The Cynic's Rules of Conduct
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- Under 100
- Pages
- 74
About this book
Good manners become a source of mischief in Chester Field's collection of comic rules. Arranged as short pieces of advice, the book moves through dinner parties, weddings, clubs, family visits and money matters. A hostess receives her guests while her husband earns the cost of entertaining them, and a guest room doubles as storage for unwanted furniture. Each rule borrows the confident tone of an etiquette manual, then turns toward vanity, expense or convenience.
The humor depends on the gap between public respectability and private motives. Relatives, social climbers, employers and newly married couples all receive pointed attention, with frequent jokes about courtship and household power. Some advice reflects dated assumptions about women and servants. Readers interested in social satire can find brisk wordplay and a view of the manners, status signals and financial anxieties that these jokes take for granted.
About the author
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Book facts
- Author
- Chester Field
- Reading time
- About 10 minutes
- Pages
- 74
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Satire
- Formats
- PDF, EPUB, Read online