''Wilt'' is a

comedic novel A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary ...

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his '' Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted for television. Life ...

, first published by

Secker and Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

in 1976. Later editions were published by

Pan Books Pan Books is a publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books began as an independent publisher, es ...

, and Overlook TP. The novel was a bestseller. Its success led to the author writing several sequels. The descriptions of teaching in the novel are drawn from Sharpe's own experience as a lecturer at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology.

Plot introduction

Henry Wilt is a demoralized and professionally under-rated assistant lecturer who teaches literature to uninterested construction apprentices at a community college in East Anglia. Years of henpecking and harassment by his physically powerful but emotionally immature wife Eva leave him with dreams of killing her in various gruesome ways. But a string of unfortunate events (including one involving an inflatable plastic female doll) start Henry on a farcical journey. Along the way he finds humiliation and chaos, which ultimately lead him to discover his own strengths and some level of dignity. All the while he is pursued by the tenacious police inspector Flint, whose plodding skills of detection and deduction interpret Wilt's often bizarre actions as heinous crimes.

Characters

* Henry Wilt * Eva Wilt * Inspector Flint * Sergeant Yates * Sally Pringsheim * Gaskell Pringsheim * Mr. Morris, Head of Liberal Studies * Peter Braintree, lecturer in English * Dr. Board * Dr. Mayfield * Reverend St. John Froude

Adaptations

* In 1989 the novel was adapted for the film '' Wilt'' (titled ''The Misadventures of Mr. Wilt'' in North America). * The book was released in two

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

formats: abridged by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

Audio Books and read by

Andrew Sachs Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Sp ...

(), and unabridged by ISIS Audio Books and read by Nigel Graham ().

Sequels

Tom Sharpe wrote several sequels and additional works featuring Henry Wilt: * ''The Wilt Alternative'' (1979) * ''Wilt on High'' (1984) * ''Wilt Omnibus'' (1996 collection of the first three ''Wilt'' novels) * ''Wilt in Nowhere'' (2004) * ''The Wilt Inheritance'' (2010)

References

{{Tom Sharpe Navbox 1976 British novels British comedy novels British novels adapted into films Novels by Tom Sharpe Secker & Warburg books