The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication

by John Steinbeck

Paperback, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

813.52

Genres

General Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Classics (1994), Paperback, 192 pages

Description

In "The Short Reign of Pippin IV," John Steinbeck turns the French Revolution upside down as amateur astronomer Pippin Hristal is drafted to rule the unruly French. Steinbeck creates around the infamous Pippin the most hilarious royal court ever: Pippins wife, Queen Marie, who might have taken her place at the bar of a very good restaurant; his uncle, a man of dubious virtue; his glamour-struck daughter and her beau, the son of the so-called egg king of Petaluma, California; and a motley crew of courtiers and politicians, guards and gardeners.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jennyo

No one I've talked to has ever heard of this Steinbeck short novel, but my friend Steve read it recently and knew I'd like it, so he sent me his copy. He was right. I loved it. Those of you who only know Steinbeck from Of Mice and Men or The Grapes of Wrath really owe it to yourselves to try this

book or Cannery Row or Sweet Thursday just to get a taste of his lighter side. The cover copy on this one says, "John Steinbeck's Hilarious and Affectionate Spoof on French Politics, Texas Millionaires, Teen-Age Girl Novelists, Sex, and Other Human Frailties." It's as good a summation as any I could give you.

There's a scene in this book that made me think of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Remember when they had the Judean People's Front, the Popular People's Front, the People's Front of Judea, etc.? Well, there's one in here where they have the Christian Communists, the Christian Christians, the Christian Atheists, etc. Made me laugh out loud.

And any book that contains the sentence, "Luxembourg mobilized," is worth reading.

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LibraryThing member lauriebrown54

In this short piece of political satire, the French government decides to bring the monarchy back. They settle on Pippin Heristal, an amateur astronomer who lives on the income from some vineyards. As a constitutional monarch, there isn’t really much useful he can do, and he finds himself obliged

to live uncomfortably in a palace, and put up with an infinite number of hangers-on, all who have inherited positions that suddenly are providing them with money. He just wishes to go back to his old life. His practical wife, Marie, figures that running a country should be like running a household, and her best friend, a nun who was formerly a show girl, gives sage advice. As does an old man who lives by a lake, who Pippin meets on one of his escapes from the palace, which he manages disguised as a common man, riding a motor scooter. It goes to his feminist, politically active daughter’s head and she instantly turns into a Disney princess.

While written in 1957, a good lot of the satire is still relatable today. People and politics really haven’t changed much. The book pokes fun at America just as much as at France, and it’s a quick, sort of fun read if you’re a Steinbeck fan- although it’s very different from any of his other books. Four stars.

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LibraryThing member gam3

This is one of my favorite of Stenbeck's books. Likely because it is a comedy.

LibraryThing member antiquary

This is the book that made me a royalist when I was young.

LibraryThing member petterw

Unfortunately, this is a somewhat misjudged attempt by a true master writer to master a literary genre he is unfamiliar with. He is trying his hands at comedy and at politcal satire and he doesn't suceed very well with either. That doesn't make The Short Reign of Pippin IV a book to avoid; it has

his moments, at times it is definitely thought-provoking, even funny, but the satire isn't sharp enough, we don't really care one way or the other how this plot develops, and I don't think it worked better when it was published. It is impossible not to like Steinbeck's writing for me, so I am glad I read it, and I am even happier that I read all the other classics of his first.

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LibraryThing member bness2

This is the most unique of all Steinbeck's works, and one of my favorites. It is excellent satire, as long as you have an adequate understanding of French history. It also pokes some good jabs at US politics and social issues.

LibraryThing member JBarringer

The Short Reign of Pippin IV was good. I do wonder how much of it readers would get without a background understanding of politics or political science, cause I know I would not have found some parts as funny before I did my political science degree, but I think most people would still enjoy this

one.

Pippin Heristal, distant descendant of Charlemagne, is placed on the resurected French throne after the country’s politicians give up on making a coherent government themselves. Their new king was not consulted prior to being chosen, and has to figure out how to approach his new role as a puppet king and proxy for the real government that still hopes to control France.

At about 150pgs, this is a good fast read for anyone looking to read something light and fast that is focused on a topic other than romance.

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LibraryThing member BenKline

A quirky political satire by Steinbeck. Its funny reading a lot of reviews saying how this doesn't 'feel like Steinbeck' or 'read like Steinbeck' or similar things, but as I fully read it, it absolutely did. And thinking back over it, there is a lot of his Travels with Charlie in this short little

book; in the writing style, the humor, and the asides.

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LibraryThing member BenKline

book; in the writing style, the humor, and the asides.

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LibraryThing member JBarringer

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