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'{{distinguish|Sake}} {{other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2012}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = Hector Hugh Munro | image = Hector Hugh Munro aka Saki, by E O Hoppe, 1913.jpg | caption = Hector Hugh Munro by [[E.O. Hoppé]] (1913) | pseudonym = Saki | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1870|12|18}} | birth_place = [[Akyab]], [[British Burma]] | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1916|11|13|1870|12|18}} | death_place = [[Beaumont-Hamel]], [[France]] | occupation = Author, Playwright| nationality = British | genre = | notableworks = }} '''Hector Hugh Munro''' (18 December 1870 – 13 November 1916), better known by the [[pen name]] '''Saki''', and also frequently as '''H. H. Munro''', was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes [[macabre]] stories satirized [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] society and culture. He is considered a master of the [[short story]] and often compared to [[O. Henry]] and [[Dorothy Parker]]. Influenced by [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Lewis Carroll]], and [[Kipling]], he himself influenced [[A. A. Milne]], [[Noël Coward]], and [[P. G. Wodehouse]].<ref>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35149</ref> Beside his short stories (which were first published in newspapers, as was customary at the time, and then collected into several volumes), he wrote a full-length play, ''[[The Watched Pot]]'', in collaboration with Charles Maude; two one-act plays; a historical study, ''The Rise of the Russian Empire'', the only book published under his own name; a short novel, ''The Unbearable Bassington''; the episodic ''The Westminster Alice'' (a [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliamentary]] parody of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]''), and ''[[When William Came]]'', subtitled ''A Story of London Under the [[Hohenzollern]]s'', a fantasy about a [[invasion literature|future German invasion]] of Britain. ==Life and work== Born in Akyab, [[Burma]] (also known as [[Myanmar]]) when it was still part of the [[British Empire]], Hector Hugh Munro was the son of Charles Augustus Munro and Mary Frances Mercer (1843–72). Mary was the daughter of Rear Admiral Samuel Mercer; and her nephew, Cecil William Mercer, became a famous writer as [[Dornford Yates]]. Charles Munro was an Inspector-General for the Burmese Police. In 1872, on a home visit to England, Mary was charged by a cow; and the shock caused her to miscarry. She never recovered and soon died.<ref>[http://www.ajlangguth.com/_saki__a_life_of_hector_hugh_munro__with_six_short_stories_never_before_collecte_11053.htm AJLangguth.com - "Saki: A Life of Hector Hugh Munro, with six short stories never before collected." (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1981)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Charles Munro sent his children, including two-year-old Hector, to England, where they were brought up by their grandmother and aunts in a strict puritanical household. Munro was educated at Pencarwick School in [[Exmouth, Devon]] and at [[Bedford School]]. On a few occasions, when he retired, Charles travelled with Hector and his sister to fashionable European spas and tourist resorts. In 1893, Hector followed his father into the [[Indian Police Service|Indian Imperial Police]], where he was posted to [[Burma]] (like [[George Orwell]] a generation later). Two years later, having contracted malaria, he resigned and returned to England. At the start of [[World War I]], although 43 and officially over-age, Munro refused a commission and joined [[King Edward's Horse|2nd King Edward's Horse]] as an ordinary trooper, later transferring to 22nd Battalion, the [[Royal Fusiliers]], where he rose to the rank of [[lance sergeant]]. More than once he returned to the battlefield when officially still too sick or injured. In November 1916, when sheltering in a shell crater near [[Beaumont-Hamel]], France, during the [[Battle of the Ancre]] he was killed by a German [[sniper]]. His last words, according to several sources, were "Put that bloody cigarette out!"<ref>"The Square Egg," pg. 102</ref> Because Munro has no known grave, his name is commemorated on Pier and Face 8C 9A and 16A of the [[Thiepval Memorial]].