Mixing such seemingly incongruous elements as social satire, near-slapstick, and obsession with death, A Winnowing,
first published in 1910, is the first of Robert Hugh Benson's
"mainstream" novels. An undeservedly overlooked work today, the novel
flays Edwardian society in terms that bring to mind the comedy of P. G.
Wodehouse and the black humor of Evelyn Waugh. Benson's novel contrasts
the secular dogma that only the material world is of value with the
belief that death has meaning. (ISBN 978-1-60210-005-3, 224 pp.,
$20.00.)
None Other Gods from 1911 may be the author's least appreciated effort. Compared to Benson's more sensational works such as Lord of the World and Come Rack! Come Rope!, this novel reflects gentler, if more profound satire. None Other Gods
relates the story of Frank Guiseley, a young man who drops out of
college and tries to force God to instruct him personally on what God
wants him to do. People of all faiths can appreciate the growing
frustration and bafflement Frank experiences until he finally stops
trying to make God listen to him, and starts listening to God. None Other Gods
takes a look at our tendency to absolve ourselves of responsibility
and expectation that some higher authority, be it God or the State, to
take over and run our lives for us. (ISBN 978-1-60210-006-0, 312 pp.,
$20.00.)
This third of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, The Coward,
first published in 1912, may have been the most shocking to the upper
class sensibilities of Benson's day. A young man is faced with
challenges and manages to fail at every step. He becomes convinced he is
an irredeemable coward — and only then begins to find courage. In a
damning indictment of close-minded Edwardian society, a supreme act of
courage on the young man's part is mistaken for yet one more craven act.
The Coward takes on the soul-destroying tendency to adhere unthinkingly to social conventions. (ISBN 978-1-60210-007-7, 312 pp., $20.00.)
The fourth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, An Average Man is a far from average production. First published in 1913 and only appearing since in a limited edition in 1945, An Average Man
may well be Benson's finest achievement, as well as his most subtle
and mature work. It rips to shreds the assumptions on which Edwardian
upper class society believed civilization itself was built. Worldly
success destroys one "average man," while it presents another, afflicted
with seemingly endless and crushing defeats, with the opportunity of
practicing virtue of a heroic stature. An Average Man dissects
the idea that full participation in the common good is only for an
elite, promoting the revolutionary concept that life is for everyone.
(ISBN 978-1-60210-008-4, 340 pp., $20.00)
The fifth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, Initiation
from 1914 is a complex work. It is a study of a man's redemption, or
initiation into his full humanity, through pain. The novel explores the
different types of pain with which people are afflicted — spiritual,
psychological, and physical — none of it deserved, yet all of it leading
to greater self-awareness and understanding of what it means to be
human. Despite the grimness of the theme, the novel is both entertaining
and profound. (ISBN 978-1-60210-009-1, 360 pp, $22.00)
The sixth and final of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, Loneliness?,
published posthumously in 1915, examines the life of a woman who
sacrifices everything to be accepted by people who can see her only in
terms of her singing ability and the roles she plays on the stage. They
abandon her when she can no longer fit into their preconceived ideas. Loneliness?
may be Benson's least known, yet one of his most insightful — and
entertaining — novels. It highlights the tendency to judge people for
what they can do for us, rather than their value as human beings. (ISBN
978-1-60210-010-7, 298 pp., $20.00)
