Cover of the first edition (1892)
Charles (left) and Lupin Pooter at
Broadstairs, from Chapter VI of
The Diary of a Nobody.
Typical houses on Holloway Road, roughly at the location of "Brickfield Terrace"
The Diary of a Nobody is an English comic novel written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon Grossmith, with illustrations by Weedon. The book first appeared in Punch magazine in 1888 – 89, and was first printed in book form in 1892. It is considered a classic work of humour and has never been out of print.
In The Diary of a Nobody the Grossmiths create an accurate, if amusing, record of the manners, customs and experiences of lower-middle-class, suburban Londoners of the late Victorian era. The diary is the fictitious record of fifteen months in the life of Mr. Charles Pooter, a middle-aged city clerk of lower middle-class status but significant social aspirations, living in the fictional "Brickfield Terrace" in Upper Holloway, which was then a typical suburb of the impecuniously respectable kind. Other characters include his wife Carrie (Caroline), his son Lupin, his friends Mr. Cummings and Mr. Gowing, and Lupin's unsuitable fiancée, Daisy Mutlar. The humour derives from Pooter's unconscious gaffes and self-importance, as well as the snubs he receives from those he considers socially inferior, such as tradesmen.
In culture [edit]
Adaptations [edit]
Online [edit]
- In 2004, blogger Kevan Davis began publishing a daily weblog version of The Diary of a Nobody at Diaryofanobody.net. The text of this version is taken from Gutenberg ebook 1026.[4] Davis then rewrote the blog as an auto RSS generator in April 2007[5] and as a Twitter feed in 2011 at Charles Pooter, @pooter_2011.[6]
On radio [edit]
Onscreen [edit]
Onstage [edit]
- The novel was adapted for the stage by Basil Dean in the 1950s, with help from his secretary Bertha Nicoll, and it was performed at the Arts Theatre in August 1954, starring George Benson as Mr Pooter, Dulcie Gray as Mrs Pooter and Leslie Phillips as Lupin Pooter
- In a 27 December 1993 review in The Independent, critic Paul Taylor favourably described a stage adaptation written from Mrs. Pooter's point of view: "Ten years back, Keith Waterhouse hit on the excellent idea of 'ghosting' Mrs Pooter's Diary to give her account of the same period. His play, Mr and Mrs Nobody, now revived by Matthew Francis, is an interweaving of this version with the Grossmith brothers' original." Taylor's review of the Christmastime production at the Greenwich Theatre, featuring Patricia Routledge (Carrie Pooter) and Clive Swift (Mr. Pooter) reads: "This well-staged, enjoyable production vindicates Francis's Christmas policy at Greenwich: that traditional but non-Christmassy pieces can provide the most festive fare."[9]
- In a 10 March 2011 Mail Online article titled "Nobody could do this better", critic Quentin Letts gave a five-star review to Hugh Osborne's "superb" stage adaptation, featuring "three male actors (Robert Daws, Peter Forbes, and Steven Blakeley) playing a variety of roles — of both sexes".[10]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
