| Wigs on the Green | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Nancy Mitford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fiction Comic fiction |
| Publication date | 1935 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Wigs on the Green is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1935. A merciless satire of British Fascism, the book is notable for lampooning the political enthusiasms of Mitford's sisters Unity Mitford and Diana Mosley. 2010 saw its first reprint in the United Kingdom and the United States in more than thirty-five years.
Using her sisters' wild fervor for Fascism (and, in Unity's case, Adolf Hitler and Naziism) as fodder for her satire, Nancy Mitford originally constellated her plot around the character of General Jack, leader of the Blackshirts (an obvious double for Diana's lover and future husband Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists) and styled Eugenia Malmain after Unity. Mitford, always fond of cruel teases, was taken aback when Diana took offense to the novel and tried to placate her sister by excising the three chapters that dealt directly with her husband's caricature. Nevertheless, the book created a deep rift between the Fascist-leaning Mitford girls and their writer sister.
When asked to republish Wigs after World War II, Mitford declined, intimating to friend Evelyn Waugh that, after what had transpired, jokes about Nazis could only be in the poorest taste. The book was never republished in her lifetime.