A humorous critique of the middle class by the Grossmith Brothers: Önemsiz Bir Adamın Günlüğü…
Brothers George and Weedon Grossmith share the diary of Charles Pooter, a bourgeois gentleman from London: While Pooter, who thinks he is quite respectable, makes the reader laugh with his naive struggles in everyday life, the authors make a humorous criticism of the middle class between the lines.
Why shouldn’t I publish my diary? I’ve seen memoirs of people I’ve never even heard of published in all kinds of publications; why shouldn’t my diary be interesting just because I’m not an “important man”…
Önemsiz Bir Adamın Günlüğü, which Evelyn Waugh said was the funniest book he had ever read, the Grossmith Brothers paint a cynical profile of the typical English bourgeois.
Charles Pooter lives a boringly ordinary life with his family in a London suburb; he reads nothing but The Daily Telegraph and lacks the courage and open-mindedness to change his stereotypes. Unlike other works with similar social criticisms, the Grossmith brothers endear this character to the reader. Everyday events, such as gardening, housework, and what goes on in the company where he works, are all important issues in Pooter’s small world.
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GEORGE GROSSMITH was born in London in 1847. He was educated at the London Collegiate School and then became a journalist. His first stage experience was with the play Human Oddities (İnsani Tuhaflıklar), written by his father, who was the chief reporter of The Times. The following year he went on tour. He organized private shows in the homes of wealthy people and performed for Queen Victoria at Balmoral Palace. He received an offer from W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, important names of the music and show world of the period, to perform in their operetta The Sorcerer (Büyücü) and worked with them for many years. By the 1870s, he had become a well-known name. He made parodies of many artists and performed joint plays with different artists. He and his brother Weedon Grossmith sent articles to Punch, the popular magazine of the period; these articles were later published in book form. He retired in the early 1900s after an exhausting career as a comedian, writer, actor and singer. He died at the age of sixty-four at his home in Folkestone.
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WEEDON GROSSMITH was born in London in 1854. He dreamed of becoming a painter and studied at the Royal Academy. However, painting alone could not meet his financial needs, so he started performing on stage. He was a successful writer and actor as well as an illustration artist. She made illustrations for The Diary of an Insignificant Man, published her novel A Woman With a History (Geçmişi Olan Bir Kadın) in 1896 and the popular play The Night of the Party (Davet Gecesi) in 1901. He was the manager of Terry’s Theater in London. He gained fame with the comedy characters he portrayed. The Times wrote that the roles of Weedon Grossmith became a recognizable figure in period plays.
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KAYA GENÇ, author of three books published by Bloomsbury Publishing: The Lionand the Nightingale (2019), Under the Shadow (2016) ve An Istanbul Anthology (2015). Publishers Weekly called Under the Shadow “a fascinating and informative collection that is both investigative and literary journalism at its best”, while The Economist called it “refreshingly balanced in tone” and described Genç as “a voice to listen to”. The Atlantic named Genç’s article on the Struma disaster one of the “best pieces of journalism of 2014”. His writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Nation, Paris Review, The Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books. He has spoken at various venues, including the Royal Anthropological Institute. Kaya Genç has a PhD in English literature and writes reviews for Art forum and Art in America.
TITLE
Book Title: Önemsiz Bir Adamın Günlüğü
Author: George and Weedon Grossmith
Translation: Kaya Genç
Publisher: Can Yayınları
Series: Classic
Subseries: White Classics (Beyaz Klasikler)
Genre: Novel
Page Count: 192