<ref>http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1546551/MUNRO,%20HECTOR%20HUGH</ref><ref>http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12293752</ref> After his death, his sister Ethel [[Book burning |destroyed]] most of his papers and wrote her own account of their childhood. Munro may have been [[Homosexuality|homosexual]]; but, at that time in the U.K., [[LGBT rights in the United Kingdom| he was a faggot bitch activity between men was a crime]]. The [[Cleveland Street scandal]] (1889), followed by [[Oscar Wilde#Trial, imprisonment, and transfer to Reading Gaol|the downfall of Oscar Wilde]] (1895), meant that if he were gay, "that side of [Munro's] life had to be secret".<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35149] [[Dominic Hibberd]]'s essay in the [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]</ref> Politically, Munro was a [[Tory]] and somewhat reactionary in his views.<ref>[http://mykcl.com/iss/spec-old/bookmonth/articles08/alice.html?m=print]</ref> ===Writing career=== The name ''Saki'' may be a reference to the cupbearer in the ''[[Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam|Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam]]'', a poem mentioned disparagingly by the eponymous character in "Reginald on Christmas Presents" and alluded to in a few other stories. (This is stated as fact by [[Emlyn Williams]] in his 1978 introduction to a Saki anthology.<ref>''Saki: Short Stories I'' (1978, ISBN 0-460-01105-7) Williams cites [[Rothay Reynolds]], "his friend".</ref>) It may also be a reference to the South American [[Saki monkey|primate of the same name]], which at least two commentators (Tom Sharp and [[Will Self]]) have connected to the "small, long-tailed monkey from the Western Hemisphere" that is a central character in [[s:The Remoulding of Groby Lington|"The Remoulding of Groby Lington"]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Nooshin|last=Elahipanah|url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/postgraduate.english/Nooshin.htm|accessdate=18 August 2013|title=Saki's Engagement with Evolution, Naturalism and Determinism|journal=Postgraduate English|publisher=Durham University|volume=9|year=2004}}</ref> In England he started his career as a journalist, writing for newspapers such as the ''[[Westminster Gazette]]'', ''[[Daily Express]]'', ''[[Bystander (magazine)|Bystander]]'', ''[[Morning Post]]'', and ''Outlook''. In 1900, Munro's first book appeared: ''The Rise of the Russian Empire'', a historical study modelled upon [[Edward Gibbon]]'s ''[[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]''. From 1902 to 1908, Munro worked as a [[foreign correspondent]] for ''The Morning Post'' in the [[Balkans]], [[Warsaw]], Russia (where he witnessed [[Bloody Sunday (1905)|Bloody Sunday]]), and Paris; he then gave that up and settled in London. Many of the stories from this period feature Reginald and Clovis, young men-about-town who take mischievous delight in the discomfort or downfall of their conventional, pretentious elders. Shortly before the [[World War I|Great War]], with the genre of [[invasion literature]] selling well, he also published a [[Counterfactual history|"what-if" novel]], ''[[When William Came]]'', subtitled "A Story of London Under the [[Hohenzollern]]s", imagining the [[Wilhelm II of Germany|eponymous German emperor]] conquering Britain. To recognize his contribution to English literature, a [[blue plaque]] has been affixed to a building in which Munro once lived on Mortimer Street in [[central London]]. ==Work== Saki's work contrasts the conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end. ==="The Interlopers"=== "The Interlopers" is a story based on two men, Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz, whose families have fought over a forest in the eastern [[Carpathian Mountains]] for generations. Ulrich's family legally owns the land, but Georg – feeling it rightfully belongs to him – hunts there anyway. One winter night, Ulrich catches Georg hunting in his forest. The two would never shoot without warning and soil their family’s honour, so they hesitate to acknowledge one another. As an "act of God", a tree branch suddenly falls on each of them, trapping them both under