A title to conjure with. A title that has conquered the world. Simple titles are so often the best. Eponymous or definitive. War and Peace. Crime and Punishment. Pride and Prejudice. One wonders if the book would have garnered quite the fame it has, if it weren’t for the perfection of the title. It’s a slight anecdotal tale. The fascinating aspect of the book is the window it casts on Victorian city life; the sense of stress that was already present, the need to escape. The book’s success tied to a contemporary fantasy of getting away and escaping for a bit, embracing a quieter rhythm, something which modernity had already consumed. There’s a certain ingeniousness to the way in which the narration meanders like a river on a plain, seemingly in no hurry to get to its destination; and one can understand how the narrator’s jovial tone has beguiled generations, whilst at the same time realising why this was Jerome K Jerome’s only real success, albeit a success that has bestowed a minimal immortality.
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