Black Mischief

I clicked the boxes on the new, dumbed down Amazon review writing page, but I must say it doesn't admit any nuance. Five stars, they say means "I Love It", which is not what I mean at all when I give something five stars. So why did I now? Because I'm reading Evelyn Waugh's Letters, and I'm at the part where a Roman Catholic paper publishes diatribes against this novel. All I can say is they don't get it. This novel, like all of his novels (or all I'm familiar with) is satire, and not meant to be advice for good living, correct doctrine, or any sort of propaganda. You can't have read one novel by Waugh and think that's what he writes. However, I can imagine that the paper could not do him any greater service than lambast his novel, since, then as now, readers would flock to it were it forbidden.I found it endlessly witty, and if asked what it satirizes, I'd say it's the idea of British Imperialism, of which many earnest novels were being written in his day. At the same time he wrote fiction, he was writing travel books. I've just finished "Labels" (the British title), which is one, but there was another, called "Remote People" which he wrote around the same time, and which I've not read. but which, I think, provides some of the regional background or local color for this novel. Also, there are bits in the Letters I recognize as turning up in this novel.There is a corollary to the incredibly idiotic post-modern attempt to read everything backwards so as to deconstruct it in the fact that when Waugh's most famous novel, "Brideshead Revisited" was published, it was dismissed as religious propaganda, which shows how virulently anti-Catholic England in many ways still was. No one reads it that way now. It's been made into a mini-series, a movie, and reprinted in numerous ediitons. A great many readers have apparently got through it and lived to tell the tale. And so with this novel. Waugh himself thought it a rattling, ripping story, and laughed as he wrote it, as may also readers who take it in the same generous, if satiric spirit.

It would be so easy to knock this novel, originally published in 1932, as a product of its time that holds little appeal for modern readers. And, truthfully, there is a lot that is very un-PC here. Taking place in an east-African island nation between two revolutions, it traces the quick rise and fall of the Emperor Seth, an African of some Western education. Many would find his depiction of the natives reason enough to condemn the novel. However, Waugh's brutal treatment of everyone--British, French, Indians, Arabs, and more--makes it ridiculous to hold anything against him. He is an equal opportunity satirist.In fact, this is a very funny novel that lets loose with some barbs that can still find their way home in the twenty-first century. His portrayal of the useless English envoy and his family is right on target as an example of the reward-over-substance political appointment, played alongside the classic scheming French envoy. Even more humorous is the portrayal of Dame Mildred and Miss Tin as the "PETA"-types among the cannibals. But the novel really moves with Basil Seal, whose self-serving attempts to help Emperor Seth Westernize Azania seem like the right thing to do but lead to disaster after disaster. Seal is great as the truly intelligent guy who can't help but do stupid things.And these are just a few examples on top of a host of funny minor characters--a gone-native English general with his native wife, native royalty, ridiculous prelates and abbots, and an Indian who always manages to survive and make a profit. They deal with such issues as daily executions, making the single train line run, family planning among the natives, and managing to survive the revolts and revolutions. If taken in the right spirit, this is an enjoyable Waugh classic.

Be forewarned, this is a highly vicious but often outrageously funny satirical novel that skewers both white-Westerners and black-Africans. No one, regardless of sex, race, color, creed, national origin, or social status, is left fully clothed by the time Waugh is done showing how all "emperors" eventually have no clothes. But this is not a novel designed to delve into the inner workings of "real" characters or to discuss philosophical or religious issues like good & evil or the meaning of life. Everyone is a type (e.g., upper crust cad) or used as a necessary foil (e.g.,the paranoid French diplomat who is clueless as to how clueless his British counterparts are), so no character comes across completely as someone who actually could exist in the real world. And even though Waugh did travel extensively in Ethiopia in the 1930s, an experience he used for this novel, this is not a work designed primarily to make the reader feel as if they are getting a detailed, intimate, and realistic portrait of a place now brought to vivid life.This is the very first Waugh novel I've read. I plan on reading more. My primary loves in 20th Century English literature are K. Amis, A. Burgess, G. Greene, and G. Orwell. Amis can be equally funny ("Lucky Jim") and his characters usually have a greater depth and more vivid life as potential people. Burgess, Greene, & Orwell usually delve deeply into the philosophical or religious issues and can bring a place to life for the reader. If you love this book, read Greene's "Our Man in Havana" or Burgess' "Devil of a State". Both are comic novels set in the 3rd world.As comic novels go this is a 4 mainly because the last third isn't quite as funny as the first two thirds and the cynical worldview in such concentrated form is a bit wearying by the time the carnage is over and those who survive exit unredeemed and unrepentent.

I'm afraid I just didn't get on with this book. Waugh tells the story of British ex-patriates living in a fictitious African country through snippets of dialogue, which are witty enough in themselves, but which became increasingly tedious and disconcerting as the book progressed. If only he'd written it the same way as he'd written Decline and Fall with a meaningful, clear narrative, it would have been so much better. My other problem with the book was repetition of technique - something ghastly happens and someone British dismisses the incident with a typical British understatement. After a while, one groans rather than laughs.As one would expect, the dialogue is acutely observed and very funny at times, but most modern readers may well want more than that to sustain interest. If you're new to Evelyn Waugh, try one of his other books as a starter.

I was very taken with this novel when I first read it over 50 years ago. But it didn't really stand well to a re-read. It's interesting to compare Wauh's style here with that of his first novel - Decline and Fall, which is a real 5 star classic and stands the test of time. Black Mischief comes after several years of Waugh's journalism - much of it in Africa, I think - and seems unpolished. Inferior also to his novel Scoop, also set largely in Africa.

Waugh's prose is exquisite, it has the timing and rhythm of a fine comedian; the story is outrageously politically incorrect, but totally even handed in its cynicism and social judgement it is, in fact, a classic. I have read it several times over the years and it is fresh each time I start again. I have it in soft back, hard back, and now conveniently on Kindle.

A decent read, very funny at times. Some racist elements are hard to read, but the pointed satire is directed at all, especially the ridiculous Legation.

One of the great novels of the 20th century. The accuracy of the satire is unerring yet the book is one of the funniest every written. 20th century literature at its best.

Ive read most of Waugh's books but sadly I couldn't get on with this - feels a bit dated in 2018

Not really my sort of read

casserres were worn out,gobblegook as if both sides were playing at once.Indecipherable.

. . . who knows east Africa and the Gulf it rings very true, even today

If you want an enjoyable read and not too worried about being non PC about the Africans, Waugh is almost at his satirical best. How true and this was written in the 1930's!!

Not one of Waugh's best, but still readable.

This book is either loved or hated, readers need to remember the era and context in which it was written. Easy read with lots of areas to debate!

Good service and book.

No one escapes the mocking wit and how we enjoy it as politically incorrect as it is possible to be

One of the best book's in the English language