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Noel Coward Coll Short Stories
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9 new or used available from $33.53
Average customer review:
Product Description
This one-volume edition contains the complete collection of Coward's twenty short stories, spanning fifty years of his working life. Written with Coward's inimitable poise and wit, the stories variously describe back-stage intrigues, Hollywood champagne breakfasts, suburban romances and gossip round the captain's table. He reveals himself as a consummate prose stylist demonstrating why, for all his success in virtually every other field of entertainment, he returned again and again to the short story.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1331577 in Books
- Published on: 2003-07-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 630 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Noel Coward was born in Teddington, Middlesex, on 16 December 1899. His professional acting career began in 1911 and his writing career in 1918, and in the '50s he became a cabaret entertainer. In later years he lived in Bermuda and Switzerland, where he turned novelist. He was knighted in 1970, and died in Jamaica in 1973.
Customer Reviews
Short stories about life
The twenty stories contained within the 630 pages of this, mostly entertaining, collection were typically about life in, and around, the theater. Some were of a personal nature concerning Noel's philosophy of life: which was something of being an Ockhamist's and he was also anti-altruistic. He seemed influenced in a proginal sense by Saki; a dialectical sense by Wilde; and an antagonistic sense by Waugh. The stories ranged from being very good (Bon Voyage and What Mad Pursuit) to very bad (Traveler's Joy and Stop Me if You've Heard It). The most personal, concerning the purpose of life, was "Nature Study" which was enlightening and Noel gave a very simple definition of his philosophy there. The, perhaps, most personal account of his own life was "A Richer Dust" the meaning of which may only be known by Noel and was not a great story. I give the book as a whole four and a half stars. Some were too schmaltzy, some just ehh?, but half were pretty funny and thorough.
