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Excerpt ​

Excerpt from Enoch Soames: A Memory of the Eighteen-Nineties, by Sir Max Beerbohm

When a book about the literature of the eighteen-nineties was given by
Mr. Holbrook Jackson to the world, I looked eagerly in the index for
Soames, Enoch. It was as I feared: he was not there. But everybody
else was. Many writers whom I had quite forgotten, or remembered but
faintly, lived again for me, they and their work, in Mr. Holbrook
Jackson's pages. The book was as thorough as it was brilliantly
written. And thus the omission found by me was an all the deadlier
record of poor Soames's failure to impress himself on his decade.

I dare say I am the only person who noticed the omission. Soames had
failed so piteously as all that! Nor is there a counterpoise in the
thought that if he had had some measure of success he might have
passed, like those others, out of my mind, to return only at the
historian's beck. It is true that had his gifts, such as they were,
been acknowledged in his lifetime, he would never have made the bargain
I saw him make--that strange bargain whose results have kept him always
in the foreground of my memory. But it is from those very results that
the full piteousness of him glares out.

Not my compassion, however, impels me to write of him. For his sake,
poor fellow, I should be inclined to keep my pen out of the ink. It is
ill to deride the dead. And how can I write about Enoch Soames without
making him ridiculous? Or, rather, how am I to hush up the horrid fact
that he WAS ridiculous? I shall not be able to do that. Yet, sooner
or later, write about him I must. You will see in due course that I
have no option. And I may as well get the thing done now.

Explanation ​

Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from Enoch Soames: A Memory of the Eighteen-Nineties by Max Beerbohm ​

Context of the Work ​

Enoch Soames: A Memory of the Eighteen-Nineties (1916) is a satirical short story by Sir Max Beerbohm, a British essayist, caricaturist, and wit known for his sharp observations of late Victorian and Edwardian literary culture. The story is framed as a mock-memoir, blending fact and fiction to critique the pretensions of the Decadent Movement (a late 19th-century aesthetic movement characterized by artificiality, pessimism, and a fascination with beauty and decay).

The protagonist, Enoch Soames, is a fictional failed poet who embodies the absurdity of artistic vanity. The narrator (a thinly veiled version of Beerbohm himself) recounts Soames’ tragicomic life, culminating in a Faustian bargain—Soames sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for a single mention in a future literary reference book. The excerpt provided comes near the beginning, where the narrator reflects on Soames’ obscurity and the cruelty of literary posterity.

Themes in the Excerpt ​

  1. The Cruelty of Literary Obscurity

    • The narrator searches for Soames in The Eighteen-Nineties (a real book by Holbrook Jackson, published in 1913) and finds him conspicuously absent, while lesser-known writers are remembered.
    • This omission is symbolic of Soames’ complete failure—he was so unremarkable that even historians forgot him.
    • The narrator’s reaction ("It was as I feared") suggests a personal investment in Soames’ legacy, hinting at the later revelation of their strange connection.

  2. The Paradox of Failure and Immortality

    • The narrator muses that if Soames had achieved any success, he might have been forgotten like the others—only to be briefly resurrected by historians.
    • Instead, his total failure makes him uniquely memorable to the narrator, who is bound to him by the supernatural bargain (revealed later in the story).
    • This irony underscores the story’s central question: Is it better to be a forgotten success or a remembered failure?

  3. The Ridiculousness of Artistic Pretension

    • The narrator admits that Soames was ridiculous, but he cannot avoid writing about him because of their inescapable connection.
    • This tension—between pity and mockery—is key to Beerbohm’s satire. Soames is both pathetic and absurd, a man who took himself too seriously in a world that barely noticed him.
    • The line "how can I write about Enoch Soames without making him ridiculous?" suggests that artistic ambition, when unchecked by talent or reality, is inherently comedic.

  4. The Inevitability of Memory and Storytelling

    • The narrator claims he has "no option" but to write about Soames, foreshadowing the supernatural pact that binds them.
    • This introduces the story’s metafictional element: the narrator is compelled by fate (or the Devil) to preserve Soames’ memory, even though doing so exposes his absurdity.

Literary Devices & Stylistic Features ​

  1. Irony & Satire

    • Dramatic Irony: The reader (unlike the narrator at this point) knows that Soames’ absence from history is not just bad luck but the result of his own foolishness (his Faustian bargain).
    • Situational Irony: Soames’ desperation for immortality leads to his eternal ridicule—the opposite of what he wanted.
    • Satire of Decadence: The Decadent Movement prized artificiality and self-importance; Soames is the ultimate Decadent—all pose, no substance.

  2. Tone: Mock-Sympathy & Dark Humor

    • The narrator pretends to pity Soames ("poor fellow") but undermines this with backhanded remarks ("how am I to hush up the horrid fact that he WAS ridiculous?").
    • The detached, wry tone is classic Beerbohm—amused but not cruel, exposing folly without malice.

  3. Foreshadowing

    • The mention of the "strange bargain" hints at the supernatural twist (Soames’ deal with the Devil).
    • The narrator’s claim that he "has no option" suggests external compulsion, later revealed to be part of the bargain’s terms.

  4. Metafiction & Unreliable Narration

    • The story blurs fact and fiction: Holbrook Jackson’s book was real, but Soames is invented.
    • The narrator’s self-aware commentary ("I may as well get the thing done now") makes the reader question how much of this is true—a hallmark of Beerbohm’s playful style.

  5. Symbolism of the Missing Index Entry

    • The absence of Soames’ name symbolizes:
      • Literary erasure (the fate of most writers).
      • The futility of artistic ambition when divorced from real talent.
      • The narrator’s guilt—he is the only one who remembers Soames, and even he does so out of obligation, not admiration.

Significance of the Passage ​

  1. A Critique of Literary Vanity

    • Beerbohm, a satirist of the literary world, uses Soames to mock the self-importance of minor artists who believe they are destined for greatness.
    • The Decadent Movement’s obsession with legacy is exposed as empty posturing.

  2. The Tragicomedy of the Artist

    • Soames is both tragic and comic—his suffering is real, but his delusions make him laughable.
    • This duality reflects Beerbohm’s view that artistic failure is inevitable for most, and the only response is ironic detachment.

  3. The Nature of Memory and History

    • The excerpt questions who gets remembered and why.
    • Soames’ fate suggests that history is arbitrary—some are preserved by chance, others by sheer stubbornness (like the narrator’s forced remembrance).

  4. The Faustian Bargain as Literary Trope

    • Soames’ deal with the Devil parodies the artist’s desire for immortality.
    • Unlike Faust, who seeks knowledge or power, Soames wants a single footnote in a reference book—a pathetically small reward that underscores his mediocrity.

Conclusion: Why This Excerpt Matters ​

This passage sets up the central tension of Enoch Soames: the conflict between obscurity and ridicule, ambition and failure, memory and erasure. Beerbohm’s witty, detached prose makes the story both a sharp satire and a poignant meditation on the fate of artists.

  • For the narrator, Soames is a burden—a man he must remember but cannot respect.
  • For the reader, Soames is a cautionary tale about the dangers of self-delusion in art.
  • For Beerbohm, the story is a vehicle for mocking the literary pretensions of his own era, while also acknowledging the cruelty of time’s judgment.

The excerpt’s power lies in its irony: the more the narrator tries to dignify Soames, the more absurd Soames becomes—and yet, because of the narrator’s supernatural obligation, Soames achieves a kind of immortality, albeit as a figure of fun. This is Beerbohm’s ultimate joke: the only way to be remembered forever is to become a laughingstock.