Wigs on the Green

 

Wigs On the Green / Nancy Mitford
NY: Popular Library, 1976, c1935
500 p.

This little combination paperback was one I found in a thrift store a while ago. I decided to try out Wigs On The Green, a novel that satirizes the British Union of Fascists and throws up Nancy's sister Unity (a passionate Nazi sympathizer). I'm not really sure what to say about this, except that it's not all funny or entertaining to read about a group, the "Jack Shirts", who are a violent far-right group organized locally by rich girl Eugenia Malmain. It's very disturbingly current. 

Eugenia is clearly unhinged. Not sure that Mitford's family appreciated the portrait; in fact, after Unity tried to kill herself, Nancy didn't allow this novel to be republished. Along with Eugenia and her right wing maniacs, though, the story follows Jasper, a hanger on who has gone on a visit with his newly flush friend Noel. They're staying in an inn, and two society girls on the lam from a wedding show up to stay there as well. The jilting bride ends up with a local yokel, and the other is an old flame of Jasper's. The local beauty (married) is excited by the appearance of all these city people, and begins an affair of sorts with Nick -- she's under the misapprehension that he is a disguised European royal. 

The book concludes with a pageant on the grounds of Eugenia's family estate, which results in a melee between Jack Shirts and local Pacifists. The story is a mess with so many storylines, eccentric characters, and the queasy Nazi theme. I really can't figure out exactly what she's trying to do here, other than the typical pairing off and flippant characterizations of Londoners vs country people. She's mocking the British Fascist movement, and her family's involvement, but as we've seen in recent years, just mocking them doesn't do much. I had more sympathy for the Pacifists in the story who took them on. It's interesting but I don't get along with Nancy Mitford too well, and this novel didn't help me warm to her. Perhaps I'll try another someday. This one appealed because of the political aspects, and it wasn't terrible but just wasn't clear on its message or meaning, for me.