Zuleika Dobson
by Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbom's glittering evil satires refer to unexpected events that occur when a femme fatale briefly falls into the highly privileged, fully masculine space of Judas College in Oxford. A sorcerer by profession, Zuleika Dobson can only love a man who is impervious to his considerable charm: a situation that turns out to be fatal, because a large number of love-victim suitors are driven to suicide by the rejection of the curse. Filled with unforgettable one-lines ("Death cancels all engagements," saying the first sacrifice) and inspired by Beerbom's imagination in Rococo, this lyrical challenge to Edwardian student life at Oxford has, in Forster's words, "beauty beyond the reach of serious literature."
