num_pages: 176
description: Sharply observed, wryly comic yet touched with sadness, these eight stories were written between 1969 and 1974. 'A Man of Mystery' charts the tragic downfall of Mr Green, a shoemaker overtaken by commercialization. Other stories range from the hilarious rivalry of a group of competitors in 'The Beauty Contest' to the heartbreaking disintegration of a marriage in 'The Dolly House'. Masterpieces of storytelling, they successfully capture the absurdities and pathos of human behaviour.
language: English
title: A Man of Mystery and Other Stories
titlecomplete: A Man of Mystery and Other Stories (Twentieth Century Classics)
genres: Fiction
ratings_count: 12
publisher: Penguin Classics