satire in zuleika dobson

The author deftly moves from one affectation to another in satirizing the Edwardian Dandy, the Modern Woman and anyone who comes between them.

My favorite bit of satire comes when the Duke decides to take back his promise to die for Zuleika because she refuses to marry him. Her response, to bait him by calling him a coward who's not a man of his word. The Duke's choices........... to live and be found not to be a man of his word, or die and be a man of his word.