The Diary of a Nobody

This comic novel by brothers George and Weedon Grossmith remains as entertaining and relevant today as the day it was first published. When it first appeared as a Punch magazine serial in 1888-89, The Diary of a Nobody became a minor sensation for its quirkiness and wit. George Grossmith was already an accomplished musical entertainer, having contributed to Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas during the 1870s and 1880s, while Weedon was a notable actor and playwright. Combining their talents into this book, the result is an astute and amusing social satire with plentiful relevance even today. Much of The Diary of a Nobody's humour is derived from the protagonist's unwarranted sense of self-importance. Charles Pooter commonly affirms his sense of worthiness the text, but in actuality undergoes a series of small humiliations in social life, all the while striving for goals which had become common tropes of the lower-middle classes in English society.