Zuleika Dobson - Beerbohm, Max

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Résumé :
Zuleika Dobson, full title Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story, is the only novel by Max Beerbohm, a very successful satire of undergraduate life at Oxford published in 1911. It includes the famous line Death cancels all engagements and presents a corrosive view of Edwardian Oxford.Plot summaryZuleika Dobson-though not strictly beautiful-is a devastatingly attractive young woman of the Edwardian era, a true femme fatale, who is a prestidigitator by profession, formerly a governess. Zuleika's current occupation (though, more importantly, perhaps, her enrapturing beauty) has made her something of a small-time celebrity and she manages to gain entrance to the privileged, all-male domain of Oxford University because her grandfather is the Warden of Judas College (based on Merton College, Beerbohm's alma mater). There, she falls in love for the first time in her life with the Duke of Dorset, a snobbish, emotionally detached student who-frustrated with the lack of control over his feelings when he sees her-is forced to admit that she too is his first love, impulsively proposing to her. As she feels that she cannot love anyone unless he is impervious to her charms, however, she rejects all her suitors, doing the same with the astonished Duke. The Duke quickly discovers that Noaks, another Oxford student, also claims to have fallen in love with her, without ever having even interacted with her. Apparently, men immediately fall in love with her upon seeing her. As the first to have his love reciprocated by her (for however brief a time) the Duke decides that he will commit suicide to symbolise his passion for Zuleika and in hopes that he will raise awareness in her of the terrible power of her bewitching allure, as she innocently goes on crushing men's affections.Zuleika is able to interrupt the Duke's first suicide attempt from a river boat, but seems to have a romanticised view of men dying for her, and does not oppose the notion of his suicide altogether. The Duke, instead pledging to kill himself the next day-which Zuleika more or less permits-has dinner that night with his social club where the other members also affirm their love for Zuleika. Upon telling them of his plan to die, the others unexpectedly agree also to commit suicide for Zuleika. This idea soon reaches the minds of all Oxford undergraduates, who inevitably fall in love with Zuleika upon first sight.

Sommaire:
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (August 24, 1872 - May 20, 1956) was an English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist known as Max. He rose to prominence in the 1890s as a dandy and comic. He was the Saturday Review's drama critic from 1898 to 1910, when he moved to Rapallo, Italy. In his senior years, he gained popularity for his occasional radio appearances. Zuleika Dobson, his only novel, was released in 1911 and is among his most well-known works. Many public collections feature his caricatures, which are often created in pen or pencil with muted watercolor tinting. Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (1811-1892) was the youngest of nine children born to Julius Ewald Edward Beerbohm, a Lithuanian-born grain dealer, at 57 Palace Gardens Terrace in London, which is now commemorated with a blue plaque. His mother was Eliza Draper Beerbohm, Julius' late first wife's sister. Beerbohm had four half-siblings, one of them, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, was an established theater actor when Max was a toddler. Other elder half-siblings were author and explorer Julius Beerbohm and author Constance Beerbohm....