A Christmas Garland

On Christmas morning, Keith Tantalus reaches toward the stocking at his bed’s foot—and his sister Eva warns him that one does not “violate the shrine.” To Keith, though, the stocking is a whole cathedral, a herd of elephants, and an irresistible mystery.

In Sir Max Beerbohm’s 1912 collection, Christmas brings not just gifts but a chance to send the grand styles of Edwardian literature hilariously askew. One moment, a brother and sister hover over their stockings in the elaborate, misty manner of Henry James; the next, a policeman’s encounter arrives in clipped, swaggering verse. Across seventeen parodies, Beerbohm turns the season’s familiar excitements into a mischievous game of literary voice and self-importance. For Keith, the question is whether to honor Eva’s solemn rule—or find out what Santa has left. How long can anyone resist a stocking that seems to contain the whole world?

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