The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a novel first published in 1957 by English writer Evelyn Waugh. Strong parallels may be drawn between events in the novel overtaking the eponymous protagonist, Gilbert Pinfold, and episodes in the author's own life. Waugh was advised to write the book by the then head of the psychiatric department at St Bartholomew's Hospital after Waugh suffered hallucinations as a consequence of prolonged overconsumption of a mix of phenobarbitone and alcohol. Waugh later admitted that 'Mr Pinfold’s experiences were almost exactly my own', referring to this period in his life as 'my late lunacy'.

The novel was published in different versions for British and American consumption, particularly with regard to a number of racial slurs articulated by the hallucinatory voices which were excised from the US edition.

Gilbert Pinfold is a middle-aged Catholic novelist teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. In an attempt to cure his nerves Pinfold dosed himself liberally with bromide, chloral and Creme de Menthe. Pinfold books a passage on the SS Caliban, assuming it would be a nice break, however his crisis deepens and he slips into madness.