Book Review: Fussell on Class

> this was another one of the sections where I had trouble figuring out where Fussell was and wasn't joking

Judging from how many apparently-jokey parts where I was in a position to judge their accuracy were entirely accurate, I'm inclined to believe he's rarely joking in the book. What he writes may be funny, even intentionally so, but I think only a very little of it, if any, is misleading or substantially exaggerated.

Fussell’s primary objective with this book is neither to inform or entertain, but to tease the readers about their class and attendant insecurities. Teasing well of course requires more accuracy than simple satire because the readers have to recognize enough of themselves to feel targeted.

The teasing was also true of Mmm-mmiss Mmitford's "Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy": excessive worry about U vs. non-U is decidedly non-U... (compare Orwell's [middle class] notion of "Crimestop")