''Cards Of Identity'' is a novel by

Nigel Dennis Nigel Forbes Dennis (16 January 1912 – 19 July 1989) was an English writer, critic, playwright and magazine editor. Life Born at his grandfather's house in Surrey, England, Dennis was the son of Lt.-Col. Michael Frederic Beauchamp Dennis, DS ...

, first published in 1955 by

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld a ...

in the UK and

Vanguard Press The Vanguard Press (1926–1988) was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array o ...

in the US. A satire on psychology, identity theory and class prejudice, the novel is centred on the Identity Club, a group of men who call themselves psychologists and meet once a year to present case histories promoting their chosen theory of identity. The case histories are in fact fictional representations of a character in line with their theoretical biases, rather than analyses of real patients. Surrounding this plot is the story of the local townspeople, who are brainwashed into being servants for the Identity Club. The book culminates with the performance of a pastiche

Shakespearian William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play, ''The Prince of Antioch''. The novel was highly praised when it first came out. The reviewer for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' called it "one of the funniest, most intelligent and far-reaching pieces of satire".

Hilary Corke Hilary Topham Corke (12 July 1921 – 3 September 2001) was an English writer, composer and mineralogist. Corke was born in Malvern, Worcestershire. He served in the Royal Artillery during World War II. His poems appeared in ''Poetry Now'' (1 ...

, writing in ''The Listener'' wrote that "It is the cleverest novel, and the most intellectually formidable, that I have read for many years. It is also one of the funniest."

W.H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

wrote: "I have read no novel published in the last fifteen years with greater pleasure and admiration."Wystan Hugh Auden, ''Prose and Travel Books in Prose and Verse: Prose, 1949-1955''. Edited by

Edward Mendelson __NOTOC__ Edward Mendelson (born March 15, 1946) is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He is the literary executor of the Estate of W. H. Auden and the auth ...

. Princeton.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

, 1996 (p.528) 3230397609715

References

1955 British novels Vanguard Press books Weidenfeld & Nicolson books {{1950s-novel-stub