Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Zuleika Dobson

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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.