A House-Boat on the Styx

An exceedingly pleasant, diverting book that probably can't be written anymore, because not enough people are well educated enough to appreciate it. The shades of the imminent dead converse and debate in their private club on the title vessel. Participants include a very defensive Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Socrates, Confucius, Baron von Munchhausen (with his constant tall tales), Samuel Johnson and his inevitable Boswell, and others. Women are excluded from the vessel and the club, but reside on the shore--Queen Elizabeth and Socrates' wife prominent among them. The conversations are quite funny at times, and usually interesting. The author is wise to keep the proceedings short, however, as this type of thing can't be extended ad show more infinitum. Very enjoyable. show less

Wow, I'm amazed and even a tad embarrassed that I have hitherto never reviewed anything by JK Bangs, although I've read several of his works and own a few old editions... I have a hard-bound copy of this book, found in one of those musty "antique" stores that carry lots of dirt-encrusted household junk and by the way in the back have a shelf with a few moldy books that mostly lived in dark, damp, smoke-filled drawing rooms for decades...

I read this some years ago, so it's not very fresh in mind, but I recall frequently chuckling, often smiling, and I really liked that Sherlock Holmes is a major, if odd, character. The premise is amusing: a load of dead people thrown together in the literary equivalent of a sitcom, basically. (A similar show more premise was used, to very different effect, by Philip Jose Farmer many years later in the series starting with The Fabulous Riverboat.

I'm not sure how well Bangs' work stands the test of time for an audience that's never read anything this old, but it's amusing enough to read if you slow down, relax, and don't expect to be overwhelmed by the pace. You can find this in many paper editions, as well as free e-books if you scout around. show less

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American humorist who edited some popular American magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and Puck. His satirical novella A House-Boat on the Styx is responsible for the term Bangsian Fantasy, which refers to stories about famous people in the afterlife (e.g., Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series).

In A House-Boat on the Styx, Charon the ferryman is dismayed to discover that he’s got some competition in the transportation business — a posh new riverboat has appeared on the Styx and there’s no way his craft can compete. His fears of bankruptcy are relieved, though, when he’s asked to be the janitor of the new boat which belongs to an exclusive men’s show more club run by Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh and his colleagues spend their time playing cards and pool, smoking tobacco, and hosting fights (e.g., Goliath vs. Samson) and debates (Noah vs. P.T. Barnum: Which animals should have been saved from the flood?). They also have occasional business meetings in which they discuss agenda items such as whether or not there should be a Ladies’ Day on the boat (yes, but Lucretia Borgia and Delilah are not invited) and whether poets should have their own Poets’ Corner (yes, because then they won’t be lounging across all the chairs, scribbling drafts on the pool tables, and boring everyone else with their recitations).

There’s almost no action in A House-Boat on the Styx and no need for characterization since all of the characters are already known to us. The story is almost all dialogue as, for example, Shakespeare defends the authorship of his plays, Solomon’s Proverbs are called a hack-job, Confucius complains about the poets, the logistics of all of Henry VIII’s wives attending Ladies’ Day is discussed, Baron Münchausen is accused of making up stories, Sir Walter Raleigh is discovered to be setting up his witticisms so his biographer can record them, Jonah insists that his whale is copyrighted, and Eve laments that she never gets invited to Queen Elizabeth’s parties because she has no pedigree.

Much of this dialogue is very funny, but it occasionally comes off as a stand-up comedy routine when the jokes are transparently set up:

Sir Walter Raleigh: …Queen Elizabeth could have married a hundred times over if she had wished. I know I lost my head there completely.
John Dryden: That shows, Sir Walter, how wrong you are. You lost your head to King James. Hi! Shakespeare, here’s a man doesn’t know who chopped his head off.

Of course, it will be helpful to be familiar with these pre-20th-century characters and their “issues,” but most adults will understand most of the allusions and the others can be easily investigated on the internet. I enjoyed the banter, but it was non-stop, so I was ready for it to end when it did. However, at the very end of A House-Boat on the Styx, some action finally did occur when Captain Kidd showed up. So now I’m eager to read the next installment, The Pursuit of the Houseboat.

A House-Boat on the Styx and The Pursuit of the Houseboat are available on Kindle in the Halcyon Classics edition, which contains 48 works by John Kendrick Bangs for (at this writing) only $1.99. Both books are rather short and easily read in an afternoon. show less

This is going to sound rude but I just had a hard time with this format and was not a fan of the story. I gave up on this book, I try to do that as little as possible. Seemed like the author was so busy making witty quips about historical figures there was no actual story. Or at least I just never got to it.

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American humorist who edited some popular American magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and Puck. His satirical novella A House-Boat on the Styx is responsible for the term Bangsian Fantasy, which refers to stories about famous people in the afterlife (e.g., Philip Jose Farmer’s RIVERWORLD series).

In A House-Boat on the Styx, Charon the ferryman is dismayed to discover that he’s got some competition in the transportation business — a posh new riverboat has appeared on the Styx and there’s no way his craft can compete. His fears of bankruptcy are relieved, though, when he’s asked to be the janitor of the new boat which belongs to an ... Read More: show more target="_top">http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/a-house-boat-on-the-styx/ show less

The first in the Houseboat series, followed by Pursuit of the Houseboat and The Encchanted Typewriter. Moderately funny but episodic; on the whole I prefer Pursuit.

Enjoyable, light-hearted. Downloaded from Gutenburg