Munro, H.H.

The Complete Saki (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

Best of Saki (Picador Books)

Raised in Burma and Britain, Saki was a correspondent for London's Morning Post and a political satirist before he found his true calling as a short story writer. Satirical and macabre, these stories skewer pre-war British society by unleashing their irreverent heroes into its upper-class drawing rooms, where they flounce its dowager Duchesses and irascible aunts.

Beasts and Super-Beasts

"My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel," said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; "in the meantime you must try and put up with me."

So begins "The Open Window" one of Saki's most famous stories. Saki, born Hector Hugh Munroe, wrote about characters with, sometimes, a sadistic cruel streak in them. It was his way of commenting on the people of Edwardian times. In doing so, he has sometimes been considered more macabre than Kipling.

For instance, in "The Open Window", Mr. Nuttel is sent to the country to recuperate from a nervous breakdown. When he meets the young lady of this tale, she tells him a story about how her uncles died. When the uncles arrive at the house, the delicate Mr. Nuttel runs away in horror. In "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" a woman believes that children should learn history by acting them out, but the event she chooses is rather inappropriate for children. "The Storyteller" is about a young man so irritated by obnoxious children on train that he decides to keep them quiet by telling them a story. Unfortunately, the story does not have a happy ending. . . .

The Complete Works of Saki

The Complete Works of Saki

Saki was called the Oscar Wilde of his day, and hailed as a master stylist. Using witty dialogue and macabre humor, he writes of mischievous young men, foolish aunts, and blood-thirsty beasts. His stories are surprisingly modern in their incongruous mixture of humor and horror. The first truly comprehensive edition of Saki's voluminous output. The Complet Works of Saki includes six previously uncollected stories.

Short Stories of Saki

The Chronicles of Clovis

The charming, beloved master of short fiction known as "Saki" was born Hector Hugo Munro in 1870 in Akyab, Myanmar, which was then known as Burma. Hector was the youngest child of the Inspector-General of the Burmese police -- H.H. Munro was a child of the British Empire at its fullest glory. The children were soon sent to live with maiden aunts and their grandmother in Devon. The eccentric aunts and favorite childhood stories, including Robinson Crusoe, Alice in Wonderland, and Johnnykin and the Goblins, proved inspirational for later stories. As an adult, Saki served in the Burmese police, and later, became a London political satirist, and then journalist posted to Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg. As with most of his generation, Saki enlisted in military service at the outbreak of the First World War. Stationed with the Royal Fusiliers, his battalion was sent to France in September, 1915. The Chronicles of Clovis is Saki's third book of short fiction, published in 1911. Influenced by his travels in eastern Europe and Russia, most of the stories feature Clovis Sangrail, a rich young man with a wicked sense of humor. The Chronicles of Clovis contains the classic "Sredni Vashtar," the story of Conradin, a spoiled, sickly ten-year old boy who's not expected to survive long. Brief, sharp, and ironic, as fresh today as the day it was written, "Sredni Vashtar" is Conradin's pet ferret, the most important "god" in an isolated boy's imaginary world of power and vengeance that may, just possibly, be absolutely real. Saki's brilliant talent was cut short by a sniper's bullet on the Western Front in November, 1916.

There are good things which we want to share with the world and good things which we want to keep to ourselves. The secret of our favourite restaurant, to take a case, is guarded jealously from all but a few intimates; the secret, to take a contrary case, of our infallible remedy for seasickness is thrust upon every traveller we meet, even if he be no more than a casual acquaintance about to cross the Serpentine.

The Unbearable Bassington

Francesca Bassington -- mother of The Unbearable Bassington -- was one of those women towards whom Fate appears to have the best intentions and never to carry them into practice. Fate had done her good service in providing her with Henry for a brother, but Francesca could well set the plaguy malice of the destiny that had given her Comus for a son. The boy was one of those untamable young lords of misrule . . . he was irresponsible and ungrateful -- the focus of his corner of British society. And what could be done with him. . . ? Send him off to the colonies, was what.

Short Stories of Saki

Humor Horror and the Supernatural 22 Stories By Saki

Just what the title says 22 great stories by "SAKI" pen name for H. H. Munroe who is a MASTER of the short story.