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Zuleika Dobson (or, an Oxford Love Story)

Started by convulsivespace, December 21, 2020, 06:16:27 AM

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Has anyone else read this brilliant novel by Max Beerbohm? An impressive critical reputation but at the same time it has seemingly been in and out of print for many years. I'm always on the lookout for good prose comedy (one of the most difficult genres to successfully pull off), and would go so far as to say that this may be the funniest novel I have read.

In short, it's a pitch-black comedy about (mild spoilers)
Spoiler alert
the entire undergraduate population of Oxford killing themselves
[close]
. Neither the humor nor the interesting stylistic flourishes of the novel are dated even though it was published in 1911 and is largely based on Beerbohm's time at Oxford in the 1890s. Still a hilarious satire of society and the upper classes, even if some the high-flown romanticism it is skewering is less culturally apposite today.