Yentyl the Yeshiva Boy

Average customer rating:

4 Stars only because I wanted the story to go on!

Transgender -- Yes! But with outdated reasons....

The story IS transgender -- so get over it, you feminists!

short story is about a transsexual

Judaism, sexuality, movie vs book...

Yentyl the Yeshiva Boy
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Movie Tie-Ins | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Singer, Isaac Bashevis | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Yentl Yentl

Yentl (1983 Film)

ASIN: 0374293473

Book Description

Recognizing that Yentyl seems to have the soul and disposition of a man, her father studies the Torah and other holy books with her. When he dies, Yentyl feels that she no longer has a reason to remain in the village, and so, late one night, she cuts off her hair, dresses as a young man, and sets out to find a yeshiva where she can continue her studies and live secretly as a man.

Customer Reviews:

4 Stars only because I wanted the story to go on!.......2006-03-31

There's quite a debate going on in these reviews, so let me return to the main point of these reviews and state that this is an excellent story and well worth reading. As others have pointed out, in adapting the book to a movie, Barbra STreisand made substantive changes in the story, changes that Singer himself did not approve of. It's definitely worth going back to the original text and reading the story as written.

The story is not only a moving tale of the bind a Jewish woman of late 19th or early 20th century Poland puts herself into in order to fulfill her need to study and learn, but a rich portrayal of both the joys and strictures of that society that is now gone (as are so many of Singer's stories). It helps to know something of Judaism to understand many of the references in the story but it is not critical to the reader's empathy with Yentl/Anshel's position.

And yes, the character as portrayed in the book is undoubtedly portrayed as what we would now call transgendered. It is not simply that Yentl wants to study Torah, because if that were the case she could marry Avigdor and continue to study with him; Avigdor offers her this option. She herself says she is not one or the other. I also love Singer's implied explanation for transgender identity as being that of a soul of one sex incarnated in the body of the other. It makes a deep kind of sense to me in both a spiritual and experiential way, and adds another dimension to this story.

This book is very short, really a novella, and is illustrated with interesting woodcuts that portray both moments from the story, and various Jewish ritual objects like spice boxes and the pointers used to read Torah scrolls. Do seek this book and other works of Singer's out, you won't regret it!

Transgender -- Yes! But with outdated reasons...........2005-03-13

Regarding the debate here about whether Yentl was a feminist or a transsexual, I weigh in on the transgender side -- for all the reasons other reviewers have already listed here, and which I have also discussed on my Hasidism FAQ website. So I won't reinvent the wheel in this review. I agree that the movie was definitely a feminist statement, but the book, well, that's another story altogether.

We should remember that before the movie, there was the stage play. It followed the book pretty closely, (which the movie did not!) and was very popular in lesbian and avant garde theaters. When I saw the play performed in the 1970s, Yentl was played as the Jewish version of a "butch" lesbian. (In terms of social roles, not machismo. The ideal Jewish male in the timeframe of this story was a scholar, not a redneck.) In the play, like in the book, Yentl remains living as the man Anshel in Eastern Europe. In the movie, Streisand changed this very important point and had Yentl revert to wearing women's clothes and then going to America.

So nu, what was the relationship between Yentl/Anshel and Avigdor? They were study partners -- chaverim in Hebrew -- a relationship that doesn't seem to exist outside of the Orthodox Jewish community, so here's some background. The Talmud is written in dialogue mode with different rabbis agreeing and disagreeing on various points of Jewish law and theology. Talmud is traditionally studied out loud, by two people hotly debating, going point-by-point over the discussions on the page together. In the traditional yeshiva world -- even today -- the schools are not co-ed. So naturally, your study partner is going to be the same sex as yourself. And very often, your study partner is also your very best friend. You not only sit together in school, you confide in each other, hang out together, encourage each other in life's struggles, etc. And this can be a very close relationship. But it's not sexual. It's male bonding. If Anshel had joined the army, then he and Avigdor would have been "buddies" who fought battles together.

