ImoReads… ‘The Diary of a Nobody’ (1872) by George & Weedon Grossmith

“I never was so immensely tickled by anything I had ever said before. I actually woke up twice during the night, and laughed till the bed shook.”

I came across a lovely edition of The Diary of a Nobody in a local charity shop and I’m very thankful that I did. It is one of the greats in the canon of British comic novels. 

The novel is written as the diary of ordinary middle-class Londoner, Charles Pooter. Working as a clerk, he is earnestly chugging through life trying to realise his social aspirations and jumping on any opportunity to be important (attempts which are always derailed by embarrassing mishaps). Along the way we meet his wife, his son, his close friends (Mssrs. Cummings and Going!) and get an amusing and relatable look into ordinary life in the late Victorian era. 

The humour comes from Pooter’s sincere lack of self-awareness. He is always self-congratulatory when making what he believes are great jokes that nobody else actually finds funny; he considers himself to be a man of consequence which makes his somewhat delusional write-up of his standard suburban life all the more amusing. Despite him being gauche and snobbish he is also decent and relatable which keeps the satire in good faith and is why the character has endured in popularity for over a century.  

The Diary of a Nobody remains an accurate mirror of timeless human impulses, such as the desire to feel seen and respected and feeling hard done by when minor inconveniences beset your life on a regular basis. For example, Pooter is constantly being undermined by wily tradespeople or tripping over the boot scraper. His bright idea to paint everything in enamel red, leading to an inevitable ‘bloodbath’ situation is a highlight, as well as being so keen to show he can waltz at the Lord Mayor’s party that he slips and topples to the floor alongside his wife. 

When reading it, most people can recognise elements of ‘Pooterism’ in themselves, even if they wouldn’t admit it. The brothers Grossmith prudently take aim at the litany of diaries of ‘somebodies’ that proliferated the British reading market during the period. For them, it was high time a nobody had their day in court; as Pooter says himself, “why should I not publish my diary?” The illustrations are a delightful addition, bringing even more to the misadventures of our humdrum hero. 

The Diary of a Nobody is a book that you could come back to time and time again. Guaranteed to make you smile wryly and perhaps look inwards, it is well worth the read. 

Happy reading, 

Imo x