The Diary of a Nobody
The Diary of a Nobody is an English comic novel written by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith, with illustrations by the latter. It originated as an intermittent serial in Punch magazine in 1888–89 and first appeared in book form, with extended text and added illustrations, in 1892. The Diary records the daily events in the lives of a London clerk, his wife Carrie, his son William Lupin, and numerous friends and acquaintances over a period of 15 months. It helped to establish a genre of humorous popular fiction based on lower or lower-middle class aspirations.
About The Diary of a Nobody in brief
The Diary of a Nobody is an English comic novel written by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith, with illustrations by the latter. It originated as an intermittent serial in Punch magazine in 1888–89 and first appeared in book form, with extended text and added illustrations, in 1892. The Diary records the daily events in the lives of a London clerk, Charles Pooter, his wife Carrie, his son William Lupin, and numerous friends and acquaintances over a period of 15 months. It helped to establish a genre of humorous popular fiction based on lower or lower-middle class aspirations, and was the forerunner of numerous fictitious diary novels in the later 20th century. It has been the subject of several stage and screen adaptations, including Ken Russell’s “silent film” treatment of 1964, a four-part TV film scripted by Andrew Davies in 2007, and a widely praised stage version in 2011, in which an all-male cast of three played all the parts. The brothers each pursued successful careers on the stage. George originated nine of the principal comedian roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas over 12 years from 1877 to 1889. Weedon had worked as an artist and illustrator. He continued his career as an actor until 1918, making his name as a character called ‘cowards, cobs and browbeaten small men under the thumb of authority’ The literary scholar Peter Morton, who published an annotated edition of the Diary in 2009, suggests that many of the events depicted in it were drawn from the brothers’ own experiences in the West End theatres.
He wrote several plays, including The Night of the Party, which was his most successful, and from 1894 to 1894 was engaged in the management of two theatres of two London boroughs. He died in 1919 in 1919 and was succeeded by his brother George, who went on to become a well-known comic actor and author. He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery. He later died in 1912 and is buried in Kensal Rise, London, where he lived with his wife and two children. He is buried next to his brother Weedon, who also died in 1913 and was buried at St James’ Park, near London, in what is now the centre of the South Kensal Road Cemetery. The two brothers were fascinated with the stage at an early age. In 1864, at 17 and 10, they hosted a complex programme of musical and dramatic entertainment in their parents’ garden at Haverstock Hill. By 1877 the younger George Grossmith had established himself as a comic piano sketch entertainer in provincial institutes and literary societies. In that year he was seen by Arthur Sullivan and, separately, by W. S. Gilbert, in performances of their one-act comic opera Trial by Jury. Thereafter, Grossmith created the leading comic role in each of Gilbert andSullivan’s long-running comic operas until The Yeomen of the Guard, which closed in 1889.
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This page is based on the article The Diary of a Nobody published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
