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    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself
    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself
    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself
    Ebook230 pages3 hours

    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself

    By Henry Howarth Bashford

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    "A sublime ferocious farce." — The New Yorker.
    "Incomparable ... a wonderful slapstick satire on hypocrisy." — New Statesman.
    "One of the great comic novels of the twentieth century." — Anthony Burgess.
    Meet our memoirist, Augustus Carp, a self-proclaimed "good man" who relishes every opportunity to condemn the weaknesses of others while excusing his own failings. In this spoof autobiography, the pompous narrator enthusiastically recounts his mundane achievements with unwitting hilarity, making frequent asides to bemoan the sins of lesser mortals. Much of the story's ironic humor derives from his delivery; the more seriously Carp takes himself, the more ridiculous he appears.
    This riotous fable is supported by a cast of delightfully eccentric and grotesque characters: Abraham Stool, manufacturer of the famous Adult Gripe Water; schoolteacher Mr. Beerthorpe, inevitably known to his charges as "Beery"; the Rev. Eugene Cake, author of such improving fiction as Gnashers of Teeth; and other memorable personalities. A cult classic and comic gem, the book was originally published anonymously in 1924 and rediscovered decades later, when its author was revealed as a genteel (and discreet) London physician. This edition features the splendidly droll illustrations by Punch artist Marjorie Blood from the original publication.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateFeb 27, 2017
    ISBN9780486820620
    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself

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    Reviews for Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself

