Thomas Guthrie

Background

He was born in Kensington, London, to Augusta Amherst Austen, an organist and composer, and Thomas Anstey Guthrie.

Education

He was educated at King"s College School and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1880.

Career

He published in 1883 a serious novel, The Giant"s Robe. But he discovered (and again in 1889 with The Pariah) that it was not as a serious novelist but as a humorist that the public insisted on regarding him. As such, his reputation was further confirmed by The Black Poodle (1884),,, and other works.

Baboo Jabberjee Bachelor of Arts, and A Bayard from Bengal (1902) are humorous yet truthful studies of the East Indian with a veneer of English civilization.

In 1901, his successful farce The Manitoba from Blankleys, based on a story that originally appeared in Punch, was first produced at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London. He wrote Only Toys and

Many of Anstey"s stories have been adapted into theatrical productions and motion pictures. The Tinted Venus was adapted by South. J. Perelman, Ogden Nash, and Kurt Weill into One Touch of Venus in 1943.

Vice Versa has been filmed many times, usually transposed in setting and without any cr to the original book

Another of his novels, The Brass Bottle, has also been filmed more than once, including The Brass Bottle (1964). His is one of the earliest stories featuring the science fiction concept of intentional and frequent movement in time, and probably the first to investigate the practical paradoxes such a concept would create.

Achievements

• Anstey Guthrie was recognized as a writer of the comic novels. His principal works were "Vice Versa" and "The Giant's Robe".

Works

More photos

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  • The Statement of Stella Maberly, and An Evil Spirit

    (A rediscovered classic of madness and possession by the a...)

  • The Talking Horse

    ( When Gustavus Pulvertoft finds himself saddled with a h...)

  • Tourmalin's Time Cheques

    (Tourmalin’s Time Cheques Thomas Anstey Guthrie, novelist ...)

  • The Brass Bottle

    ("This day six weeks-just six weeks ago!" Horace Ventimore...)

  • The Black Poodle And Other Tales

    ("The Black Poodle And Other Tales" from Thomas Anstey Gut...)

  • The Giant's Robe

    ("The Giant’s Robe" from Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Novelist a...)

  • Puppets at Large

    ("Puppets at Large" from Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Novelist a...)

  • The Tinted Venus

    ("The Tinted Venus" from Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Novelist a...)

  • Vice Versa

    ("Vice Versa" from Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Novelist and jou...)

Membership

Guthrie became an important member of the staff of Punch magazine, in which his voces populi and his humorous parodies of a reciter"s stock-piece (Burglar Bill, &c) represent his best work.

Connections

Father:

Thomas Anstey Guthrie

Mother:

Augusta Amherst Austen

British organist, composer