The time: the summer of 1913. The place: House Onderkuhle, an exclusive boarding school for the sons of the aristocracy in eastern Belgium. The old order may be crumbling but at Onderkuhle training for a life of command goes unchallenged. The most important lessons: fencing, riding and, above all, the forms of etiquette - ?the refinements of aristocratic intercourse?. Bo?tius von Orlam?nde distinguishes himself at all of these. He subdues his doubts by undertaking ever more extreme physical tests, climaxing in the breaking-in of the stallion Cyrus. On the night the school burns down, Bo?tius displays cowardice and forfeits his nobility. Immediately recognised as a masterpiece on its first publication in 1928, The Aristocrat dissects the collapse of a world of rigid hierarchy and exposes the murderous perversity of those who persist in living by the old rules.
- ISBN10 1852422629
- ISBN13 9781852422622
- Publish Date 15 October 1994
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 18 July 2007
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Serpent's Tail
- Edition Main
- Format Paperback
- Pages 210
- Language English