The Unspeakable Skipton: The Modern Classic Paperback – 4 Oct. 2018

This is a wonderfully sharp and funny book, as blackly humorous as In Bruges. Which is fitting, as Bruges is the town to which the Unspeakable Skipton has fled. Part pander, part poverty stricken great novelist manque, Skipton is a splendidly monstrous creation whose base stratagems inevitably lead to his own comeuppance. A minor masterpiece, Hansford Johnson's book should be far better known

I was completely enchanted by the ghastly old fraud Skipton. I was reminded of one or two 'literary' men I came across in my youth, who had supposedly written some earth-shattering novel in the past which one had never heard of. He is a brilliant creation, and one could almost see his eyes lighting up when he smelt money in the shape of new visitors to the Belgian town where he lived. The catastrophic tantrums with which he arrogantly alienated those on whom he was dependent and which reduced him to operate almost as a pimp warmed the cockles of my heart. But to get the full impact of the self-serving almost delusional would-be writer you have to read this.Pamela Handsford Johnson is unjustly semi-forgotten - she should be more widely read.

Simply it's a wrong book!!! I've ordered a different book!!!

Strange read

Bruges is the only hero of this wonderful bitterly funny novel. Skipton is truly unspeakable but is true to his art. Living hand-to-mouth and permanently hungry he sees other people as means to his own ends. He dreams up scams to fleece his countrymen abroad, all the while unremittingly superior and snooty to them. These are wonderfully realised characters all, but Bruges is so lovingly depicted as to take centre stage time and again. This is comic writing at its very best, because melancholy underlies it and because it's never as cruel as it so easily could be. The reader supplies that, as well as the grudging affection for Daniel Skipton.

This novel, first published in 1959, has been republished in 2018 as a modern classic.Daniel Skipton is a larger than life creation, inspired to some extent (as the author states in a Note at the beginning) on Frederick Rolfe who called himself Baron Corvo. He has published one not very profitable novel, certainly not enough to live on; but he thinks he is a literary genius and is now living in Bruges (because it is cheaper than England). He has a high opinion of himself, has assumed the title of Knight of the Most Noble Order of SS. Cyril and Methodius, is a snob, and despises and rages against humankind, consistently inwardly, and also very often outwardly, in elaborately rude language, in letters to his publisher and to a relative who sends him what he considers an inadequate remittance; and, though he sometimes suppresses it, he cannot always restrain himself in conversation with people.He is always in need of money, and presents himself as a guide to visitors to Bruges, notably to a foursome – three men and a woman - who want to see something of the low life of the city. He takes them to a lewd show. One of the men wants something even more sordid, and Daniel pimps for him. Although he is consistently rude to them, they nevertheless like him, accept his company, and even invite him to meals and drink.Some of the people he meets are themselves eccentrics in one way or another: Dorothy Merlin, the woman in the foursome, is an irascible, feminist, pretentious and unsuccessful poet/playwright; there is an Italian count who claims to be a wonderful singer, and who is the owner of some paintings and might be tricked into buying, via Daniel, a fake.All the ways in which he tries to make money – some of them pretty far-fetched are unsuccessful, and we leave him utterly destitute. We can’t help feeling sorry for him.When the author describes the sights of Bruges, the writing is beautiful and inventive; for the rest it is often witty, and there are some fine comic, sometimes farcical, scenes. So it is a good read. All the same, I found some of the episodes, and especially the relationship between Daniel and the foursome, unconvincing.It is the first novel in the “Dorothy Merlin” trilogy: the other two are “Night and Silence, Who Is Here?” and “Cork Street, Next to the Hatter’s”, where we can meet some of the characters again.

Daniel Skipton is at first sight a comic figure, an expatriate living and starving by turns in the city of Bruges; preying on visitors in the most disreputable and preposterous manner. But his faith in his own stature is unshakeable. In this picaresque and richly comic novel, one is always on the side of the unquestionable unspeakable Skipton.

I first read this book many years ago and enjoyed it very much. A recent reading of Symons’ “The Quest for Corvo” (a biography of British author and eccentric Frederick Rolfe) gave me context and a fresh appreciation for Hanford Johnson’s book. Although the Skipton book has a lot of funny parts, there’s also a story of a thwarted life at work. Like Rolfe, Skipton is his own worst enemy, and his end reminds me of the lines from John Donne, “I do nothing upon myself and yet am mine own executioner.”

I have not got the time or patience to read about the horrible people who inhabit this book. It is depressing and unpleasant. I did not finish it as I like redemption and the characters were unredeemable.

I would really offer this review only 3.5 stars, if such were allowed. I found the authors style quite engaging, and enjoyed the read very much, but the overall content and story were not particularly stellar. I had hoped for something along the lines of Saki (H.H. Munroe) but such was not to be. If there is ever a dearth of literature in my 'to read' pile I shall consider more by this author, but probably not until then...