The Diary of a Nobody

“Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see, because I do not happen to be a ‘Somebody’–why my diary should not be interesting.” So wrote the anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter, who hascome to be seen as the epitome of English suburban life. His diary chronicles encounters with difficult tradesmen, the delights of home improvements, small parties, minor embarrassments, and problems with his troublesome son. The suburban world he inhabits is hilariously and painfully familiar inits small-mindedness and its essential decency. Wonderfully illustrated with Grossmith’s line drawings, this very amusing Victorian comedy created in Charles Pooter a cultual icon and English archetype. Both celebration and critique, Diary of a Nobody has often been imitated, but neverduplicated.