THE DIARY OF A NOBODY

The greatness of George and Weedon Grossmith’s masterpiece of comic irony, THE DIARY OF A NOBODY, rests to a large extent on perceptions of class. It purports to be the diary of Charles Pooter, a lower-middle-class individual of the mid-nineteenth century who lives at “The Laurels,” Brickfield Terrace, Holloway. This address alone, simultaneously poignant and stifling, reverberates with blandly devastating irony--a note sustained at perfect pitch throughout the book. Pooter is house-proud, thrifty, scrupulous in duty, alive to social niceties and given to the occasional punning witticism, but the story he tells is not quite the story he believes he’s telling. Frederick Davidson’s impeccable reading is truly inspired, in perfect unity with the Pooteresque view of the world. K.A.P. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 96]