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Paperweight

By Author :

Stephen Fry

Language :

English

1.5 star(s)

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Published by Lifestyle Solutions on September 1, 1992

176 pages

ISBN-10:

0434274089

(

ISBN-13:

9780434274086)

A collection of the many articles that Stephen Fry has written for magazines, newspapers and radio. The volume includes selected wireless essays of Donald Trefusis, the ageing professor of philology brought to life in Fry's novel "The Liar" and the best of Fry's weekly column for the "Telegraph".

Stephen Fry,

Paperweight,

1 Review(s)

Community Reviews

Paro

Apr 28, 2011, 1:42 am

Rated this book

‘Paperweight’ is a weighty book from a weighty man. Stephen Fry is undoubtedly England’s premier wit, and from his pen flow all manner of sketches, skits and other .. More details

‘Paperweight’ is a weighty book from a weighty man. Stephen Fry is undoubtedly England’s premier wit, and from his pen flow all manner of sketches, skits and other absurdities that may be had in this brightly received volume of his works. ‘Paperweight’ contains all kinds of themes, from the English preoccupation with the countryside to the sociopolitical conflicts of the times to the importance of sex. Donald Trefusis, that adorably waffling mind, is littered all over the book in delicious pieces of randomness. And in his own eccentric, effeminate and excellent way, Trefusis has some very solid points to make. The solidity that thus reinforces Fry’s views of life in England cannot be compared to the damply liquid nature of the authorities that Fry tends to defy and gently deride. And Fry has views on everything, from motorcycles to housewives to college potboys. Cuisine features largely in his discourse, as does sex. This book, besides being an obvious tribute to the BBC’s Trefusis, essayed by Fry himself in splendid style, is also a compendium of advice and opinion. Fry, with large-hearted kindness, summarily disposes of the seemingly large issues and forces us to confront our innermost fears of boredom and/or embarrassment. He himself will never be abashed, and he is proudly unapologetic for his stance on British law with regard to homosexuality, the quality of cotton and the difficulties of parking in a metropolis.
Stephen Fry has of course been famous for his non-aggressive but uncompromising position on homosexuality. It can be said that he has become the centre of a cult in Britain that holds coolness and nonconformity to be the same thing, so his liberality is widely embraced. But the truth is, Fry comes from an old enough school of thinking that grew up in the era of the public school, where rampant homosexuality among the boys in the dorm was really nothing much to talk about – everyone knew it was there, but until Fry, people rarely accepted it as something other than perversion. Fry reinforced this stance when he accepted a role in ‘Peter’s Friends’ as the declared homosexual, the eponymous Peter, and also when he essayed the lead role in the film ‘Oscar’, a cinematic effort that managed to fuse Fry’s good natured ribbing of his peers and society with Wilde’s infinitely crueller wit. The movie might not have gained a massive audience and blockbuster appeal, but as with ‘Paperweight’, Fry’s status as Britain’s leading authority on alternate coolness was immediately cemented.
‘Paperweight’ is a pleasure to read, an exercise for both one’s intellect and one’s sense of humour. He brings along the certain placidity of a pleasant college academic, which he is not, to his position as a celebrity under the media spotlight, which he is. He is one of the most diffident writers around, and yet unquestionably one of the wittiest, and really when it comes to sheer funniness of waffling, the man is incomparable.
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About Stephen Fry

Actor, dramatist, and writer Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead, London in 1957. The son of a physici...

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