The Square Egg and other sketches by Saki (1924)

The advent of this last volume of hitherto uncollected works, pulled together by the author's sister, must have been exciting news for devotees of Saki. I wonder whether the advance notices contained the information that not only would it include some of his last short prose pieces, and two short plays, but as well the nearest thing there was to a major work yet to be published, his very fine three-act play The Watched Pot. The short prose pieces are variable in their wit, but always entertaining. The short plays only allow scope for minor elaboration, but still amuse. The real star of these proceedings is the big play. It is set in a Somersetshire country house with a young gentleman at its head who is extremely eligible. However, Trevor is under the thumb of a fabulously domineering mother. Hortensia, likened by Saki to a 'permeating dust-storm', is running the estate in all but name. She is fiercely Victorian, not to be messed with, and has an iron in every fire. She is a huge supporter of Trevor's uncle Ludovic, who lives with them and is interested in getting into parliament. He isn't prepared to venture it under current circumstances, given that Hortensia, as family matriarch, would attempt to control the whole proceeding. His only hope is that Trevor will marry, meaning that his new wife would be installed in the house, relegating Hortensia to the dower house and relative obscurity. The action of the play takes place over a few days' stay by a group of young women, all of whom, in one way or another, would love that position. There is a fine counter-twist at the end, and along the way the wit sparkles as all of these threads of plot wind round and round one another, with strong personalities, hidden enmities and sneaking strategies all attempting to fox and outdo one another. By way of potential casting, one thing is almost certain - Eileen Atkins would make a superb Hortensia, though it would be unfamiliar to see her defeated in the end. Also included in this volume is a long memoir of her brother by Saki's sister Ethel, which is revealing of their shared, rather wrangled history. They were sent to aunts in Barnstaple when their mother died and their father went back to India. These aunts were huge personalities and often at loggerheads - I strongly suspect the elder one of being the model for Hortensia. The tension and lunacy which this vying between them produced, on top of their Victorian bans on certain freedoms, and their truly comic oddness of character, go a long way toward explaining both Saki's depictions of ogres and dominators and his frustration-induced wit in undermining them. This finale of a magnificent career, published 8 years after the demise of its author, firmly attests his genius.