The dinner party (short story)

short story

The dinner party

The dinner party is a short story written by  Edward Verrai Lucas

Biography of Edward Verrai Lucas

 Edward Verrai Lucas was born in 1868 and died in 1938. He was brought up at Brigton and he attended as many as eleven schools. At the age of sixteen he was appointed an apprentice to a book seller. Later, however, be studied at the University College, London. He is an essayist of remarkable charm. 
He worked on the staff of various papers and at one time he was an assistant editor of the famous Punch. He will be best remembered for his work on Charles Lamb, the famous essayist of the nineteenth century . Some of Lamb’s qualities of the nineteenth century seem to have been born again in his biographer published the works and letter of Charies and Marry Lamb (1903-33). 
He was also a great anthologist and wrote two pleasant anthologies. The ‘Open Road’ (1899) and the’ Friendly Town’ (1905). He also wrote dozens of novels, travel books, and a series of comic skits like "The Dinner Pary" which is among the best of his discursive entertainments, a blend of the novel and essay are. ‘Over Benerton ‘s’ (1908) and Listner’s lure’ (1911). 

The dinner party (short story)

The Dinner Party is a comic skit. A skit is a light piece of satire and it is comic because the incongruity of the situation makes us laugh. This story brings out the comic aspects of Mrs. Wynne, the grandmamma. She talks of her interest in literature, arid particularly of Dickins and Thackeray in a manner that makes her amusing and droll . This is an obsession with her. 
She is not a humorous character but a comic one.. She is snobbish, opinionated, and boring. She does not care for others and keeps on blowing her own trumpet. The story thus becomes a comic skit on the relationship between the old and the young as well as on some of die views expressed in it. 
This is an account of a dinner party which is arranged at Mr. Wynne’s place. Naomi the chief hostess and the guests present are Mr. Dabney, a Radical editor and Mr. Lionel, a country cricketer. Naomi’s grand-mamma old Mrs. Wynne is also present at the party. Mrs. Wynne is a typical character and goes on talking and in talking. On knowing that Mr. Danbey is a writer, she heaves ar-.sigh of relief that she would have a nice company. 
She starts talking tall and tells all the people present that she had personal contacts with Diskens and Thackeray, the famous writers, of that time Mr. Dabney is a great speaker but she does not allow him to speak. She has superficial knowledge about Dickens and Thackeray, and does not talk about their works and their literary value. 
But tells that her father used to read the works of Dickens aloud to her. She regrets that there was no reading aloud now. Grand mamma also tells Mr. Dabney that she had met Dickens in Manchester in the sixties. They were staying in the same hotel and they had met on the breakfast table. 
At that time Dickens paid a generous tip to the waiter, which was called by her husband as douceur ( ) She appears to have been deeply impressed by his eyes and quick ways but then suddenly stops as she forgets something important about Dickens. Perhaps she didn’t know any further about him. She then tells that she met Thackeray in London some years ago at a social gathering at the Royal Society’s premises. According to her he was great physically.
 He was a very tall man with a broad and kindly face and was wearing gold spectacles. He was also a very courteous gentleman. He allowed the lady and her husband to board the cab that he also wanted. He very courteously said, "There will be another one for me directly." Mr. Dabney was getting bored with her talk on Dickens and Thackeray. Then the topic changed to marriage and problems connected with it. Mr. Dabney is of the point of view that every woman at heart is a mother, but every man is at heart a bachelor.
 Grand mamma disagrees with him and says that when she was a girl, there was no such tiling as the unhappy marriage. But the married couples lack that mutual understanding now. She again starts talking about Dickens telling the company that she knew Dickens and Tnackeray personally. 
Her son realised that the guests are getting awfully bored. He to save them tells her that she would have the dish of strawberries. She takes it and starts talking about the fruits. At this point Mr. Lionel asked her if she had ever met Dickens and Thackery. Before she could reply, Naomi asked her to lead the guests to the drawing room. And thus the guest are saved from her boring talks.