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elisabethl's review against another edition
2.0
I am glad I read it. There was good detail on the way life worked on n the late Victorian era, and certainly Benson knew a lot of famous people, from the queen to Henry James, but there were also some long drawn out stories about people who were important but who aren't now remembered. These weren't delivered in a way to bring the character to life, but rather rested on the assumption that your background knowledge of the character would be sufficient to fill in the gaps. I found the beginning parts about his own childhood and then the ending bits where he talks about his time in Capri just before WWI most interesting.
eddie's review
4.0
A charming memoir of the high Victorian-into-Edwardian epoch. Benson writes from the perspective of the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, moving in elite circles since his adolescence, and also his successful career as a novelist.
There is the barest minimum of intimate personal revelation. Instead, he aims to give a flavour of what the era felt like to him experiencing it. Chapters cover different facets, from aristocratic pursuits, literary life, politics, and art. There are lots of amusing personal anecdotes and gossip. The first chapter setting the Victorian scene is magnificent (a stand alone essay in its own right), as are the final few pages describing the descent into WWI.
There is the barest minimum of intimate personal revelation. Instead, he aims to give a flavour of what the era felt like to him experiencing it. Chapters cover different facets, from aristocratic pursuits, literary life, politics, and art. There are lots of amusing personal anecdotes and gossip. The first chapter setting the Victorian scene is magnificent (a stand alone essay in its own right), as are the final few pages describing the descent into WWI.
kjcharles's review
A very interesting curiosity: Benson, writing in 1930, reminiscing about the Victorian era, writers, artists, scandals of the day. Veers between extremely sharp insight and self-indulgence, as you might expect, and is in many ways a psychological portrait of Benson himself. Highly readable if you're interested in seeing the period through a different lens of the past. Also, tons of very good anecdotes.
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