A panoramic novel that stretches from 1912 to 1967 No Laughing Matter is perhaps Angus Wilson's most autobiographical novel. The novel chronicles the end of the bourgeois way of life as seen through the lives of the six Matthews children and their dysfuntional middle-class family. Their parents - Billy Pop and the Countess - are objects of ridicule to their children who vow never to make their mistakes. Quentin, the eldest, is a socialist who adores women. His fervent views, however, become distilled over the years until he transforms into a cynical TV pundit. Gladys, plump and amenable, is unlucky in love and eventually falls for the charms of a crook. Rupert, the handsome actor, has a successful career until he fails to adapt to the changing theatre. Margaret is a brilliant and highly acclaimed novelist but she becomes bitter as her twin Sukey sinks into domestic bliss, while Marcus, the baby of the family, believes that his career is his life. An ambitious and enriching novel No Laughing Matter is an extraordinary work in its depictions of complex family relationships, where it is just as easy to hate as to love and where everyone struggles to be an individual.
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About the Author
One of Britain's most distinguished novelists Sir Angus Wilson was born in 1913. Educated at Westminster and Merton College, Oxford he joined the British Museum as a cataloguer before being called for service in 1941. His literary career began with a collection of short-stories published in 1949. These were followed by other short-story collections, novels and plays. Co-founder with Malcolm Bradbury of the MA programme in creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Wilson was appointed professor in 1967. Chair of many literary panels, including the Booker prize, and campaigner for homosexual equality he was knighted in 1980. He died in 1991.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
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By Judy Smith "judylynnsbooks" (jamestown, ky United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: No Laughing Matter (Hardcover)
A family saga of the Matthews family. We meet the six Matthews children in London in 1912, living with their shabby-genteel, high spirited parents on the fringes of Bohemia; and we are thrown at once into the intense love-hate relationships of a highly charged family situation. Billy Pop, the father is a down-at-heels writer and his wife "Countess" a frustrated actress full of whims, great personal charm, and maddening inconsistencies. The children dream their separate dreams and play mocking games about their elder's absurd pretentions. We follow this family for fifty years thru changing history and the children's own jobs and lives.
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