Very funny; P. G. Wodehouse in the foreign service. ( )

Nommé en 1949 attaché de presse à l'ambassade de Sa Très Gracieuse Majesté britannique à Belgrade, Lawrence Durrell va y rester trois ans. Trois ans durant lesquels il observera tel un entomologiste le petit monde de la vie diplomatique. Ce sera l'occasion pour le futur auteur du célèbre Quatuor d'Alexandrie de se faire le narrateur de truculentes péripéties : à l'inverse d'une Yougoslavie tremblante de peur sous la main de fer du maréchal Tito, les milieux diplomatiques sont le théâtre d'incidents dignes d'un roman d'Evelyn Waugh, voire d'un Wodehouse. Tout ici est matière à rire, denrée rare que le lecteur est invité à consommer sans modération.

http://nhw.livejournal.com/725316.html

Well, one cannot call it Great Literature, and he is rather patronising about the Yugoslavs (though in fairness the British diplomats are equally ludicrous stereotypes); it is, however, laugh-out-loud funny in places. The inside front cover quotes John Betjeman saying in a review, "I have not laughed at a new humorous book so much since the days of Stephen Potter's Gamesmanship" (which is a bit ambiguous as to whether or not he actually found Potter funny, but leaves no doubt about Durrell). The episode of the botched baptism, the butler's wig and the unfortunate confusion around the bishop's crozier is probably the most memorable scene. There are some nice illustrations by V.H. Drummond, whose work I don't think I knew, but I don't think I can scan them without wrecking the binding so you'll have to take my word for it. Apparently there are two sequels, Stiff Upper Lip and Sauve Qui Peut, but I don't feel the need to order them unless I get a positive recommendation (or, of course, unless I see them in a shop when I'm looking for something else). ( )