a log. Gradually, they realize the futility of their quarrel and become friends to end the family feud. They call out for their men’s assistance, and after a brief period, Ulrich makes out eight or nine figures approaching over a hill. The story ends with Ulrich’s realization that the "interlopers" on the hill are actually wolves. ==="Gabriel-Ernest"=== "Gabriel-Ernest" starts with a warning: "There is a wild beast in your woods…" As the story propels, we learn from the narrator that Gabriel is indeed wild, feral—a werewolf in fact. The story uses the strain of animalist desire as an assessment to adolescence{{Clarify|date=September 2012}} . The story’s climax is when Gabriel is revealed to have taken a small child home from Sunday school. A pursuit ensues but Gabriel and the child disappear near a river. The only items found are the clothes of Gabriel and the two are never seen again. ==="The Schartz-Metterklume Method"=== At a railway station, an arrogant and overbearing woman (Mrs. Quabarl) mistakes the mischievous Lady Carlotta (who has been inadvertently left behind by Carlotta's train) for the [[governess]] Miss Hope she expected (Miss Hope having erred in her date of arrival). Lady Carlotta, deciding not to correct the mistake, acknowledges herself as Miss Hope, a proponent of "the Schartz-Metterklume method" of making children understand history by acting it out themselves, and chooses the [[Rape of the Sabine Women]] (exemplified by a washerwoman's two girls) as the first lesson. ==="The Toys of Peace"=== Rather than giving her young boys gifts of toy soldiers and guns (after recounting her taking away their toy depicting the [[Siege of Adrianople (813)|Siege of Adrianople]]), their mother Eleanor instructs her brother Harvey to give the children innovative "peace toys" as an Easter present. When the packages are opened, young Bertie shouts "It's a fort!" and is disappointed when his uncle replies "It's a municipal dust-bin". The boys are initially baffled as to how to obtain any enjoyment from models of a school of art and a public library, or from little toy figures of [[John Stuart Mill]], poet [[Felicia Hemans]], and astronomer Sir [[John Herschel]]. Youthful inventiveness finds a way, however, as the boys combine their history lessons on Louis XIV with a lurid and violent play-story of the invasion of Britain and the storming of the Young Women's Christian Association. The end of the story has Harvey report failure to Eleanor, explaining "We have begun too late." ==="The Storyteller"=== "The Storyteller" is a cynical antidote to crude [[didacticism]]. An aunt is traveling by train with her two nieces and a nephew. The children are naughty and mischievous. A bachelor is sitting opposite. The aunt starts telling a moralistic story, but is unable to satisfy the curiosity of the children. The bachelor intervenes and tells a story where the "good" person ends up being unwittingly devoured by a wolf, much to the children's delight. The bachelor is amused with the knowledge that in the future the children will embarrass their guardian by begging to be told "an improper story". ==="The Open Window"=== Framton Nuttel, a nervous man, has come to stay in the country for his health. His sister, who thinks he should socialise while he is there, has given him letters of introduction to families in the neighbourhood who she got to know when she was staying there a few years previously. Framton goes to visit a Mrs Sappleton, and while he is waiting for her to come down, he is entertained by her fifteen-year-old niece. The niece tells him that the French window is kept open, even though it is October, because her aunt's husband and her brothers were killed in a shooting accident three years ago, and Mrs Sappleton believes they will come back one day. When Mrs Sappleton comes down she talks about her husband and brothers, and how they are going to come back from the shooting soon, and Framton, believing she is deranged, tries to distract her by talking about his health. Then, to his horror, Mrs Sappleton points out that her husband and brothers are coming, and he sees them walking towards the window, with their dog. He thinks he is seeing ghosts, and runs away. Mrs Sappleton can't understand why he has run away, and when her husband and brothers come in, she