A Camper Shade of Roar: Ronald Firbank’s Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli and Ivy Compton-Burnett’s Pastors and Masters

Abstract

This paper looks at some of the manifestations of camp in two very different novels from the 1920s: Ronald Firbank’s Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli and Ivy Compton-Burnett’s Pastors and Masters. Emphasis is placed on those elements which derive from camp’s detachment, theatricalization and fixation on the surface. Two specific aspects are examined in both novels: their use of dialogue (particularly its discontinuity) and their use of static, tableau-like plots. The final considerations address the relationship between camp and irony as seen in camp’s rejection of moral judgement.