Fry, Stephen

(British, 1957– )

Fry is a formidably clever writer, comedian, and actor. His favoured performing style plays elaborate variations on English mannerisms. The Liar (1991), his first novel, describes a young man's emotional journey through school, university, and after. One scene, describing a prep school cricket match, is a set piece in the tradition of mainstream comic fiction. The Liar is also outrageous and surreal, especially in those sections in which the hero finds employment as a rent boy in Piccadilly. In Making History (1996) the central character discovers that he can alter history to eliminate Hitler—only to see an even worse persecution of the Jews unfold.

P. G. Wodehouse, Simon Raven  NC