Enoch Soames by Max Beerbohm
"Enoch Soames" is a satirical short story by Max Beerbohm, set against the backdrop of London's artistic scene in the 1890s. The narrative follows a middle-aged author reflecting on his youthful admiration for the fashionable aestheticism of the time, particularly focusing on the bizarre figure of Enoch Soames. A self-proclaimed poet, Soames is characterized by his pretentious demeanor, boasting about his meager literary achievements while displaying a mix of self-importance and insecurity. Despite his clumsy attempts to integrate into the literary world, he finds himself increasingly marginalized as the narrator begins to gain recognition as a writer.
The story takes a turn when Soames, desperate for validation, makes a Faustian bargain with the devil to glimpse his future literary legacy. After a fleeting moment of hope, he discovers that he is destined for obscurity, with only a mocking mention in the annals of history. Through Soames' tragicomic journey, Beerbohm explores themes of ambition, the quest for recognition, and the ephemeral nature of artistic fame, ultimately presenting a humorous yet poignant critique of the literary pretensions of the era.
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Enoch Soames by Max Beerbohm
First published: 1920
Type of plot: Satire
Time of work: The 1890's and 1997
Locale: London
Principal Characters:
Enoch Soames , a failed writerThe narrator , a well-known writerWill Rothenstein , a painterThe devil
The Story
The narrator, a middle-aged, well-known author, looks back on his introduction to London artistic life as a young man in the 1890's. He remembers the fashionable aesthetes with whom he became acquainted, figures whom he then viewed with uncritical, youthful reverence. He mentions actual places and people, such as the portrait painter Will Rothenstein. In this historical context, the fictional protagonist of the story appears: Enoch Soames. Soames tries to force his company on the preoccupied Rothenstein at a restaurant table where the painter and narrator sit together. The kindly Rothenstein tries to put the intruder down gently but cannot get rid of him; he joins them and monopolizes the subsequent conversation in a boasting, affected way. To the narrator, Soames seems to be a comically ridiculous figure; nevertheless, he has published one book, with another on the way. The narrator, himself an aspiring but as yet unpublished writer, is enormously impressed, despite Soames's ludicrousness.
Soon after this restaurant meeting, the narrator gets a copy of Soames's book. It seems to be drivel, but after all, it has been published. The naïve narrator does not know what to believe. Some of the acknowledged literary giants of the moment seemed earlier to have been writing nonsense, until established critics validated them.
In subsequent meetings between the two men, however, the narrator's judgment about Soames becomes clarified: He is indeed a pretentious fool, with his silly verses about trotting with the devil through a London square, his fondness for absinthe, his habit of lapsing into bad French, and his haughty disdain for all other creative people.
Meanwhile, the narrator is himself beginning to achieve the kind of literary recognition that Soames craves. The latter, in sharp contrast, goes steadily downhill. His first two books have had few sales and almost no critical notice from the press; his third and last volume must be published at his own expense; it sells three copies. Soames's air of bravado and contempt, the narrator now becomes aware, is a mask for deeper feelings of self-doubt and depression: He suffers intensely from the world's neglect of his literary effusions.
Several years have now passed since the beginning of the story, and the narrator has lost track of Soames. He suddenly notices him, sitting shabbily dressed and alone in an unfashionable little restaurant, itself about to fail—the kind of place in which Soames would never have permitted himself to be seen in the earlier, more hopeful, days. The now successful younger man joins Soames and tries to comfort him by suggesting that posterity might yet come to appreciate his efforts. Soames admits that literary fame means so much to him that he would sell his soul for a peek into a library card catalog a hundred years hence, simply to verify that his books have survived.
At this point, a formally dressed gentleman at the next table, overhearing the wish, interrupts them. He is the devil and he will grant Soames's wish. The pact is concluded on the spot; Soames rushes out into the future, leaving the narrator to await his return later the same day for a reunion in the restaurant.
The round trip is, in fact, successfully completed, but, alas, the only mention of Soames in the library of the future is the less than flattering portrait sketched of him in this story. The devil drags Soames down to Hell in payment for his futile look.