Meaning of the jokes of a character in the novel: The Napoleon Of Notting Hill

[Mathias Bueno]

Can someone explain to me if there´s any meaning at all in the jokes below made by a character in the novel "The Napoleon of Notting Hill, written by G.K. Chesterton.

Pardon me if this seems stupid, I´m not an native english speaker.

Here are the jokes:

"In a little square garden of yellow roses, beside the sea," said Auberon Quin, "there was a Nonconformist minister who had never been to Wimbledon. His family did not understand his sorrow or the strange look in his eyes. But one day they repented their neglect, for they heard that a body had been found on the shore, battered, but wearing patent leather boots. As it happened, it turned out not to be the minister at all. But in the dead man's pocket there was a return ticket to Maidstone."

"Dr. Polycarp was, as you all know, an unusually sallow bimetallist. 'There,' people of wide experience would say, 'There goes the sallowest bimetallist in Cheshire.' Once this was said so that he overheard it: it was said by an actuary, under a sunset of mauve and grey. Polycarp turned upon him. 'Sallow!' he cried fiercely, 'sallow! Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes.' It was said that no actuary ever made game of Dr. Polycarp again."

"In a hollow of the grey-green hills of rainy Ireland, lived an old, old woman, whose uncle was always Cambridge at the Boat Race. But in her grey-green hollows, she knew nothing of this: she didn't know that there was a Boat Race. Also she did not know that she[Pg 51] had an uncle. She had heard of nobody at all, except of George the First, of whom she had heard (I know not why), and in whose historical memory she put her simple trust. And by and by in God's good time, it was discovered that this uncle of hers was not really her uncle, and they came and told her so. She smiled through her tears, and said only, 'Virtue is its own reward.'"

[free]

Maybe you can find something useful in the link http://nonsenselit.wordpress.com/g-k...n-humour-1938/

[Mathias Bueno]

I appreciatte your comment, but I see now that I didn't first expressed my question in the right terms.

What I really want know is if someone finds these jokes humoured, that is to say, if these are good jokes or bad jokes, or just non-sense jokes.

I suspect the lack of English culture background that I have is not allowing me to fully interpret the jokes, even though I have a strong suggestion they are just non-sense jokes.


But thanks anyway

[kev67]

Can someone explain to me if there´s any meaning at all in the jokes below made by a character in the novel "The Napoleon of Notting Hill, written by G.K. Chesterton.

Pardon me if this seems stupid, I´m not an native english speaker.

Here are the jokes:

"In a little square garden of yellow roses, beside the sea," said Auberon Quin, "there was a Nonconformist minister who had never been to Wimbledon. His family did not understand his sorrow or the strange look in his eyes. But one day they repented their neglect, for they heard that a body had been found on the shore, battered, but wearing patent leather boots. As it happened, it turned out not to be the minister at all. But in the dead man's pocket there was a return ticket to Maidstone."

"Dr. Polycarp was, as you all know, an unusually sallow bimetallist. 'There,' people of wide experience would say, 'There goes the sallowest bimetallist in Cheshire.' Once this was said so that he overheard it: it was said by an actuary, under a sunset of mauve and grey. Polycarp turned upon him. 'Sallow!' he cried fiercely, 'sallow! Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes.' It was said that no actuary ever made game of Dr. Polycarp again."

"In a hollow of the grey-green hills of rainy Ireland, lived an old, old woman, whose uncle was always Cambridge at the Boat Race. But in her grey-green hollows, she knew nothing of this: she didn't know that there was a Boat Race. Also she did not know that she[Pg 51] had an uncle. She had heard of nobody at all, except of George the First, of whom she had heard (I know not why), and in whose historical memory she put her simple trust. And by and by in God's good time, it was discovered that this uncle of hers was not really her uncle, and they came and told her so. She smiled through her tears, and said only, 'Virtue is its own reward.'"

Pity, this would have been the first thread in the G.K.Chesteron\Napoleon of Nottinghill subforum if it had been posted there.

The second joke reminds me a bit of P.G. Wodehouse's style. Wikipedia says Napolean was written in 1904, while Wodehouse first book was published in 1902. Otherwise, I can't help you.

[kev67]

I don't think they are very funny jokes. They are absurd jokes. There is a bit of gentle humour perhaps.

[AuntShecky]

If they were supposed to be funny, I didn't laugh. That is to say, I didn't "get" them. Then again, I'm a dense American, and like all Americans, generally literal-minded. Wimbledon is a place name, I know, but all I know of it is the big tennis tournament played there.

[luhsun]

If you go through chapter 3, Lambert was reported to conclude that the jokes were all "bosh". And Auberon himself wore patent leather boots. Tangential, circumlocutory writing- there is a method to this 'nonsense'. Christians from Wimbledon started the nonconformist church. The major of Maidstone was the one who pronounced the death sentence on King Charles I. Auberon offered the kingdom in yhe end of the chapter. A sense of wispy connection, with no firm connection ever be made. Browning explained it better:

..Help me to hold it! First...
O traced it. Hold it fast! ...
Just when I seemed about to learn!
Where is the thread now? Off again! ...

The author played on our mind's automatic effort to try to make some sense out of things all jumbled up.. and i do admire that conscious ability to write what people with schizophrenia went through in their looseness of association.

[mona amon]

I too read the chapter, and am seriously considering reading the whole book. Seems like good stuff, and less than 200 pages. I think the point is that none of Auberon Quin's companions get the jokes either. I agree with Kev that it is absurdist humour, and with Lushun that it evades the grasp as you try to catch it. Better to just go with it than analyze too much.