The Square Egg and Other Sketches

Posted on by

(first published 1924)

Saki – Hector Hugh Munro ( 1870-1916)
Language: English

Eight amusing short pieces by Hector Hugh Munro (pen name Saki) who died in the First World War, collected and published posthumously in 1924.
The eponymous first story although humorous includes some indications of the horror of trench warfare. Though Munro was over the age of conscription he volunteered to fight. Rothay Reynolds in an appreciation of Munro written for an earlier posthumous collection quoted the officer in command of the 22nd Royal Fusiliers (Saki’s regiment):

“Poor Saki! What an admiration we all had for him, I always quoted him as one of the heroes of the war. I saw daily the appalling discomforts he so cheerfully endured. He flatly refused to take a commission or in any way to allow me to try to make him more comfortable. General Vaughan told him that a brain like his was wasted as a private soldier. He just smiled. He was absolutely splendid. What courage! The men simply loved him.”
(Summary by Tim Bulkeley)

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

Total running time: 1:06:26 – Read in English by Tim Bulkeley

[download all sections]
1 – The Square Egg: a badger’s eye view of the mud war in the trenches – 14:24
2 – Birds of the Western Front – 9:27
3 – The Gala Programme: an unrecorded episode in Roman history – 17:56
4 – The Infernal Parliament – 9:15
5 – The Achievement of the Cat – 6:02
6 – The Old Town of Pskoff – 8:13
7 – Clovis on the Alleged Romance of Business – 3:26
8 – The Comments of Moung Ka – 7:39

Prooflistening was done by Piotr Nater.
Meta-Coordination was done by Hokuspokus.

Catalogued 22. May 2014