Pío XII, la Escolta Mora y un General Sin un Ojo

by FRANCIS UMBRAL

The finest of Lawrence Durrell's classic short stories of diplomatic mischiefDark is the day when culture comes to Sczbog. The capital of Vulgaria, nestled snugly behind the Iron Curtain, has long been devoid of higher thought, and that is the way the men in the British embassy like it. But when the French embassy gives a lecture on literature, it ignites a chain reaction of unwanted cultural exchange, subjecting the King's men to endless nights of Dutch poetry, Japanese theater, and Swiss yodeling. Extricating themselves from this high-minded mess will take a miracle of a most unpolitic kind. This is a typical incident in the long and colorful career of Antrobus, diplomat in his Majesty's service. In these pages, he confronts waltzing ambassadors, half-mad press secretaries, and a gruesome Kurdish circumcision. Through it all, he and his men stay calm, knowing that the surest way to cause a diplomatic incident is to make the mistake of attempting diplomacy.

Genres: Short Stories, Humor, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[James Junke]

Always hilarious. Has such great fun mocking the British class system, the English language, and its mysterious subset, diplomatic language. Particularly funny, The Swami’s Secret. Great antidote to the stress of living in corona virus times.

[José Miguel]

El problema de este libro es que creo que a partir de cierto relato se vuelve muy repetitivo y predecible. Además, el humor que Durrell ejecuta no se sostiene tan bien literariamente como sí lo hace en cómics o en el cine (quizá el género slapstick).

[Michael]

In this book, Durrell is trying to be funny. Trying too hard for my taste. Good humor is subtle. This kind is anything but.

[Paul Taylor]

Durrell has a wonderful command of english and the English of a bygone age; some of his scenes will have you laughing out loud.

[Javier Bouzas]

De lo mejor del ácido humor británico

[Beverly]

A selection of (fictional, one hopes) short stories about life in the British diplomatic corps - "lying abroad for our country" as Durrell slyly puts it. Much of the humor comes from satirizing national stereotypes. Durrell paints the characters as boldly as he does in his serious novels and his brother Gerald does in his zoo-collecting novels.