tells them about the odd man who has just left. The niece explains that Framton Nuttel ran away because of the spaniel, he is afraid of dogs since being hunted by a pack of [[Indian pariah dog|pariah dogs]] in India. ==="The Unrest-Cure"=== Saki's recurring hero Clovis Sangrail, a sly young man, overhears the complacent middle-aged Huddle complaining of his own addiction to routine and aversion to change. Huddle's friend makes the wry suggestion of the need for an "unrest-cure" (the opposite of a [[rest cure]]) to be performed, if possible, in the home. Clovis takes it upon himself to "help" the man and his sister by involving them in an invented outrage that will be a "blot on the twentieth century". [[File:Hector Hugh Munro.jpg|thumb|right|]] ==="Esmé"=== In a hunting story with a difference, the Baroness tells Clovis of a hyena she and her friend Constance encountered alone in the countryside, who cannot resist the urge to stop for a snack. The story is a perfect example of Saki's delight in setting societal convention against uncompromising nature. :''The wailing accompaniment was explained. The gypsy child was firmly, and I expect painfully, held in his jaws. The child is shortly devoured. :''Constance shuddered. "Do you think the poor little thing suffered much?" came another of her futile questions.'' :''"The indications were all that way," I said; "on the other hand, of course, it may have been crying from sheer temper. Children sometimes do."'' ==="[[Sredni Vashtar]]"=== The story of a young, sickly child, Conradin. His cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp, "would never... have confessed to herself that she disliked Conradin, though she might have been dimly aware that thwarting him 'for his good' was a duty which she did not find particularly irksome." ==="Tobermory"=== At a country house party one guest, Cornelius Appin, announces to the guests that he has perfected a procedure to teach animals human speech. He demonstrates this on his host's cat, Tobermory. Soon it is clear that animals are permitted to view many private things on the assumption that they will remain silent, such as the host Sir Wilfred's commentary on one guest's intelligence (and the hope that she would buy their car), or the implied sexual activities of another guest, Major Barfield. The guests are angry, especially so when Tobermory runs away to pursue a rival cat, but plans to poison him fail when Tobermory is instead killed by the rival cat. "An archangel ecstatically proclaiming the Millennium, and then finding that it clashed unpardonably with [[Henley Royal Regatta|Henley]] and would have to be indefinitely postponed, could hardly have felt more crestfallen than Cornelius Appin at the reception of his wonderful achievement." Appin is killed shortly thereafter attempting to teach a Dresden zoo's elephant to speak German. ==="The Bull"=== Tom Yorkfield, a farmer, receives a visit from his half-brother Laurence. Tom has no great liking of Laurence, or respect for his profession: he is an artist and painter of animals. Tom shows Laurence his prize bull, and expects him to be impressed. However Laurence is not impressed, and nonchanantly tells Tom that he has sold a painting of a bull (which Tom has seen and did not like) for three hundred pounds. Tom is angry that a mere picture of a bull should be worth more than his real bull; this and Laurence's condescending attitude gives him the urge to strike him. Laurence, running away across the field, is attacked by the bull, but is saved by Tom from serious injury. Tom, looking after Laurence as he recovers, feels no more rancour because he knows that, however valuable Laurence's painting might be, only a real bull like his can attack someone. ==="The East Wing"=== A "re-discovered" short story, previously cited as a play<ref>Perhaps because of its subtitle: "A Tragedy in the Manner of the Discursive Dramatists". It was included only in later printings (1946 onwards) of ''The Complete Short Stories of Saki'' (John Lane The Bodley Head Limited)</ref> and therefore less well known. A house party with its typical social mix of bumbling Major Boventry, the precious Lucien Wattleskeat, the wordy Canon Clore and a breathless hostess, Mrs Gramplain, is beset by a fire in the middle of the night in the east wing of the