Tense: past absurd

Sir Max Beerbohm, English author and caricaturist, was born on this day in 1872. A pair of his caricatures is shown here. The self-portraits "The Theft" depicts him stealing a book from the library in 1894; "The Restitution" shows him returning that book in 1920.

Beerbohm wrote:

"There is always something rather absurd about the past."