‘The Saint’ by V.S. Pritchett

The Saint by V.S. Pritchett, 1947

The magic trick:

Broad comedy mixed with literary themes

No one is better at testing the good tastes of literary fiction with broad comedy than V.S. Pritchett. “The Saint” is another great example of the way he pushes the absurd laughs right up to the point where you’re about to stop taking any of literary themes seriously only to slam you back into the realm of genuine emotion. It’s a high-wire act for sure.

Here, the entire premise is a big joke. The young narrator is swept up into a religion his uncle commits to so that he can secure a loan for his failing business. And off we go.

And that’s quite a trick on Pritchett’s part.

The selection:

My uncle, with whom I was obliged to stay for long periods of my life, had started a small furniture-making business in the town. He was always in difficulties about money, but he was convinced that in some way God would help him. And this happened. An investor arrived who belonged to a sect called the Church of the Last Purification, of Toronto, Canada. Could we imagine, this man asked, a good an omnipotent God allowing his children to be short of money? We had to admit we could not imagine this. The man paid some capital into my uncle’s business and we were converted.

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