The Unspeakable Skipton (Prion Humour Classics) [Hardcover]

Pamela Hansford Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002 | Series: Prion Humour Classics

Daniel Skipton is a Pioneer in Art. He’s also a rogue who hasn’t done an honest day’s work in his life. Instead, he bullies support out of aging relatives he’s never met and harangues his publisher for advances on non-existent projects. The world owes Skipton a living, but it doesn’t want to pay up. Outraged by life and choked with anger, our self-proclaimed literary genius lives by his wits in the Belgian city of Bruges. Along with a pack of disreputable allies—among them, Wouvermans the “antiques dealer” and Mimi the “performance artist”—he swindles a group of naïve English tourists into unwittingly supporting his meager lifestyle. As Ruth Rendell makes clear in her introduction, The Unspeakable Skipton is a wickedly funny sketch of the artist at his worst.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"* "Skipton is a superb comic creation." The New Statesman. "The best lighthanded comic writing we have had for some time." The Guardian.

From the Publisher

Daniel Skipton is a Pioneer in Art. He’s also a rogue who hasn’t done an honest day’s work in his life. Instead, he bullies support out of aging relatives he’s never met and harangues his publisher for advances on non–existent projects. The world owes Skipton a living, but it doesn’t want to pay up. Outraged by life and choked with anger, our self–proclaimed literary genius lives by his wits in the Belgian city of Bruges. Along with a pack of disreputable allies—among them, Wouvermans the “antiques dealer” and Mimi the “performance artist”—he swindles a group of naïve English tourists into unwittingly supporting his meager lifestyle. As Ruth Rendell makes clear in her introduction, The Unspeakable Skipton is a wickedly funny sketch of the artist at his worst.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Prion (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853754714
• ISBN-13: 978-1853754715
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,670,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars funny (if you have a sense of humor), August 12, 2002

By 

paul graham (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unspeakable Skipton (Prion Humour Classics) (Hardcover)

I'm halfway through this book. It's hilarious. Very
vivid. I've never read anything quite like it. The
fact that grumpy idealogues are denouncing it here is
a sign of how wickedly funny it is. (Grumpy idealogues
are oblivious to funny, but they have a good nose for
wickedness.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining if very light weight, March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Unspeakable Skipton (Hardcover)

I can understand why this book is not particularly popular; it is certainly not the first book one should read of Johnson. But it does have its moments, and could reasonably compare to humorous genre fiction and light romance. But if you can get into it, it's not so bad, and I for one was not offended by it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Satire, July 17, 2005

By 

James Skrydlak "mostlymozart" (Pella, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The unspeakable Skipton (Hardcover)

Daniel Skipton, a British writer of limited talent and possibly even more limited success, pretends to himself and the world that he is a great writer. He is, in fact, a liar, a chiseler, a boor, and a swindler, as his conduct over the week or so covered in this novel demonstrates.

Skipton is ruined in the end, of course. I do think that the novel had been better had any of the major characters been at all sympathetic; as it is, only Lotte, Skipton's landlady's daughter, who knits socks for him and brings his meals to his room is at all appealing.