Sir Michael And Sir George: A Tale Of Comsa And Discus And The New Elizabethans
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the grand tradition of British satirical fiction, Sir Michael and Sir George skewers the pomp and bureaucratic absurdity of post-war England with a razor-sharp wit that only J. B. Priestley could wield. The novel chronicles the rivalry between two knights — Sir Michael and Sir George — each commanding their own competing cultural quangos, the magnificently named COMSA and DISCUS, as they joust for prestige, patronage, and the soul of a nation fancying itself a new Elizabethan age. Priestley plants his characters firmly in the corridors of official Britain, where committees reign supreme and the grandest ambitions are inevitably defeated by paperwork and protocol. A master of social comedy, Priestley uses this novel as a vehicle to dissect the self-important cultural establishment of mid-twentieth-century Britain, arguing that its institutions are as hollow as the titles they bestow. His prose is brisk, wry, and deeply human — beneath the farce lies a genuine affection for England and a sorrow at what it was becoming. Original frontispieces by Denis Brihand lend the edition a distinguished charm, and one is left wondering whether the New Elizabethan age Priestley satirised ever truly arrived — or simply drowned in a sea of memos.
Author: J. B. Priestley
Format: Hardback
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In the grand tradition of British satirical fiction, Sir Michael and Sir George skewers the pomp and bureaucratic absurdity of post-war England with a razor-sharp wit that only J. B. Priestley could wield. The novel chronicles the rivalry between two knights — Sir Michael and Sir George — each commanding their own competing cultural quangos, the magnificently named COMSA and DISCUS, as they joust for prestige, patronage, and the soul of a nation fancying itself a new Elizabethan age. Priestley plants his characters firmly in the corridors of official Britain, where committees reign supreme and the grandest ambitions are inevitably defeated by paperwork and protocol. A master of social comedy, Priestley uses this novel as a vehicle to dissect the self-important cultural establishment of mid-twentieth-century Britain, arguing that its institutions are as hollow as the titles they bestow. His prose is brisk, wry, and deeply human — beneath the farce lies a genuine affection for England and a sorrow at what it was becoming. Original frontispieces by Denis Brihand lend the edition a distinguished charm, and one is left wondering whether the New Elizabethan age Priestley satirised ever truly arrived — or simply drowned in a sea of memos.