Complete Short Stories
Saki (H.H. Munro) · 1930
Saki's Edwardian comedies of manners are among the most perfectly constructed stories in English; the twist arrives with the inevitability of natural law. Wildly entertaining, deeply weird. Think P.G. Wodehouse distilled through bile.
The case against
One cocktail is bracing; the complete pitcher reveals the recipe. Clever youth, dim aunt, vengeful animal, drawling twist: Saki wrote that story dozens of times, and read consecutively the surprises stop surprising. The cruelty never deepens, and the Edwardian sneers (at women, at Jews, at the earnest) come from the author, whatever cover the characters provide.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
