Angus Wilson, No Laughing Matter

Marina MacKay (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1967

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

In this bizarrely distorted family saga, we see the six Matthews siblings grow to old age, unable to break the patterns they have carved out for their characters in childhood. We meet them first as youngsters, enjoying a day out that “gave to that volatile and edged and edgy family a union of happy carefree intimacy that it had scarcely known before and was never to know again.” The psychologies of the family's elders are already mapped out in Chapter 1 when we are given privileged insight into their daydreams, inspired by a cinema reel of the Wild West journey to Eldorado: genteel Granny Matthews imagines Eldorado as Cromer, her son, Will, envisages financial escape from “Lloyd Georgery”, his servant, Hetty Stoker, imagines herself in acts of absurdity and heroism, Aunt Mouse…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

568 words

Citation: MacKay, Marina. "No Laughing Matter". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3318, accessed 25 April 2024.]

Save this article