English Satire Author Tom Sharpe Dies

Famously sharp-witted satire novelist Tom Sharpe has died. Sharpe was revered throughout England and beyond as one of the funniest writers going, despite some of his more delicate readers being turned off by his vulgarity and refusal to shy away from hilarious and dirty sex scenes.

Sharpe was best-known for his five part Wilt series, about a literature teacher named Henry Wilt who has been quite beaten down by life. Wilt teaches at a Community College and his efforts are largely ignored by his disinterested students. The series was so popular for its heart and stinging wit that it was picked up and adapted into a 1989 film. After the initial novelWilt, four more were subsequently published: The Wilt Alternative, Wilt on High, Wilt In Nowhere and The Wilt Inheritance. There is also a Wilt Omnibus. He was not a prolific signer, and autographed Tom Sharpe books are relatively scarce.

Wilt also made #5 on our Top 10 Funniest Books According to the British.

Sharpe will also be remembered for his Porterhouse Blue series, adapted for BBC television, and his other novels – over 15 in all – and for his short stories. He died of complications from diabetes. He was 85.