The Unbearable Bassington

A writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and culture, Munro is considered a master of the short story, and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. Influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, he himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward and P. G. Wodehouse. Francesca Bassington -- mother of The Unbearable Bassington -- was one of those women towards whom Fate appears to have the best intentions and never to carry them into practice. Fate had done her good service in providing her with Henry for a brother, but Francesca could well set the plaguy malice of the destiny that had given her Comus for a son. The boy was one of those untamable young lords of misrule . . . he was irresponsible and ungrateful -- the focus of his corner of British society. And what could be done with him. . . ? Send him off to the colonies, was what.