46 pages • 1 hour read
George Grossmith, Weedon GrossmithDiary of a Nobody
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1892A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Serialized Victorian Novel
Serialization became a literary staple in Victorian England (1837-1901) after Charles Dickens began publishing his serialized novels, starting with The Pickwick Papers in 1836-37. The practice involved publishing a few chapters of a novel at a time in inexpensive periodicals on a weekly or monthly basis. Many of the 19th century’s most renowned writers published in this format, including William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, and George Eliot. The phenomenon was not limited to England; in America, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in serial format. After serialization, a work was typically published as a single volume or in a three-volume set.
From a literary perspective, the format had both strengths and drawbacks. It gave readers inexpensive access to literature and, as a result, an opportunity to discuss a book with a wide audience. It also allowed a writer to address current events and readers’ responses in a portion of the text, adding to the work’s relevance. At the same time, the writer needed to fit the pacing and action in a portion of the work to its format, often requiring a cliffhanger ending to keep readers coming back for the next installment to discover what happens.
Serialization can be seen as a reflection of Victorian values and culture. The literary genre of realism arose during this time; realist authors strove to present life in all its complexity, often focusing on ordinary characters from the middle and working classes. Realist authors often used detailed descriptions of characters’ impoverished living and working conditions to critique society. Serials stimulated intellectual discussions about the leading issues of the time.
Serials were also a vehicle for satire in works such as Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, published in 1847-48, and The Diary of a Nobody. Social class, manners, and political and cultural issues were all fair game for satirical writers. The serial form allowed the examination of these issues through multiple characters’ perspectives.
Historical Context: The Victorian Middle Class
The Victorian period spanned the years of the long reign of England’s Queen Victoria, 1837-1901. Inspired by their upright queen, Victorians valued virtue, hard work, and self-discipline, all qualities that the Diary’s Charles Pooter possesses. Social class had a rigid hierarchy during the Victorian era. Members of the middle class, like Pooter, aspired to belong to the landed, monied upper class, while working-class people aspired to become middle class. Members of the upper class, meanwhile, were horrified by the idea that those who did not come from landowning and/or aristocratic stock could move into the upper class through success in commerce. The character Murray Posh, whose fortune comes from his family’s famous “one-price hats,” represents such an upstart.
The Victorian middle class spanned a broad spectrum of the population. The Industrial Revolution had started by the beginning of the era. With the rise of industry and overseas trade came a need for workers involved in commerce and finance, including clerks such as Pooter and managers such as his employer, Mr. Perkupp. Such managers, doctors, lawyers, and government officials, belonged to the middle or upper-middle class.
As a humble clerk, Pooter belongs specifically to the lower middle class. He aspires to save enough to climb the social ladder but can barely afford the luxuries of being in “Society,” especially since his friends and acquaintances constantly take advantage of him.
Authorial Context: The Grossmith Brothers
George Grossmith (1847-1912) was a court journalist before he began his acting career. He had numerous leading roles in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operettas. His younger brother, Weedon Grossmith (1854-1919), studied art and exhibited his work in prestigious venues. He also became an actor, once playing opposite Henry Irving, a well-known actor whose work The Diary of a Nobody parodies.
Critics believe that George largely wrote the entries for Punch magazine that became a single volume as The Diary of a Nobody, while Weedon’s main contributions were the illustrations that appeared in both Punch and the novel. However, both were well suited to the task of creating a comic work. George also wrote over 600 comic songs and sketches and an autobiography, A Society Clown (1888). Weedon wrote several other novels and a collection of reminiscences called From Studio to Stage (1913) and was also a playwright.
The brothers’ experience with comic acting is evident in Diary. They excel at humorous entrances, exits, and blunders. After Lupin Pooter, the protagonist’s son, joins an amateur dramatic club called the Holloway Comedians, his fellow actors—especially Frank Mutlar and Mr. Burwin-Fosselton—represent the worst of amateur comedy. Frank does outrageous things such as playing a tune with a knife on his cheek at the dinner table, and Burwin-Fosselton insists on imitating Henry Irving to a point that distracts Pooter. While the Grossmiths enjoyed great success in the field, they had little patience for those who imitated comedic acting without clear talent.
