Notes For December 18th, 2024
This Day In Literary History
On December 18th, 1870, the famous English writer Saki was born. He was born Hector Hugh "H.H." Munro in Akyab, Burma, now known as Sittwe, Myanmar. His father was an inspector-general for the Burmese police. Burma was still part of the British Empire at the time.
In 1872, Munro's pregnant mother had gone home to England for a visit. While there, she was charged by a cow, and the shock of it caused her to miscarry. She never recovered and died shortly afterward.
So, Munro's father sent him and his sister Ethel to England, where they were raised by their aunts and grandmother in a strict Victorian household. Munro received his education at Pencarwick School in Exmouth and Bedford Grammar School.
When his father left the Burmese police and retired to England, Munro and his sister traveled with him around Europe, visiting various spas and tourist resorts.
In 1893, Munro followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Indian Imperial Police. He was posted to Burma. Two years later, he had to resign due to poor health. Munro returned to England, where he began a career as a journalist.
He wrote for newspapers such as The Westminster Gazette, The Daily Express, The Bystander, The Morning Post, and The Outlook.
Munro's first book was published in 1900. It was a nonfiction historical study called The Rise of the Russian Empire. For six years, from 1902-08, Munro worked as a foreign correspondent for The Morning Post in the Balkans, Warsaw, Russia, and Paris.
In Russia, he witnessed the infamous Bloody Sunday incident of January 22nd, 1905, where striking workers marched to St. Petersburg, hoping to deliver a petition to the Tzar. Instead, they were met by gunfire from the Tzar's soldiers and massacred.
The organizer of the march, a Russian Orthodox priest named Father Gapon, later revealed himself to be a traitor working for the Tzar's secret police.
By 1908, H.H. Munro gave up his position as a foreign correspondent and settled in London, where he continued his writing career. He took his famous pseudonym, Saki, which had no connection to Japanese culture.
Scholars believe that Munro's use of the name Saki was a tribute to the cup bearer in the famous ancient Persian poetry collection, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Although he had co-written a play, Saki's specialty was the short story, and he became a master of the form. He often satirized life in Edwardian England, but he was best known for his darkly humorous and macabre tales.
Some of his best dark tales were The Storyteller, The Toys Of Peace, and Tobermory. His most famous story was The Open Window, a masterpiece of dark comedy.
The Open Window told the story of Framton Nuttel, a nervous nebbish who has come to visit Mrs. Sappleton, a friend of his sister's. He finds himself left alone with the woman's young niece, Vera.
Vera tells him a horrifying story: three years ago, her aunt's husband and younger brothers had gone out hunting and drowned in a bog. Their bodies were never found, so Mrs. Sappleton has always left the walk-in window open in case they return.
That night, the men do return, ghoulishly covered in mud. A terrified Nuttel grabs his hat and cane and runs out of the house. Vera explains to the very much alive men that Nuttel was most likely frightened by their dog, as he was once chased into a cemetery by a pack of wild dogs and had to spend the night in a freshly dug grave!
In addition to his short story collections, Saki also wrote two novels, The Unbearable Bassington (1912), and When William Came (1913).
When William Came, published before the outbreak of World War I, was a work of "what if" fiction - a chronicle of life in London under German occupation after the armies of Kaiser Wilhelm II (the William of the title) invade Britain and conquer her.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Saki was 43 years old - too old to join the military, but he enlisted anyway. He joined the Royal Fusiliers regiment of the British Army as an ordinary soldier, refusing a commission.
In November of 1916, Saki was shot and killed by a German sniper while standing in a shell crater. His last words were "Put that bloody cigarette out!"
Quote Of The Day
"The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened."
- Saki (H.H. Munro)
Vanguard Video
Today's video features a reading of Saki's classic short story, The Open Window. Enjoy!
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