Ernest Bramah Smith

The Mirror of Kong Ho illustrated Ernest Bramah Smith

Ernest Bramah was an English author who wrote popular books in many different genres including humor, detective fiction and science fiction. A lively and amusing collection of letters sent from a highly bemused Chinaman sojourning amongst the English barbarians in the first decade of the 19th century to his revered father back home, with a view to coming to grips with their inferior culture, which he singularly fails to do, resulting in much 'loss of gravity'. These are things such as the motor car and the piano; unknown in China at this time. Satirical novel about present-day England, following the time-tested strategy of showing a familiar world through the eyes of a foreigner, thus affording rich opportunity for lampooning both cultures. In a few words, it is a comic novel about a stereotyped Chinaman in London.