The Card

The Card is a short comedic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911. It was later made into a 1952 movie starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. It chronicles the rise of Edward Henry ("Denry") Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley (a fictitious town based on Burslem). This is accomplished through luck, initiative and a fair bit of chutzpah (in slang a card is a ‘character’, an ‘original’; a clever, audacious, person). Denry Machin r... more

The Card is a short comedic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911. It was later made into a 1952 movie starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. It chronicles the rise of Edward Henry ("Denry") Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley (a fictitious town based on Burslem). This is accomplished through luck, initiative and a fair bit of chutzpah (in slang a card is a ‘character’, an ‘original’; a clever, audacious, person). Denry Machin returned, as the slightly more mature "Edward Henry", in Bennett's sequel The Regent (1913) (titled The Old Adam in its first U.S. edition). The novel begins when "Edward Henry Machin first saw the smoke on the 27th May 1867" -- the very day of Bennett's own birth. At age 12, Denry begins his career by altering his grade in a class enough to earn him a scholarship to grammar school. At 16, he leaves school to work for Mr. Duncalf, the town clerk and a solicitor. Duncalf is responsible for organizing an exclusive ball; Denry "invites" himself,... less