Background
Ronald Firbank was born Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank on January 17, 1886 in London, the second son of Sir Thomas Firbank.
(Excerpt from Flower Beneath the Foot: Being a Record of t...)
Excerpt from Flower Beneath the Foot: Being a Record of the Early Life of St. Laura De Nazianzi and the Times in Which She Lived The summer-palace, then, the Countess ejaculated, examining her long slender fingers that were like the tendrils of a plant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(A person who dislikes Ronald Firbank," quipped W. H. Aud...)
A person who dislikes Ronald Firbank," quipped W. H. Auden, "may, for all I know, possess some admirable quality, but I do not wish ever to see him again." Edmund Wilson pronounced him "one of the finest writers of his period." Part high camp comedy of manners and part fairy tale, Five Novels by Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) is introduced by Osbert Sitwell. Firbank lived a life of exquisite, if lonely, leisure. He composed all his novels on postcards in his countless hotel rooms, always lavish with flowers. His moves were impulsive"Tomorrow I go to Haiti. They say the President is a Perfect Dear!" ran one telegram to a surprised friend. At a dinner party given in his honor, the pathologically shy author refused to consume anything more than a single pea. His no less eccentric creations, Parvula de Panzoust and her guest Eulalia Thoroughfare of Valmouth, dine on "salmis of cocks'-combs saignant with Béchamel sauce." In The Artificial Princess, a queen with a passion for motoring roars about her realm for hours with her crown on. The Flower Beneath the Foot, Prancing Nigger, and Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli are also included in this volume. "If only," concludes Sitwell, "we might have the joy of reading a new book from his pen, a book that would be so deliciously unlike any others in the world save his own." It is hoped that this collection will bring more readers that extraordinary experience.
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Ronald Firbank was born Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank on January 17, 1886 in London, the second son of Sir Thomas Firbank.
Firbank was educated at Uppingham for two terms and thereafter by private tutors; later, with the idea of preparing for the diplomatic service, he studied French in Tours and Spanish in Madrid. In 1906 he entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, leaving (without a degree) in 1909.
Always delicate in health, Firbank was greatly indulged by his parents. Much of his time was spent in travel, particularly in the Mediterranean and the West Indies.
Both in his life and work, Firbank was the archetype of the fin de sièclesiecle aesthete. His first book, Odette d'Antrevernes (1905), an indifferent imitation of Maeterlinck, shows the influence of the literature and art of the nineties. In his subsequent books this characteristic tone is inverted, as though Firbank had learned to laugh at his own and other people's pretensions. His novels, of which perhaps the best known is Prancing Nigger (1925), are characterized by a perverse, fantastic humor. Although his work is derivative, Firbank influenced such writers as Aldous Huxley and Evelyn Waugh, chiefly by his concise narrative style and by his subtle and allusive use of dialogue. Firbank's works include the novels Valmouth (1919), The Flower Beneath the Foot (1923), and Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli (1926) and a play, The Princess Zoubaroff (1921).
(Excerpt from Flower Beneath the Foot: Being a Record of t...)
(A person who dislikes Ronald Firbank," quipped W. H. Aud...)
(London published Fiction)