Enoch Soames — Max Beerbohm

Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (1872-1956) was an English parodist and caricaturist. His first book, The Works of Max Beerbohm, was published in 1896. Having been interviewed by George Bernard Shaw himself, in 1898 he followed Shaw as drama critic for the Saturday Review, on whose staff he remained until 1910. From 1935 onwards, he was an occasional radio broadcaster, talking about cars and carriages and music halls for the BBC. His wit is shown often enough in his caricatures but his letters contain a carefully blended humour-a gentle admonishing of the excesses of the day-whilst remaining firmly tongue in cheek. Beerbohm's best known works are: Yet Again (1909), A Christmas Garland (1912), a parody of literary styles, and Seven Men (1919), which includes Enoch Soames, the tale of a poet who makes a deal with the devil to find out how posterity will remember him. In 1911 he wrote Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, his only novel. He also wrote And Even Now (1920).