The Miseries of Human Life [Hardcover]

James Beresford (Author), Michelle Lovric (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1997

First published in 1806, this hilarious study of the follies and foibles of humankind relates the miseries of human life--such as being compelled by a deaf person, in a large and silent company, to repeat some very inane remark three or four times over, at the highest pitch of your voice. 20,000 first printing."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312154259
• ISBN-13: 978-0312154257
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,678,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Victorian irritations still apply to modern life., December 22, 1999

By 

David J. Means (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Miseries of Human Life (Hardcover)

This book was very interesting in that, although it was written nearly two hundred years ago, many of the miseries of living that are listed still occur. For example (from the chapter Miseries of the Table): "The moment in which you discover that you have taken a mouthful of fat, by mistake for a turnip." Or "Finding a human hair in your mouth, which, as you slowly draw it forth, seems to lengthen, ad infinitum." There are chapters on the miseries of Travelling, Social Life, Reading and Writing, and Fashionable Life. Readers who are aficionados of Victorian authors such as Dickens, Austen, Bulwer-Lytton, and Sir Walter Scott will appreciate the chapters on miseries of the Country, the Town, and Watering Places. In fact, many of the individual miseries reminded me of scenes from "The Pickwick Papers", such as "Sitting down alone in a large party upon a sofa which makes an equivocal noise."

This edition is a condensation of the 1807 two-volume expansion of the initial 1806 single volume. The original format was a series of conversations between Mr. Samuel Sensitive and Mr. Timothy Testy wherein they catalog, on a weekly basis, all the injuries, insults, and disappointments which have occurred since their last meeting. Ms. Lovric chose to edit out the conversation surrounding the miseries so they would stand out to the modern reader. While I appreciate having the nuggets extracted for me, I would like to enjoy for myself "...the grace and wit of the language, incongruously framing the vulgar and comical situations described, which is the great success of the original book...", as Ms. Lovric describes in her Editor's Note.

I have references to Beresford's original work in another tome in my personal library, and it indicates that Ms. Lovric wielded her blue pencil rather freely to be able to compress two volumes into sixty-five pages of a pocket-sized book. However, for those of us who cannot afford to purchase the originals, this will substitute.

I would sum up the work as the Cliff Notes version of an author who writes the sardonic observations of Mark Twain in the language of Charles Dickens.

(There is also a miniature ball and chain attached to the volume to act as a bookmark, which usage the object is singularly unfit for. This could be entered in the book itself under the chapter on "The Miseries of Reading and Writing" as "A book with a novelty cover or attachment, which proves to be more irritating than amusing.")

5.0 out of 5 stars superb, May 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miseries of Human Life (Hardcover)

a lot of books of this time are stuffy and boring. but this is great. some of the miseries are out of date, but many are still with us. anyone who wants a good laff should read it.