The Illustrated Zuleika Dobson [Paperback]

Max Beerbohm (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nota Bene | Publication Date: October 1, 2002

The whimsical tale of a beautiful girl who takes Oxford by storm. Written by Max Beerbohm, it is illustrated with his own sketches, and there is an introduction by Professor N. John Hall.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Perfectly delightful... all style and wit, a pretty fantasy served up in exquisite, ornamented prose... It is a book that would have doubtless pleased even the fussy author himself." -Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"A perfect fantasy." -V. S. Pritchett, New York Review of Books

"The mixture of factual background and fantastic elaboration so characteristic of the text is now balanced visually by parodies." -Alan Bell, Times Literary Supplement

"The pictures add enormously to the pleasure we take in [Beerbohm's] elegantly stylized satire." -New Yorker

"The illustrations are charming, the style is both erudite and lively." -Walter Kendrick, Village Voice

"Graceful, witty, and charming, the illustrations... delight us." -Sam Pickering, Sewanee Review

About the Author

Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) was a leading critic, essayist, and caricaturist. N. John Hall is Distinguished Professor of English, Bronx Community College and the Graduate School, City University of New York. His most recent book is Max Beerbohm: A Kind of Life (see page 44).

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300097328
• ISBN-13: 978-0300097320
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,274,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bizarre and wonderful book, October 30, 2003

By 

jmm38 (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illustrated Zuleika Dobson (Paperback)

Zuleika Dobson must be one of the strangest books ever written. Beerbohm's ornate prose cloaks a bizarre story that, while it starts innocently enough, marches toward its surreal fate with the same determination as the Oxford undergraduates it depicts.

But that isn't to say it isn't a marvelous satire. Beerbohm caricatures immature love by pitting a mysteriously alluring woman, Zuleika, who loves no man foolish enough to love her, against a pretentious nobleman known only as The Duke, who never thought himself capable of loving anyone but himself. Somehow, the author manages to tell their perverse story even as he reveals himself to be the servant of the Greek muse Clio; and the work loses nothing as it spirals into a comic fairy-tale featuring cameos by animated statues, supernatural apparitions--even Beerbohm himself!

This particular edition is (at least as of right now) my favorite. It is wonderfully printed, and the text is peppered with Beerbohm's original illustrations. He never meant to include them in the book, but they seem only fitting in a work that refuses to be categorized as a serious novel, or a typical satire, or a children's fairy-tale. Strongly recommended for serious readers with senses of humor who aren't disturbed by unexpected flights of fancy.