![]() First edition (UK) | |
Author | Stephen Fry |
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Language | English |
Genre | Comedy, mystery |
Published | 1994 |
Publisher | Hutchinson (UK) Random House (US) |
The Hippopotamus (1994) is a comic novel by Stephen Fry. Written in part as an epistolary novel, it is largely narrated by the main character Edward "Ted" Wallace. Wallace is an alcoholic washed-up poet and theatre critic who, having been fired from his newspaper job, accepts a lucrative commission from his terminally ill goddaughter to investigate rumours of miracle healings at Swafford Hall, country mansion of Wallace's old friend Lord Logan. [1]
The novel's title comes from the poem of the same name by T. S. Eliot, whose first verse is quoted as the epigraph: [2]
The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.
The title draws comparisons between the animal as described in the poem and the main character, Ted Wallace, a slovenly man who enjoys long baths. (Hence cover designs picturing an actual hippopotamus or Fry himself in a bathtub.) The title and epigraph imply as well one of the novel's themes: the practicality of poetry and how that helps Wallace, a poet, regard the "miracles" in the story with a sceptical eye. [3]
The "hippo" of the title (occasionally referred to as "the happy hippo" and given to wallowing in long baths) is Edward (Ted/Tedward) Lennox Wallace, an aging, lecherous, one-time hell-raising poet, reduced by diminishing poetic talent to working as a theatre critic. The story opens with the aftermath of Ted being fired from his job on a newspaper.
At the suggestion of a sick god-daughter, Jane (suffering from leukaemia), he goes to stay at the Norfolk country house of old schoolfriend and Army colleague from National Service, Lord Michael Logan and his wife Lady Anne, to investigate unspecified mysterious goings-on.
Ted reports back to Jane regularly, in the form of long, rambling letters, apprising her of events at Swafford Hall whilst also offering his views on numerous other issues (women, art, poetry, sex, morality and modern life being favourite topics), all the time attempting to uncover the nature of the unusual events that Jane has instructed him to look out for.
Over the course of his stay it gradually becomes apparent that other house guests are ascribing healing powers to one of Logan's children, David (Ted's other godchild), and indeed it is in the hope that he might bestow his 'talent' upon them that they have descended upon Swafford Hall. Among the assembled guests are a witty and hugely camp but rebarbative defrocked minister and TV producer, a businessman and his wife and rather gawky teenage daughter, a friend of Jane's, and Jane's mother, a woman Ted crossed paths with disastrously many years earlier.
The life stories of the tycoon Logan and his family, as well as Ted's own, are intertwined to provide a colourful and credible back story.[ citation needed ] The story is run through with a stream of sexual practices, some more unusual than others, as Ted uncovers the means by which David delivers his 'healing'.
A film of The Hippopotamus was shot in 2015 [4] and released in 2017. [5] The film was directed by John Jencks and stars Roger Allam as Ted Wallace and Matthew Modine as Lord Michael Logan. Russell Tovey, Scott Chambers and Rod Glenn also star. The script is by theatre director and writer Blanche McIntyre and Tom Hodgson, writer of Seve, the 2014 biopic of Seve Ballesteros. [6]
Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. He is considered to be one of the 20th century's greatest poets, as well as a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. His use of language, writing style, and verse structure reinvigorated English poetry. He is also noted for his critical essays, which often reevaluated long-held cultural beliefs.
Edward James Hughes was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and held the office until his death. In 2008, The Times ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
The hippopotamus, also shortened to hippo, further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus. Its name comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος).
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator, and writer. He first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane and in Blackadder (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011 he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind.
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