house. Begged by their hostess to save "my poor darling Eva – Eva of the golden hair," Lucien demurs on the grounds that he has never even met her. It is only on discovering that Eva is not a flesh and blood daughter, but Mrs Gramplain's painting of the daughter that she wished that she had had and which she has faithfully updated with the passing years, that Lucien declares a willingness to forfeit his life to rescue her, since "death in this case is more beautiful," a sentiment endorsed by the Major. As the two men disappear into the blaze, Mrs Gramplain recollects that she "sent Eva to Exeter to be cleaned." Thus the two men have lost their lives for nothing. (Compare with [[Oscar Wilde]]'s novel ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'') ==Books== * 1899: "Dogged" (short story, appeared as written by H. H. M. in ''St. Paul's'', 18 February) * 1900: ''The Rise of the Russian Empire'' (history) * 1902: "The Woman Who Never Should" (political sketch, in ''[[Westminster Gazette]]'', 22 July) * 1902: ''The Not So Stories'' (political sketches, in ''Westminster Annual'') * 1902: ''[[The Westminster Alice]]'' (political sketches, with [[Francis Carruthers Gould|F. Carruthers Gould]]) * 1904: ''Reginald'' (short stories) * 1910: ''Reginald in Russia'' (short stories) * 1911: ''The Chronicles of Clovis'' (short stories) * 1912: ''The Unbearable Bassington'' (novel) * 1913: ''[[When William Came]]'' (novel) * 1914: ''[[Beasts and Super-Beasts]]'' (short stories, including "The Lumber-Room") * 1914: "The East Wing" (short story, in ''Lucas' Annual'' / ''Methuen's Annual'') Posthumous publications: * 1919: ''The Toys of Peace'' (short stories) * 1924: ''The Square Egg and Other Sketches'' (short stories) * 1924: "[[The Watched Pot]]" (play, with Charles Maude) * 1926-1927: ''The Works of Saki'' (8 vols.) * 1930: ''The Complete Short Stories of Saki'' * 1933: ''The Complete Novels and Plays of Saki'' (includes ''The Westminster Alice'') * 1934: ''The Miracle-Merchant'' (in ''One-Act Plays for Stage and Study 8'') * 1950: ''The Best of Saki'' (ed. by [[Graham Greene]]) * 1963: ''The Bodley Head Saki'' * 1981: ''Saki'' (by [[A. J. Langguth]], a biography that includes six uncollected stories) * 1976: ''The Complete Saki'' * 1976: ''Short Stories'' (ed. by [[John Letts (publisher)|John Letts]]) * 1988: ''Saki: The Complete Saki'', [http://www.penguinclassics.com Penguin editions] ISBN 978-0-14-118078-6 * 1995: ''The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope, and Other Stories'' * 2006: ''A Shot in the Dark'' (a compilation of 15 uncollected stories) * 2010: ''Improper Stories'', [[Daunt Books]] (18 short stories) ==Television== A dramatisation of "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" was an episode in the series ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' in 1960. In 1962, a [[Granada Television]] 8-part TV series, produced by [[Philip Mackie]], dramatised several stories of Saki. Actors involved included [[Mark Burns (actor)|Mark Burns]] as Clovis, [[Fenella Fielding]] as Mary Drakmanton, [[Heather Chasen]] as Agnes Huddle, [[Richard Vernon]] as the Major, [[Rosamund Greenwood]] as Veronique and [[Martita Hunt]] as Lady Bastable. The title of the series was ''Saki, the Improper Stories of H. H. Munro'' (a reference to the ending of "The Story Teller"). ''Who Killed Mrs De Ropp?'', a 2007 [[BBC]] dramatisation starring [[Ben Daniels]] and [[Gemma Jones]], showcased three of Saki's short stories, "The Storyteller", "The Lumber Room" and "[[Sredni Vashtar]]". ==Theatre== * ''The Playboy of the Week-End World'' (1977) by [[Emlyn Williams]], adapts 16 of Saki's stories. * ''Wolves at the Window'' (2008) by Toby Davies, adapts 12 of Saki's stories * ''Saki Shorts'' (2003), a musical based on 9 stories by Saki. Music, book and lyrics by John Gould and Dominic McChesney * ''Miracles At Short Notice'' (2011) by James Lark, a musical based on short stories by Saki ==References== {{reflist}} ==Literary criticism and biography== * [http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/march2004/birden.html "Mappining London: Urban Participation in Sakian Satire"] — by Lorene Mae Birden. [[Literary criticism]] focusing on the role of London. * [http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/september2004/birden.html "People Dined Against Each Other: Social Practices in Sakian Satire"] — by Lorene Mae Birden. Literary criticism focusing on social mannerisms. * ''The Satire of Saki'' by George James Spears — A 127 page book encompassing a dissection of satire in Saki's works. Bibliography and overview of all of Saki's works in relation to satire. * [http://haytom.us/bibliography-of-saki-h-h-munro/ Biography by Ethel M. Munro] — A brief biography written by Saki's sister. * ''Saki: A Life of Hector Hugh Munro'' by [[A. J. Langguth]] — Includes six uncollected stories and various photographs. * Pamela M. Pringle [http://www.rvpmp.talktalk.net/saki/saki-main.html 'Wolves by Jamrach': the Elusive Undercurrents in Saki's Short Stories] (unpublished M.Litt. dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 1993). * "An Asp Lurking in An Apple-Charlotte: Animal Violence in Saki's ''The Chronicles of Clovis''" by Joseph S. Salemi — Literary criticism about the recurrence of animals in ''The Chronicles of Clovis'', suggesting that the animals represent the characters' primal instincts and true vicious mannerisms. Available in Student Research Center of EbscoHost Database. * "The Unrest Cure According to Lawrence, Saki, and Lewis" by Christopher Lane, ''Modernism/modernity'' 11.4 (2004): 769-96 * "Saki/Munro: Savage Propensities; or, The Jungle-Boy in the Drawing-room" by Christopher Lane, in ''The Ruling Passion'' ([[Duke University]] Press, 1995), pp.&nbsp;212–28 * {{citation |journal=GLQ : a journal of Lesbian and Gay studies |publisher=Duke University Press |issn=15279375 |oclc=42671765 |first=Simon|last=Stern|volume=1.3|year=1994|pages=275–98|title=Saki's Attitude}} *{{citation | last=Van Leer | first=David | year=1995 | title=The queening of America: gay culture in straight society | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-90336-3 | url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JkbUYCg0jgMC | pages=31–37 }} *{{citation |author=Sandie Byrne, Dr |year=2007 |title=The unbearable Saki : the work of H.H. Munro |publisher=Oxford |isbn=0-19-922605-9 |url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/163312071}} * Christopher Hitchens (June 2008), [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/hitchens-saki Where the Wild Things Are] — Review of ''The Unbearable Saki'' in ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]'' * Brian Gibson (2014), ''Reading Saki: The Fiction of H.H. Munro'', McFarland, ISBN 978-0-786-47949-8 ==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{wikisource author|Saki}} * {{gutenberg author|id=Saki|name=Saki}} * [http://haytom.us Short Stories of Saki] – including novels and those stories published only in newspapers during Saki's lifetime * {{isfdb name}} * {{worldcat id|lccn-n81-79486}} * [http://diffusion.org.uk/?tag=hector-hugh-munro Saki on Diffusion.org.uk] – 36 Short stories from 'Beasts and Super Beasts' * [http://papyrocentricperformativity.wordpress.com/six-uncollected-stories-by-saki/ Six by Saki] &mdash; six uncollected stories included as an appendix to [[A.J. Langguth]]'s biography of Saki {{Alice|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control|PND=118641239|LCCN=n/81/79486|VIAF=7396805|SELIBR=194968}} {{Persondata |NAME=Munro, Hector Hugh |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Saki |SHORT DESCRIPTION=writer |DATE OF BIRTH=18 December 1870 |PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Akyab]], [[Burma]] |DATE OF DEATH=14 November 1916 |PLACE OF DEATH=near [[Beaumont-Hamel]], France }} [[Category:1870 births]] [[Category:1916 deaths]] [[Category:Alternate history writers]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:British colonial police officers]] [[Category:British historians]] [[Category:British military personnel killed in World War I]] [[Category:British satirists]] [[Category:British short story writers]] [[Category:English horror writers]] [[Category:Gay writers]] [[Category:LGBT writers from England]] [[Category:People educated at Bedford School]] [[Category:People from Sittwe]] [[Category:People of the Victorian era]] [[Category:People of the Edwardian era]] [[Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers]] [[Category:Victorian writers]] [[Category:19th-century British writers]] [[Category:20th-century British novelists]]'