Beerbohm, (Henry) Max(imilian)

(British, 1872–1956)

A cartoonist, essayist, and critic, the title ‘man of letters’ fits Max Beerbohm perfectly. He first made his name as a member of the ‘decadent’ group surrounding the magazine The Yellow Book, alongside writers like George Egerton and artists such as Aubrey Beardsley and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Zuleika Dobson (1911) is Beerbohm's best-known novel, a whimsical and idealized portrayal of the disruption caused to life at Oxford University during the 1890s by the arrival of a beautiful woman. Seven Men and Two Others (1919) is more typical of Beerbohm's work, a collection of short stories, parodies, and ‘pen portraits’ of recognizable types from his age. In later years he became an entertaining and witty critic and broadcaster, and several collections of his essays, reviews, and caricatures were printed during his lifetime.

Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, Ronald Firbank  WB