author's depiction of the snares of political life, the vanities of human nature, and the stealthy stranglehold of public prejudice is acute and potent. Harris does not merely describe the events and the world in which they occur, he renders their very texture. Highly recommended.

Dissolution

A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery

C. J. Sansom, 2004

The first in Sansom’s dazzling series involving the exploits of London lawyer Matthew Shardlake as he grapples with the demands of Henry VIII and lethal lackey Thomas Cromwell. Comedy is not the essence of this tale, though there are comic moments, but it is certainly lively! As one who loves to be immersed in an atmosphere of intrigue and the occasional murder, this suited me admirably. It suited me even better that the sixteenth-century scene is so vividly evoked. My own novels are mainly light-hearted and frivolous, but the value of setting and context has always mattered. Without social context, few stories ring true . . . and this one rings with a resounding resonance. If you enjoy history, mystery, and an oddly quirky protagonist, this is the novel to get – the start of a truly remarkable series.

A Spy Among Friends

Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

Ben Macintyre, 2014

If, like me, you are mildly addicted to tales of espionage, then Ben Macintyre’s A Spy Among Friends may well suit you. Over the years, much has been written about the notorious British spy Kim Philby, and yet Macintyre has dug up even more intriguing revelations. Along with numerous photographs, this meticulously researched book is hard to put down . . . not just on account of the facts themselves but because the author’s style is so clear and subtly dramatic. I say ‘subtly’, because despite the extraordinary nature of Philby and his double-dealings, at no point does Macintyre’s prose become exclamatory or over-coloured. As readers, we might exclaim, but the writer retains his customary poise. Ironically, it is this poise that makes the narrative so compelling.