Euphues, The Anatomy Of Wit by John Lyly

The main character of "Euphues" is just not a very nice guy. Although his name derives from a Greek word meaning "graceful" or "witty," he begins this story quite full of himself, and a liar to boot. Not to worry, though; he gets his comeuppance good and hard.

Not that there's much in the way of plot here. Euphues is a young Englishman who spent his childhood being spoiled, and the opening of the novel finds him in Italy, ostensibly studying but mostly indulging himself. An older gentleman approaches him and advises him, by the wisdom of his experience, to work on his character traits instead of devoting himself to pleasure. Euphues spends several pages arguing against this advice with various rhetorical flourishes, especially a great deal of parallel structure ("this is true and that is true") – he's altogether so practiced at this kind of thing that shortly after "Euphues" was published, wit of this sort spread all over England under the name "euphuism".

The older gentleman, realizing that Euphues isn't about to listen to good advice, leaves, after which Euphues meets another young man named Philautus, with whom he swears eternal friendship. The two of them are so vociferous in their dedication that you just know their friendship will far apart in no time, and sure enough, when Euphues meets Philautus' fiancee Lucilla, he immediately makes a pass at her. She reciprocates on the spot, but this relationship too lasts only a couple of pages. Euphues, heartbroken, goes back to Philautus with sincere apologies, then returns to England and spends the rest of the book denouncing women and advocating a celibate life of prayer and study.

Plenty of books lack a plot, strictly speaking, but those books need something to compensate – strong character or setting, for example. In "Euphues", on the other hand, we have those rhetorical flourishes mentioned earlier. Even in his rage and heartbreak, Euphues himself speaks so elegantly it's almost musical. This doesn't make him sound at all realistic – even in the 1580s, when this book came out, I doubt people actually talked like that – but of course that's not the point. The point is to be witty, and works like these got so popular that this brand of wit remained popular for hundreds of years, from the 1580s right through World War I. Shakespeare used this kind of speech in his plays even before it spread throughout England.

"Euphues" is quite short, and what with the lack of a plot I personally didn't find it all that fascinating, influential though it was. Nevertheless, it's fun to read, and it doesn't take much time. Enjoy.

Benshlomo says, Make sure you get your nutrients, and then wallow in your dessert.