Abstract

On the Sport of Gentlemen

The article presents information on the book "The Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man," by Siegfried Sassoon. From Siegfried Sassoon one naturally anticipates a certain amount of bitterness. It is impossible to imagine him treating the life of the country gentleman before the war in any fashion other than satiric, and if one approaches his "Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man" with this natural prejudgment of its intention one is certain to read certain things between the lines. But the satire, or rather criticism, which is undoubtedly intended is wholly latent and the book might be read in all innocence by any young man brought up in the traditions of its hero. The title quite literally describes the contents and if the motto "This happy breed of men, this little world," may be taken as mildly ironic its mildness is no more conspicuous than that of the Memoirs themselves.