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Loading... Wigs on the Green (1935)by Nancy Mitford
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Very, very funny, as to be expected from Mitford. I can see why she didn't want to republished after the war, because its sending-up of the British fascists definitely comes across as a bit blithe considering the full enormity of fascist destruction across Europe. But in a time where large numbers of people, including "respectable" people, are turning or re-committing to fascism, it's actually a timely reminder of how a complacent and often collaborationist society - 1930s Britain - gave fascism cover when it was rising, only to pretend they had nothing to do with it or knew nothing of its horrors, once the war took place. The parallels with today are only too clear. ( ) When office worker Noel Foster inherits three thousand three hundred and fourteen pounds from an aunt and sets his heart on finding a girl to marry, his friend tells him, ‘It’s such a fearful gamble. Much better put the money on a horse and be out of your misery at once.’ And so starts ‘Wigs on the Green’, the third novel by Nancy Mitford. But as well as a social satire of the upper class circles in which she moved, as in her previous novels, in ‘Wigs on the Green’ Mitford had a more personal target in mind: the fascist pretensions of her sisters Unity and Diana. The sisters disliked the novel; it caused a family rift and was not republished within Mitford’s lifetime [she died in 1973]. Money and sex are at the heart of the story; the spending and gaining of money, the marrying into money, and the pursuit of sex seemingly regardless of the eligibility and marital status of the intended. Noel and his friend Jasper Aspect go to Chalford in search of the young heiress, Eugenia Malmains. Their first glimpse of the over-enthusiastic fascism-obsessed Eugenia is as she gives a public speech on behalf of the Union Jack Movement to the Chalford villagers, ‘Britons, awake! Arise! Oh, British lion!’. This is the first of Mitford’s novels to transition from the Twenties, with tales of the chaotic partying and shenanigans of the Bright Young Things, into the Thirties and the rising threat of fascism in Europe. The fascination with National Socialism, the jackboots and roaring nationalism portrayed in ‘Wigs on the Green’ was actually happening as the blackshirts of Oswald Mosley – husband of Mitford’s sister Diana – gained in popularity. Read today, this is still funny but I also found uncomfortable parallels with the 21st century nationalism of Brexit. For this reason alone, ‘Wigs on the Green’ is worth reading. Mitford excels at comic portrayals of characters verging on ridiculous but with the capacity for self-deception we may recognise in real people. Noel falls in lust with local beauty Mrs Lace. Meanwhile, two mysterious young ladies, Miss Smith and Miss Jones, check into the village pub The Jolly Roger, soon followed by two men in raincoats. The two men, and two women, all suspect these to be detectives. As Noel starts to resent the way Jasper runs up bills on Noel’s tab and not his own, Jasper mischievously hints to Mrs Lace that Noel is something other than he appears. He likes to be treated as a normal person, he hints, because of course he is very special. This leads her to believe Noel is an exiled Balkan prince. Noel and Jasper sign up for Eugenia’s party and are now addressed by her as Union Jackshirt Foster and Union Jackshirt Aspect. Meanwhile Eugenia is brought into conflict with friends of Mrs Lace, the thespians and artists from nearby Rackenbridge. As political differences widen and unsuitable sexual conquests are sought, the climax comes at an event originally intended as Eugenia’s coming-out party - a pageant at Chalford Park when everyone comes together to act out the visit of George III and Queen Charlotte – which evolves into a Union Jack Movement event instead. Chaos is the result. There are moments of sharp social observation and moments that made me chuckle. The political satire is cutting, but stays in the background; Mitford had to tread a fine line in order to avoid being sued by her brother-in-law. Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ Two restarts: 15 Novemeber 2015 I did enjoy this, the two restarts are more about my awfully scattered reading habits these days. The satire is on fairly thick and biting, as I expect from Nancy Mitford and I got a few in-jokes from reading the massive biography of the Mitford sisters a few years back but I'm sure I missed a great deal of them. Some, including the author, felt that light-hearted humour about 1930s British fascism (and Nazi Germany, by extension) was no longer funny in a post-WWII universe. Being prone to gallows humour, I didn't have qualms on that front, feeling also that the era in which this was written sufficiently justifies the barbed, Woodhousian pastiche approach. That said, this isn't 'Springtime for Hitler' funny, and it's the patchiness of the writing that left me ultimately only moderately impressed. An early novel which Mitford chose not to reissue after ww2. It's an affectionate send-up of her sister Unity, who was infatuated with Hitler and fascism, but there is an unsettling ambiguity and ambivalence to it given the outcome. It's quite understandable she wanted it suppressed for while it is clear she is making fun of the 'Jackshirts' there is no doubt in my mind had she had the least idea of the outcome of the war, the seriousness of Nazi violence and aims, she never would have written a book so 'light-hearted'. Plus ole Nancy was kind of a snob - it's muffled in her later books somewhat - but here it is front and center, creating an odd vibration between the fascists, the Hons, and well, everyone else, as a mad Duke at the exclusive residence Peersmont (modelled on the House of Lords) for mad titled persons, says to a nephew, "It appears that every year a few thousand totally unimportant persons are killed on the roads, and that lunatic Gunnersbury, supported by some squeamish asses on the Labour benches* brought in a bill to abolish all motor transport. These Socialists put a perfectly exaggerated value on human life, you know. Ridiculous." It was a bit like looking at one of those flat pictures that if you tip it one way it is funny, tip it another and it is thoughtless and even offensive. Nonetheless Mitford's cleverness and wit are everywhere evident and it is an interesting novel. By a coincidence I have been listening to a book on poisonous plants and the author mentions Mussolini's men tracking downn 'leftists' and to pour castor oil down their throats as a punishment. Mitford had evidently picked up on this and there are many mentions of castor oil or ex-lax, that I would not have known the significance (reference to Mussolini) until now. It sounds so teen-aged prankish and idiotic. *** * in this pseudo House of Lords, the Hons spend their time putting forward bills and voting and etc. no reviews | add a review
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Eugenia Malmains is one of the richest girls in England and an ardent supporter of Captain Jack and the Union Jack shirts; Noel and Jasper are both in search of an heiress (so much easier than trying to work for the money); Poppy and Marjorie are nursing lovelorn hearts; and the beautiful bourgeois Mrs Lace is on the prowl for someone to lighten the boredom of her life.They all congregate near Eugenia's fabulous country home at Chalford, and much farce ensues. One of Nancy Mitford's earliest novels, 'Wigs on the Green' skewers her family and their beliefs with her customary jewelled barbs. But there is froth and comedy here too. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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