As Berry and I Were Saying
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Literature |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Founder | Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer) |
| Products | Fictionalized memoirs |
As Berry and I Were Saying represents the initial installment of fictionalized memoirs by English writer Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), released in 1952. This work features his well-known 'Berry' ensemble—Berry, Daphne, Boy, and Jill. A subsequent volume, B-Berry and I Look Back, was published in 1958.
Contents
In a prefatory note, the author emphasizes that the factual elements are entirely accurate, affirming he has recounted "nothing but the truth." He explains that the book serves as his personal memoirs narrated through the voices of Berry and Boy within a fictional framework, designed to be more captivating than conventional memoirs.
Critical reception
According to biographer AJ Smithers, this work should not be regarded as an autobiography but rather as a collage of Edwardian-era memories from a viewpoint spanning upper-middle to lower-upper class society. It incorporates genuine and subtly disguised individuals, merging Mercer's real-life experiences with those of his fictional character Boy Pleydell.
These memoirs have been described as critiques of contemporary changes, offering strongly subjective perspectives that idealize the past in contrast to the post-war era, despite assertions of factual accuracy.