Upper class novels

[alastair]

Can anyone recomend a good novel about the upper class or aristocracy. I thought The Line of Beauty was a good modern novel about the upper class. Did anyone write a novel about the sloane rangers ?

[prendrelemick]

Julian Fellowes wrote something called "Snobs" that might fit the bill. He is very upperclass himself so it should be informed and informative. (I haven't read it but remember a review.)

[Pecksie]

The first book that comes to mind is 'Brideshead revisited', by Evelyn Waugh, which is a very good, rich and moving novel.

On a lighter note, try 'The pursuit of love' and 'Love in a cold climate' by Nancy Mitford.

Also, 'The night climbers' by Ivo Stourton was an interesting effort by a first-time novelist, I thought.

[Lokasenna]

With Evelyn Waugh, I'd also suggest A Handful of Dust, which is a masterful deconstruction of nobility.

Also, on a more lighthearted note, the Jeeves & Wooster books by P. G. Wodehouse are great classics of comedy!

[Idril]

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy is a wonderful look into the upper class in Victorian England, with all it's foibles and pitfalls. The characters are incredibly real and relate-able in a way that I find uncommon in many Victorian novels.

[WICKES]

Anything by Evelyn Waugh

Also PG Wodehouse and Aldous Huxley's early novels...oh and Powell's 'Dance to the Music of Time'

[baudolino]

Some classics: Tolstoy's "War and Peace", Proust.

[Phaedra's Love]

Wow, when I saw the title I was going to write The Line of Beauty (one of my favourites)! Have you read The Swimming-Pool Library, it's also by Alan Hollinghurst; perhaps less mention of aristocracy but it's definitely there. And the protagonist is fantastically cocky, handsome and charming.

[Katy North]

Great Gabsty supporter here!

Also Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen has glimmers of the upper class in it with Mr. Darcy.

If you like poetry, I can think of nothing finer than "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning.

[sixsmith]

Edward St Aubyn's trilogy 'Some Hope' is worth a look. Imagine a darker, crueler Evelyn Waugh.

[dfloyd]

and it does give an impression of wealth .... especially the wealth of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. but it was writtrn before the Great Depression when American sock were riding high. The depression generally dates from Oct of 1929 with the stock market crash.

[kelby_lake]

In the mood to read a novel about the upper middle class? Get a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 'The Great Gatsby (http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby)'. The story is set against the back drop of The Great Depression and is about wealthy, educated people. They have lots of leisure time to gossip and criticize each other and are little concerned about people who don’t belong to their social milieu. Politics and spiritual matters and prohibition do not come within the circumference of their lives. The two main locales, West Egg and East Egg are clearly distinguished by class. East Egg represents the `old money’, while West Egg stands for the nouveau riche. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is able to attain a certain amount of wealth, but he cannot hide his lack of education and knowledge of social behavior. You might enjoy reading some excellent insights on shmoop.

It's actually set before the Depression (the boom only affected a small amount of people; the poor stayed poor), although the 40's film of the novel sets it in 1929, when the stock market crashed.

I second Gatsby and Brideshead (reading Line of Beauty, there are definitely echoes of those two novels).