A TALENT TO ANNOY:
Essays, Journalism and Reviews
1929-1968,
edited by Charlotte Mosley

 

Date of First Publication: 1986

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This anthology spans Nancy Mitford’s career and includes her most famous essay, ‘The English Aristocracy’, in which she introduces the ‘U’ and ‘Non-U’ theory of English usage, as well as loving descriptions of France, her dismissal of St Peter’s, Rome, and an account of a visit to Ireland that prompted one reader to comment, ‘Hell would be a more suitable place for you than Ireland.’ A provocative and entertaining collection of articles that remain as fresh, funny and enjoyable as when they were first published.

CRITIQUE QUOTES:

‘As enlivening to read as her novels
and biographies . . . Intelligence, wit and
eloquence are perfectly combined in
this enthralling collection.’
Sunday Times

‘To me Marie Antoinette is one of the most irritating characters in history. She was frivolous without being funny, extravagant without being elegant, her stupidity was monumental; she was one of those people who cannot put a foot right.’ 

‘Elegance in England is of such different stuff from any other country that it is not easy to make foreigners believe in it at all. (As regards the women, that is, English men and small children are universally admitted to be the model of good dressing; our Queen and Princess Margaret set the fashion for the world until they were ten.) It is based on a contempt of the current mode and a limitless self assurance.’