Alexander Waugh

Bringing the House Down

The Gentry: Stories of the English

By

HarperPress 460pp £25 order from our bookshop

The Gentry is a depressing title for a book, which conjures up uncharitable images. It makes me think of a hangdog Etonian, stubborn, aloof, courteous, risk-averse and mean with his money; a tall, clean-shaven, straight-haired fellow whose rose-coloured corduroy trousers and easy manner disguise an inability to articulate expressions of love or enthusiasm; a man who is respected by his peers for reasons painfully disconnected from his own record of personal achievement, one whose fine houses, lands and inherited possessions – the very things that once kindled in his heart fierce feelings of family pride and superiority over his siblings – now serve only to underscore a dutiful and guilty conscience.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'The breadth of Clarke’s knowledge and experience, coupled to a conspicuous absence of pomposity, makes for easy an… ,
    • In this month's Silenced Voices, Lucy Popescu shines a light on Myanmar's persecution of writers and journalists, p… ,
    • Lecture on war and peace in 19th-century Europe by Professor Sir Richard Evans, Thurs 25 Oct, 6.30pm Europe House… ,
    • 'Why, throughout the world, are so many people fascinated by the fiction and reality of espionage? And why of all p… ,
    • . here on books, Muriel Spark and life's tangled dance ,
    • RT : There aren't enough aggressive subtitles these days: ,
    • Churchill's on the cover of the October edition of the magazine. Piers Brendon reviews two new books about the Brit… ,
    Follow Us