Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams

By J. B. Priestley

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams" by J. B. Priestley. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Sep 4, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547246589

J. B. Priestley

J. B. Priestley was born in Bradford in 1894. He fought in the First World War and was badly wounded in 1916. He went on to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and, from the late 1920s, established himself as a successful novelist, playwright, essayist, social commentator and radio broadcaster. He is best known for his 1945 play, An Inspector Calls. J. B. Priestley died in 1984.

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J. B. Priestley

Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams

EAN 8596547246589

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

TALES

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE

A MOVING STORY OF REAL LIFE

THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF A QUARREL BETWEEN A MAN WE ALL KNOW AND A VERY OLD FAMILY

AT THE ‘RED LION,’ RAMPLE STREET

THE DANGER OF ACCEPTING GIFTS WHILE HOLDING MUNICIPAL OFFICE

THE HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE OF A FORGOTTEN GOD

HOW THE RATIONAL AMUSEMENTS OF THE GREAT ARE LIMITED

THE IMPRUDENCE OF A POLITICIAN IN TRAVELLING FURTHER THAN THE NEWSPAPERS

THE WRONG WORLD

THE VALUE OF A NEW POINT OF VIEW

THE UNINVITED GUEST

HOW I MET WITH A FAMOUS CHARACTER IN A CAFÉ

THE MUTINY

DEATH AND THE FIDDLER

THE COLLEGE OF IMMORTAL FAME

THE LONELY SOUL

THE LOST PATH

THE LAST GLIMPSE OF A WELL-KNOWN FIGURE IN SOCIETY

ADVANCED THOUGHT AND THE FOOLISH IDLER

THE WONDERFUL VIEW

THE ROOM OF LOST SOULS

THE CYNICISM OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHIES

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT

THE MORAL

TRAVESTIES

A SONG IN THE MANNER OF MR WALTER DE LA MARE

‘Æ’: THE INEFFABLE SPLENDOUR OF THINGUMBOB

SIR WM WATSON: ON RECEIVING AN ÉDITION-DE-LUXE OF ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE THREE BLIND MICE (PERIODS OF EUROPEAN NONSENSE)

MR JAMES STEPHENS: ‘SEUMAS BEG AGAIN’

A LECTURE NOT YET WRITTEN OR DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR A. T. QUILLER-COUCH: ON THE DIRECT METHOD

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: NEW STYLE. AS IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE WRITTEN BY MR LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE

THE LATER MANNER OF MR W. B. YEATS

A SONG: NOT IN THE COLLECTED POEMS OF MR ALFRED NOYES

FROM A GREAT POLITICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA, ‘BUBB BODINGTON’ NOT YET WRITTEN BY MR JOHN DRINKWATER

AN EPILOGUE TO ‘TRIVIA’ (With apologies to Mr Logan Pearsall Smith)

EPIGRAMS

TALES

Table of Contents

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE

Table of Contents

A PROFITEER, a Priest of Nebt-het, from Heliopolis, and a Fool were walking together one day, when they met the grim figure of War belching flame and fury.

‘Who is that?’ asked the fool and the priest of each other, quickening their pace. But the profiteer raised his hat, bowed humbly, and stayed to chat for a few moments with the terrible figure, before rejoining his companions.

Presently, they came upon Death, mumbling to himself by the roadside. The fool and the profiteer raised their eyebrows, and passed on, but the priest of Nebt-het touched his forehead and made certain strange signs with his hands, to which Death replied in like manner.

Then the three spied a beautiful woman who sat among the wildflowers. It was Love, combing her hair and singing all the love-songs of the