Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #165490 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Ingram
"One of the time bombs of all literature" (V.S. Pritchett). Written in the 1880s and not published until 1903 after Butler's death, the semi-autobiographical story of the Pontifex family savages the bourgeois Victorian family and its values.

From the Publisher
Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards.

From the Back Cover
Reared on piety, repression and emotional blackmail, Ernest Pontifex follows the course prescribed for him towards Holy Orders. Yet rebellion at Cambridge, unwise theology, unwiser financial dealings, and finally prison free him from his parents' tyranny. Left with his health and career ruined, Ernest faces still more trials before fortune and his godfather rescue him from the brink. This savagely funny, iconoclastic odyssey from joyless duty to unbridled liberalism exposes the hypocrisy of nineteenth century family life.

Customer Reviews

Earnest Reviewers
It's a hoot to read the clipped, sullen dismissals of this book by readers from Topeka to Boston. They obviously hate Butler's novel, and for good reason: the mealymouthed, Christian, moneygrubbing Victorian family on which he spits with such accuracy moved west in the course of the twentieth century. It is now only rarely to be found in England; its true home is...Topeka...and Boston...and a thousand other American whited sepulchres. One reviewer whines that this is the "irrelevant" story of "an average middle-class man from an average middle-class family." What an interesting form of "irrelevance"!

In fact, the novel is brilliant and has endured surprisingly well. To see its relevance, all you need do is move its setting 3.000 miles to the West.

Makes Dickens look like fluff
I read this book after reading all the reviews on Amazon not knowing what to expect: Incredibly boring or amazing insightful? I have read many books written in that same time period. I believe this to be the most mature work to come out of England in the late 19th Century(although it was published later). I enjoy Dickens, Hardy, and Eliot very much, but Butler makes their works look like grocery store fiction. I can see how many people might be bored if they were expecting a great story. While the story is excellent, it is more a book about ideas. Butler uses his hero to voice his commentary on Victorian ideals. Most of it is still very relevant today, though. I think it will be most relevant for people that have been exposed to the religious right wing who still hold many Victorian values. I enjoyed the characters and the story was compelling. There are many beautiful passages. It was very funny at times and somewhat sarcastic. The narrator reminded me of Hemmingway born 50 years earlier in England. What impressed me the most was Butler's modern style of writing. Much less wordy than Dickens. Dickens would have taken 800 pages to express the same thoughts. I also felt a real kindred to the main character Ernest. This is ultimately a coming of age book which most people will be able to relate to in one way or another (unless you haven't grown up yet). I would recommend it to all serious readers.

Overturning the power of self deception
Self-deception is falsity in thinking and feeling, in ignoring common sense. It goes beyond mere falsehood in that the deceiver succeeds in convincing himself, not others, of a false reality by subordinating fragments of his own inner voice. He does this because he wishes to take charge of his own destiny without facing unpleasant facts. Parents, according to Samuel Butler, are chiefly responsible for creating the lack confidence that is at the root of self-deception by impressing their own insecurities, prejudices, and false sentiments in the characters of their offspring. Of Butler's dramatis personae, Theobald Pontifex, his wife Christina, and their son Ernest deceive themselves in turn. Overton, Ernest's godfather and the novel's narrator, offers a wry commentary on the disparities between who these characters really are and what they choose to believe about themselves. Each of the three practices his own form of self-deception--the parents irredeemably, the son eventually recovering his common sense at torturous emotional expense. Butler creates in Ernest a character that must recognize his own insincerity and that of others in order to achieve a measure of self-actualization. He does this so effectively that the book grows upon the reader, who grows with the character. As such, this is a must-read for all self deceivers. In short, for us all.