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A review by muggsyspaniel
England, Their England by A.G. Macdonell
3.0
The story in a nutshell is this, Scottish Donald Cameron meets Welsh Evan Davies in a pill box during World War One and discuss the apparently unfathomable characteristics of the English. Cameron says he'd like to write a book about the English someday and Davies mentions he's a publisher in London and they should get together after the war. Cameron later suffers from shell shock and eventually is sent home to his fathers farm in Scotland. When his father dies his will stipulates that Donald must leave Scotland to come into his money and not return until he's lived a little. So Donald heads to London with some letters of introduction to get him started in a literary career. He meets lots of people, eventually bumps in to Davies again and is tasked with writing the book they had discussed so many years before.
So far so good, the writing in these early chapters is pleasant and reminded me of nothing so much as one of those gently amusing films that Britain pumped out with seeming ease in the late 40's and early 50's, in my head I'd even cast Bill Travers as Donald (if you've seen Geordie you'll know what I mean). From here on though the book heads into that typical upper class, weekend party milieu characteristic of humorous books of the period. Upper class people with amusing names say things are ghastly and that's about your lot as far as studying the English people. Towards the end of the book Cameron meets some country labourers in a pub and listens to their conversation but as far as studying a cross section of society goes he's aiming strictly highbrow.
As to the famous cricket match chapter, it's funny, I laughed out loud once but as to why it is so very famous that the books reputation hangs on it I don't quite understand.
I was hopeful that this book would be a brilliantly amusing dissection of the English character and what it is to be English, at least the English Character and what it was to be English in 1933 when the book was first published. Unfortunately this suffers a similar fate to many humorous novels in that it has dated horribly in some parts. To be fair the writing is actually very good and the last chapter in particular is excellent and closer to what I had hoped the book might be throughout.
Bearing in mind that the writing is very good I consider this a missed opportunity. Maybe I was expecting too much a book that is billed as a humorous novel but there we are.
Definitely a case of 2 and a half stars rather than 2 or 3 but I'll plump for 3 because it was entirely inoffensive and made me chuckle occasionally.
So far so good, the writing in these early chapters is pleasant and reminded me of nothing so much as one of those gently amusing films that Britain pumped out with seeming ease in the late 40's and early 50's, in my head I'd even cast Bill Travers as Donald (if you've seen Geordie you'll know what I mean). From here on though the book heads into that typical upper class, weekend party milieu characteristic of humorous books of the period. Upper class people with amusing names say things are ghastly and that's about your lot as far as studying the English people. Towards the end of the book Cameron meets some country labourers in a pub and listens to their conversation but as far as studying a cross section of society goes he's aiming strictly highbrow.
As to the famous cricket match chapter, it's funny, I laughed out loud once but as to why it is so very famous that the books reputation hangs on it I don't quite understand.
I was hopeful that this book would be a brilliantly amusing dissection of the English character and what it is to be English, at least the English Character and what it was to be English in 1933 when the book was first published. Unfortunately this suffers a similar fate to many humorous novels in that it has dated horribly in some parts. To be fair the writing is actually very good and the last chapter in particular is excellent and closer to what I had hoped the book might be throughout.
Bearing in mind that the writing is very good I consider this a missed opportunity. Maybe I was expecting too much a book that is billed as a humorous novel but there we are.
Definitely a case of 2 and a half stars rather than 2 or 3 but I'll plump for 3 because it was entirely inoffensive and made me chuckle occasionally.