England, Their England by Archibald Gordon Macdonell is included among The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... and on Realini’s Top 100 Comedies, a book you must read indeed http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... 10 out of 10

 England, Their England by Archibald Gordon Macdonell is included among The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... and on Realini’s Top 100 Comedies, a book you must read indeed http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...

10 out of 10


In my humble view, this is a Magnum opus that will delight any reader that has an open mind and some sense of humor – indeed, it is considered to be one of the 1,000 books we all must read, and seeing that it is a comedy, it could be taken even further to the top, if that is the favorite genre, and it probably is for most audiences – and it is ever so remarkable, if we consider that a good many pages, a whole chapter is dedicated to…cricket, and most of us have no idea about this complicated game…



Which means we do not get the humor, those of us that live outside the Anglo- Saxon world and are unfamiliar with its attitudes - even if we have read the chef d’oeuvre Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by magical Angus Wilson http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/a... - do not even understand what is going on in the village – albeit it hilarious when we see the American doing the maneuvers, steps or is it strategies of baseball on a field for cricket, although what the difference might be is again a challenge for most of the world (yes, India will be soon the most populous country in the word, surpassing China on that point and I can only wish they would become superior militarily and mainly economically, culturally, in influence in the world, when they get rid of obnoxious Modi) seeing as both baseball and cricket have strange rules for Germans, Brazilians and Belgians…

Apparently, this masterpiece is ‘famed for its portrayal of cricket’ and therefore we can only imagine what catharsis it is for those who know the game and can thus enjoy the intricacies of the jokes, the mirth of what is going on when two teams are confronting each other in the fields of England…lieutenant Donald Cameron is the main character, the one we meet on the battlefield of World War I, where he meets Evan Davies and the idea of a foreigner writing about England is first mentioned…



After an explosion, Donald went home in the spring of 1921, with 85 pounds per annum, in between, he had also spent time in a mental institution, when his father died, he has left seven thousand pounds, on condition he spends no more than a month in the year north of the Tweed until he was fifty and hence, Donald resolved to try journalism and for one to know if he ‘has the makings of a literary man, there are two ways of finding, either write something good, or start as a journalist’ says one character

Donald Cameron meets with Davies again, and the notion of writing about the English is discussed and they come to the conclusion that research will be needed, but it would be done, however puzzling, hermetic the subject matter would be, it would indeed prove difficult to decipher the character of the English



Many, if not most of those encountered and studied show an extraordinary amusing side to their eccentricities, or even in their habitual, common traits and habits, they all become flippant – one loses a fog horn container and he places an ad in a philatelic newspaper for finder of fog-horn container to keep it, the figure of Boris Johnson appears here, the clownish personage that seems to epitomize the more ridiculous side of the English, mind you, he is not just a jester, and this is the reason why he could represent his electorate for so long (more than two years, which is much less than many of his predecessors, more remarkable men and women, I do not think we can add here other, or Two Spirits for these days) for in spite of the ludicrous downfall, the man was no Trump, no matter how many similarities we can find between the two men, Johnson has had a solid education and for all his immense flaws, there is much merit and character strengths to find inside, just like with the typical English, or Mexican man, woman or other…

In his quest to find the spirit, essence, or at least some of the surface of the English, the hero travels to a League of Nations conference in Switzerland, and the satire, the humor again reward the public, for we can find traits of politics that are eternal, the evasiveness – England stands for…nothing, they avoid taking a stand and they let the other squabble over different topics, when the question of brothels is brought up, the delegates express a fuzzy disapproval of organized indecency (these were not the terms, but I just hope it was words to that effect) while the South Americans and Latino in general are ridiculed for their apparent (or serious) perversity, for they are known to assault the women at the conferences (they can take anything from the others, if they have come across the South Americans), which would result in indictments and prison terms today, but we are talking about standards that were valid one century ago, and when atrocities are mentioned, rape and sexual crimes, the Latino delegates rush to be involves, but that is because they want the gory details, they want to see the pictures, the evidence, which in this sardonic take shows they were hoping to enjoy themselves…



One episode has the protagonist visiting a mansion and Tommy Huggins, becomes pivotal in this part, for the Freak takes appalling accumulation of luggage, Secret Dispatches and he addresses Donald as Excellency, at the station and he makes sure to phone the residence multiple times, ensuring that the hero has a reputation that varies according to the moods of the prankster and his creativity, for he pretends to call from Hollywood, claiming that he is in communication with a very important producer and executive, and this ensures the overwhelming interest of a beauty that is the focus of attention and is followed and coveted by multiple men, then the call is for the best forward at Chelsea and in England, and the staff show their respect, there is also the French Embassy on the line at another conjecture…



One figure at the table, one has no topic and just one adjective at a time, grisly for now, and then later it would be won, but all this cosmic laugh allows for some serious, dramatic moments, such as when we have a fox hunt, where the odds are 274, horses, hunters and dogs, against just one poor, soon to be destroyed animal, called vermin back then, and the contrast could be amusing, if it is not also horrifying, when the hunters attack a farmer for kicking his horse (which is clearly bad) and all in the name of their ethics, they are against cruelty to animals, but see nothing in having a poor creature torn to pieces by sixty dogs…



Signed by the participant in the 1989 Revolution, Realini…read and ask for more details and stories if you like:

http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...