The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinfold: A Conversation Piece
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: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A darkly comic and semi-autobiographical novella, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold: A Conversation Piece chronicles the harrowing mental breakdown of a middle-aged English novelist who, seeking rest and recuperation aboard a ocean liner, becomes tormented by a cacophony of mysterious, disembodied voices. Waugh draws unmistakably from his own 1954 breakdown — brought on by an alarming cocktail of sleeping draughts and alcohol — to craft a portrait of paranoia, persecution, and the fragile boundary between sanity and delusion. The narrative unfolds with Waugh's signature dry wit and unflinching self-awareness, presenting Pinfold's ordeal not as melodrama but as a precise, almost clinical dissection of a disintegrating mind. The result is a uniquely unsettling work that balances psychological horror with satirical detachment, illustrating how even the most composed and acerbic of literary men can be undone from within.
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Format: Hardback
Published: 1957, Chapman & Hall
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A darkly comic and semi-autobiographical novella, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold: A Conversation Piece chronicles the harrowing mental breakdown of a middle-aged English novelist who, seeking rest and recuperation aboard a ocean liner, becomes tormented by a cacophony of mysterious, disembodied voices. Waugh draws unmistakably from his own 1954 breakdown — brought on by an alarming cocktail of sleeping draughts and alcohol — to craft a portrait of paranoia, persecution, and the fragile boundary between sanity and delusion. The narrative unfolds with Waugh's signature dry wit and unflinching self-awareness, presenting Pinfold's ordeal not as melodrama but as a precise, almost clinical dissection of a disintegrating mind. The result is a uniquely unsettling work that balances psychological horror with satirical detachment, illustrating how even the most composed and acerbic of literary men can be undone from within.