Book Description
Unlike other Welsh squires, the current scion of the ancient and dignified house of Headlong-ap-Headlong, Harry Headlong, Esquire, had actually suffered certain phenomena, called books, to find their way into his house; and, by dint of lounging over them after dinner, became seized with a violent passion to be thought a philosopher and a man of taste. Accordingly, he invited numerous philosophers and poetasters the a feast; and four of the chosen guests had, from different parts of the metropolis, ensconced themselves in the four corners of the Holyhead mail. And a Very Holy Christmas it was to be, indeed. . . .

Download Description
The place is quite a wilderness, said Squire Headlong: "for, during the latter part of my father's life, while I was finishing my education, he troubled himself about nothing but the cellar, and suffered everything else to go to rack and ruin. A mere wilderness, as you see, even now in December; but in summer a complete nursery of briers, a forest of thistles, a plantation of nettles, without any livestock but goats, that have eaten up all the bark of the trees. Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and four toes remaining: there were many here once.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Headlong Hall was an instant success upon its anonymous first appearance in 1816. Like most of Peacock's novels, it assembles a group of characters - Mr Cranium, Miss Poppyseed, Mr Treacle and others - who, while eating and drinking to abandon, discuss topics which were then of interest to Peacock and his circle of intellectual friends. Some of the figures are thinly-disguised portraits of contemporaries (Mr Escot, for example, is widely thought to be modelled on Shelley); others embody current views of the age, and are held up to scorn. There is a minimum of plot, but much discussion in a unique and lively style, and with burlesque Rabelaisan humour; throughout, Peacock uses the work to parody contemporary thinking in a variety of disparate areas, including utilitarianism, vegetarianism, aesthetics, music, poetry, art criticism, and so on. In the meantime there is dancing and drinking and falling in love. This edition contains an introduction by America's master of science fantasy, RAY BRADBURY, who adds his own special touch to this feast of ideas and language.

SYNOPSIS