Episode 15: 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki

 


Herbert Hugh Munro's mother was killed by a cow. Not as uncommon a demise as you might think (currently deaths-by-cow average around four a year), but surely an unusual and ironical one. It's possible that Munro a.k.a. Saki's penchant for writing cynical, cutting, occasionally macabre short stories stemmed from this early tragedy (and Sredni Vashtar is by no means the only story of his to pit the brutality of nature against civilised, effete humanity; one even includes a bull attack). But, almost certainly, an austere childhood - domineered, as he was, by a pair of overbearing maiden aunt guardians - manifests itself in his work.

In Sredni Vashtar, one of Saki's most famous stories, young Conradin (liked an unusual and evocative name, did Saki) is, like the author, coddled and constricted by a puritanical aunt (Mrs de Ropp) who doesn't really like him. Poorly from an unspecified illness, and predicted an untimely death, Conradin's escape is through his imagination - and the beast he keeps in the shed and worships as a god.

Brief to the point of being terse, and with - ahem - biting wit, Sredni Vashtar is also a sly meditation on the nature and purpose of religion.

I hope you enjoy this recording of the story. I have conducted a (very small) survey of other readings online and believe I may be the first to set Conradin's Sredni Vashtar hymn to a melody. Consider this, then, the first episode of the podcast to feature an original showtune.

Yours worshipfully


Jasper

 

Further reading:

A Summary and Analysis of Sredni Vashtar by Dr Oliver Tearle, Loughborough University

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About the episode

"Sredni Vashtar" was first published in The Chronicles of Clovis (1911, John Lane). It was written by H.H. Munro (a.k.a. Saki).

Theme music: 

The Black Waltz by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Incidental music:

Sredni Vashtar's Hymn words by Saki, music by Jasper L'Estrange

Descent by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Dhaka by Kevin MacLeod
https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3646-dhaka
https://filmmusic.io/standard-license  

Sound effect attributions: 

https://freesound.org/people/mshahen/sounds/185449/*

https://freesound.org/people/arnaud%20coutancier/sounds/270843/*

*All used with the following licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

All other sound effects sourced at Freesound.org

The recording was created using Audacity and BandLab. Podcast hosted by Anchor.

COMING SOON: 

A special EnCrypted episode - "An Edwardian EVIL DEAD II"

ONE PAST MIDNIGHT: "The Mystery of the Semi-Detached" by E. Nesbit

"Negotium Perambulans" by E.F. Benson

...and much more...

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