Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Penguin Putnam~trade (1995), Paperback, 192 pages
Description
Perhaps the funniest travel book ever written, Remote People begins with a vivid account of the coronation of Emperor Ras Tafari - Haile Selassie I, King of Kings - an event covered by Evelyn Waugh in 1930 as special correspondent for The Times. It continues with subsequent travels throughout Africa, where natives rub shoulders with eccentric expatriates, settlers with Arab traders and dignitaries with monks. Interspersed with these colourful tales are three 'nightmares' which describe the vexations of travel, including returning home.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kaitanya64
Waugh is, as usual, rather acid and condescending. He doesn't take anybody seriously, himself included. That being said, I didn't start this expecting sensitive portrayals of cultures and people. However, IMO, if anybody ever needed a little historical cutting down to size (sorry, bad phrasing
After finishing the entire book, I would say that if you are really interested in the regions he travels through, it's a funny book and will offer another view of many familiar East African characters. But his constant mockery does get a little grating by the end.
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considering his height) it is Haile Selassie, and so far Waugh's description of Selassie's coronation is really funny.After finishing the entire book, I would say that if you are really interested in the regions he travels through, it's a funny book and will offer another view of many familiar East African characters. But his constant mockery does get a little grating by the end.
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LibraryThing member setnahkt
Evelyn Waugh was sent to Ethiopia to cover the 1930 coronation of Haile Selassie for The Times, then continued to travel around the area, including French Somaliland (now Djibouti), Aden, Kenya, and the Belgian Congo. Waugh was famous for acerbic humor; it shows here. He’s sympathetic – by
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contemporary standards - to the Africans, but he mostly writes about Europeans he encounters; only a few natives are identified by name. There’s little sense of “look and feel” for the area, the countryside is usually described in unpleasant terms if Waugh mentions it at all, and there is much description of dinner parties which could have just as easily be set in London instead of Kenya. But it’s worthwhile for some of the encounters, particularly the Congo ship captain repeatedly demanding Waugh produce a non-existent motor bicycle. I’ll have to read some more Waugh. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
192 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
014018838X / 9780140188387