    3.5/5

    51 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Thoroughly funny at a few moments, but mostly only mildly amusing. Doesn't quite live up to the hype in the introduction, alas.
    • 5/5
      "Oh, sin", I cried, "sin - unbelievable sin in Greenwich Park", 24 October 2015This review is from: Augustus Carp, Esq.: Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man (Paperback)One of the world's funniest books, narrated by the priggish, self-satisfied, unattractive Augustus - acutely aware of others' failings, but ever on the alert to use them to his own advantage.Bashford's writing is superb, the language conveying such a vivid impression of the pompous character. Thus when his (equally pompous) father gets into an argument with their charwoman after dealing her son a blow ("dividing the integument of his forehead"), Augustus describes the woman's actions:"I beheld Mrs O'Flaherty thrusting my father's head into her pail. It was a commodious pail, very nearly full with incompletely clean water, and containing in addition the saturate garment with which it was her habit to wash the linoleum."Augustus proves singularly unpopular at school, both with the boys he reports and with the masters through his demeanour:"When our form-master, a Mr Muglington, asked me if I knew the capital of Belgium, I replied that while I had not as yet enjoyed the opportunity of paying the town a personal visit, I had been credibly informed that it was known as Brussels, so indissolubly associated with the well-known brassica."And meanwhile his proud, sternly Anglican father is - after a series of disagreements - transferring his worship from the Church of James the Less to that of James- the-Lesser-Still and ultimately James-the-Least-of-all. Mother is a poor cowed creature, her life spent serving her husband and son:"After every such exhibition of pristine vigour, however, my father experienced an acute reaction, and for many weeks would become a martyr not only to neurasthenic indigestion but to digestive neurasthenia accompanied by flatulence of the severest order. For months on end, indeed, my mother would be obliged to sit by his bedside in case he should wake up and require abdominal kneading."The author was Hon Physician to King George VI, and entertaining ailments pepper the work, from his friend Simeon Whey's stutter ("kck") to Charity and Understanding, but for whose "slight impediments in their noses the whole house would have been wrapped in the profoundest stillness."In short, a hilarious book - much funnier than the better known "Diary of a Nobody" - and one I would recommend to all.
    • 5/5
      A splendid & hilarious take-off of religious pomposity & hypocrisy in the early 20th century. (But perhaps just as funny nowadays?) Written by none other than Sir Henry Howarth Bashford, Physician to King George VI. If you like George & Weedon Grossmith's "Diary of a Nobody", you'll enjoy Augustus Carp. It's is in the same vein - but far more cruel!
    • 3/5
      If the book had lived up to the hyperbolic preface then I would have been well pleased with it. I don't know whether or not I was in the wrong frame of mind when I read it, or whether it just isn't my type of humour, but I was acutely disappointed with this book.The character is thoroughly dislikeable, which prevents any empathy between him and the reader developing. It is meant to be a comedy / tragedy I think, and for tragedy to work, one has to be moved by the sufferings of the protagonist. In Waugh's Decline and Fall, one of the comedic books I have really enjoyed, the main character is an honest person, with few pretensions, whose sorrows we feel sorry for, and whose triumphs we feel with pleasure. The character in this novel has his share of woes, but he really deserves them, thus the tragedy does not work, and his joys we do not enjoy because they are petty. There are some genuinely humourous moments, but these are too few and thinly distributed to make it worth reading the whole thing for. There is no hero, and no villain. The protagonist is not purposefully nasty enough to be a villain, and never does anything of note to warrant being called a hero. I can imagine that if there was someone I knew like him, that I could enjoy the book as a ridiculing of that type of person, but there just aren't any people like Carp anymore, and thus the satire is wasted. Huxley does some good satirical caricatures of personality types in his books, and these I think are very good, because they can be identified with real people. Carp is very much a product of the Victorian age, something that could only ever be produced by that era. In fact, that isn't strictly true, he is reminiscent of the hypocritical Pharisees in the Bible, who follow the law to the letter, show no compassion towards others, and have no more than a superficial understanding of their religion, while giving the appearance that it is they that hold the moral and spiritual high ground. Carp is a Victorian Pharisee, and I do not like him, he is an exaggeration of one, with no human left in him. There are those that we love to hate – proper villains, and those that are just obnoxious, without taking their vices to an interesting or admirable level. This is a farce, but unlike a good farce, it is taken too far, far beyond the realm of credibility. I would not, like others, recommend this book. It was not difficult to read, and it wasn't the worse book I have ever read, but after all the fawning and spotless reviews I have come across, it was a let down to actually read it.
    • 4/5
      Much funnier than Diary of a Nobody, but much less well known. Funny, that.
    • 4/5
      Quite simply, one of the funniest books ever written. Pious hypocrisy was never exploded so effectively (or at least won't be until we get to read Tony Blair's autobiography). A parade of Xtian grotesques, none as ghastly as the smug, superior, cant-ridden narrator. Essential reading.
    • 4/5
      Augustus Carp, ESQ. was originally published anonymously, or as the title page suggested the book was written "by himself". The additional substitle "being the autobiography of a really good man" might raise some eye brows, and is a subtle hint at the character of the main protagonist. The book first appeared in 1924, and authorship remained obscure until 1961, when it became clear that the author was the late Sir Henry Bashford, M.D., F.R.C.P., Chief Medical Officer to the Post Office, Medical Adviser to the Treasury, Honorary Physician to King George VI, etc. This partly explains why some of the protagonists in the novel suffer from a variety rare ailments, of course all adding to the hilarity.Very few books are really humorous throughout, but if you are interested then I would recommend this novel which pairs ridicule with verbal virtuosity. The book should perhaps be read as a parody of Hugh Walpole's Jeremy trilogy, of which the first two volumes were published in 1919 and 1923, describing a youth's development from childhood through adolescence to manhood. However, in spirit the book is closer to Geoffrey Willans's Whizz for atomms. A guide to survival in the 20th century for felow pupils, their doting maters, pompous paters and any others who are interested (1956).Like the Jeremy trilogy, Augustus Carp, ESQ. describes the youth of young Augustus and his career into manhood, particularly his moral development. Much of the humour is tied in with religion and particularly with hypocracy. Like many such coming-of-age stories, the novel is dated, and this means that some of the humour doesn't work. It also depends on your sense of humour, and whether you think it is funny to read a whole page of chatter between father and son about a slip of the tongue: "A weed before the rind."

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    Augustus Carp, Esq., by Himself - Henry Howarth Bashford

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