Beasts and Super-Beasts

Beasts and Super-Beasts

Author	Saki
Language	English
Genre	Short Stories
Publisher	John Lane
Publication date	1914
Preceded by	When William Came
Followed by	The Toys of Peace

Beasts and Super-Beasts is a collection of short stories, written by Saki (the literary pseudonym of Hector Hugh Munro) and first published in 1914. ^[1] The title parodies that of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman . ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Along with The Chronicles of Clovis , Beasts and Super-Beasts is one of Saki's best-known works.^{[ citation needed ]} It was his final collection of stories before his death in World War I, and several of its stories, in particular "The Open Window", are reprinted frequently in anthologies.

The majority of the volume's stories deal in some fashion with animals, providing the source for its title. ^[5] The character of Clovis Sangrail, featured in earlier works by Saki, appears in several stories. Most of the stories appeared previously in periodicals. ^[6]

Stylistically, Beasts and Super-Beasts displays the simple language, cynicism and wry humor that characterize Saki's earlier literary output.^{[ citation needed ]}

Contents

The book contains the following stories:

• "The She-Wolf"
• "Laura"
• "The Boar-Pig"
• "The Brogue"
• "The Hen"
• "The Open Window"
• "The Treasure-Ship"
• "The Cobweb"
• "The Lull"
• "The Unkindest Blow"
• "The Romancers"
• "The Schartz-Metterklume Method"
• "The Seventh Pullet"
• "The Blind Spot"
• "Dusk"
• "A Touch of Realism"
• "Cousin Teresa"
• "The Yarkand Manner"
• "The Byzantine Omelette"
• "The Feast of Nemesis"
• "The Dreamer"
• "The Quince Tree"
• "The Forbidden Buzzards"
• "The Stake"
• "Clovis on Parental Responsibilities"
• "A Holiday Task"
• "The Stalled Ox"
• "The Story-Teller"
• "A Defensive Diamond"
• "The Elk"
• "Down Pens"
• "The Name-Day"
• "The Lumber Room"
• "Fur"
• "The Philanthropist and the Happy Cat"
• "On Approval"

External links

• An omnibus collection of Saki's short fiction at Standard Ebooks
• Beasts and Super-Beasts at Project Gutenberg
• Beasts and Super-Beasts public domain audiobook at LibriVox

1. Stevick, Philip (1966). "Saki's Beasts". English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 9 (1): 33–37. ISSN   1559-2715.
2. Gibson, Brian (2014-06-23). Reading Saki: The Fiction of H.H. Munro. McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-1532-5.
3. Hanson, C. (1984-12-06). Short Stories and Short Fictions, 1880–1980. Springer. ISBN   978-1-349-17685-4.
4. Werewolves, Wolves and the Gothic. University of Wales Press. 2017-09-15. ISBN   978-1-78683-104-0.
5. https://search.proquest.com/openview/7fce8082d044bb6c3462fcf3782c9192/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47638
6. Gaston, Bruce (2023-10-02). "Reconstructing the Original Beasts and Super-Beasts by "Saki," or How a Short Story Collection Took Shape". ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews. 36 (4): 557–562. doi:10.1080/0895769X.2021.1979929. ISSN   0895-769X.