The Polyglots
The Polyglots by William Gerhardie, published by Faber & Faber, Limited in August 2008, is a main edition of this notable work, comprising 336 pages in English. First published in 1925, this novel is recognized for its exploration of an eccentric Belgian family residing in the Far East during the tumultuous period following World War I and the Russian Revolution. The narrative is presented through the perspective of Captain Georges Hamlet Alexander Diabologh, a young English relative who visits them on a military mission, offering a unique lens on their peculiar lives.
Readers will encounter a richly populated world filled with bizarre characters, including depressives, obsessives, and hypochondriacs, as Gerhardie intertwines humor and tragedy throughout the story. The novel delves into themes related to language and identity, reflecting on the complexities of human behavior in a post-war context. With its blend of the absurd and the serious, The Polyglots invites readers to engage with a narrative that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, showcasing Gerhardie’s distinctive literary style.
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‘William Gerhardie is one of our immortals. He is our Gogol’s Overcoat. We all came out of him.’ Olivia Manning
‘He is a comic writer of genius … but his art is profoundly serious.’ C.P. Snow
First published in 1925, this is perhaps the most acclaimed of William Gerhardie’s novels and was celebrated by Anthony Powell as ‘a classic’. Like his first novel, Futility, The Polyglots draws largely on personal experience. It is the story of an eccentric Belgian family living in the Far East in the uncertain years after World War I and the Russian Revolution. The tale is recounted by their dryly conceited young English relative, Captain Georges Hamlet Alexander Diabologh, who comes to stay with them during a military mission. Teeming with bizarre characters – depressives, obsessives, paranoiacs, hypochondriacs, and sex maniacs – Gerhardie paints a brilliantly absurd world where the comic and the tragic are profoundly and irrevocably entwined.
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