Anshel loves Avigdor, yes. But as a study partner, not a lover. What Anshel misses in Avigdor when he changes study halls is not sexual attraction, it's their learning together. Nobody else in the yeshiva is as serious or as brilliant a student as Avigdor. Nobody else is an intellectual match for Anshel -- and so, he studies alone.

When Anshel reveals to Avigdor that s/he is really the woman Yentl, Avigdor suggests that they could get married and still study together -- but Yentl/Anshel says no. S/he tells him that s/he is "neither one [sex] nor the other" and that s/he has "the soul of a man in the body of a woman." This teaches us that Yentl DID INDEED have a gender identity crisis. If she had just wanted to study Talmud, if she were in love with Avigdor, she could have married him and that would be that. But she chose instead to remain living as Anshel for the rest of her life, even without Avigdor. In other words, she chose loneliness and loss of friendship over going back to living as a woman -- a choice that many a real transsexual has also made.

Now, one issue that has not come up yet in the debate here is this: What exactly did I.B. Singer mean by "the SOUL of a man in the body of a woman?" Is this used figuratively, i.e., with "soul" meaning interests, ideas, disposition? Or did Singer mean it literally -- that the eternal soul of Yentl was male, trapped in a female body? If it was figurative, then why does Yentl's father explain it by telling her "even heaven makes mistakes?" I think it is meant literally -- that a male soul has incarnated in the female body named Yentl. Perhaps it was reincarnation (Singer did believe in that.) This was/is one explanation in kabbalah (Jewish mysticm) for what we now call, in scientific terms, "gender dysphoria."

When Singer was writing in the 1960s, "gender dysphoria" was assumed to be caused by a mismatch of social roles, such as a girl being raised as a tomboy. And that's how Singer portrayed Yentl, with her father teaching her "male" things. But even today, when women are free (in Western countries at least) to openly pursue any type of studies or career or lifestyle they want, there are STILL female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals who claim to have male souls trapped in female bodies. Many of them were NOT raised as tomboys, either. The issue for them is not social roles, it's gender identity.

Recent research seems to indicate that this inner conflict is caused by a difference in brain structure. (Nature, not nurture.) Apparently, there is a part of the brain that is hard-wired to "feel" male or female -- and if this is out of sync with the rest of the body, you have a transgendered person. Had Singer known this in his day, he might have focused less on Yentl's dislike of sewing and cooking (the so-called "women's work"), and more on her inner identity crisis about feeling male. But he was a man of his times and he used the literary devices available then. When he wrote this story in 1962, DNA had not even been discovered, and there were no MRI machines to map the activities of the living brain. He assumed (wrongly) that a Yentl became what s/he was because of how she was raised. 21st-century readers need to keep this in mind when they read this story.

The story IS transgender -- so get over it, you feminists!.......2005-03-11

I first read this story way back when it first came out -- long before Streisand turned it into a third-wave feminist polemic. (Which, by the way, upset the author, I.B. Singer, so much that he tries to stop production. Unfortunately, he did not have artistic control over the film rights to his story, and so this travesty of his work was produced and lives on in infamy.) Upon re-reading it, I still think it is about a transgender person, not a feminist.

The reviewer here who said that another reviewer "should be shot" (such violent intolerance!) for claiming that Yentl was transgender by making a reference to "even heaven makes mistakes" obviously did not read the book -- because that's word-for-word what Yentl's father tells her on page 8. The story also clearly states that Yentl has "the soul of a man." (page 8 also). So, I suggest ignoring those PC polemicists who are talking about the movie only, which is VERY DIFFERENT from the book, and has ITS OWN PAGE for reviews! (If you haven't read the book, why are you reviewing here in the first place?)

Singer was writing in the 1960s. He wrote respectfully of Jewish culture in this story. He did not mock it the way Streisand later did in her movie. The book has no barkers shouting "Story books for women, holy books for men," and as far as I know, nobody even did that in real life. The line is anti-Hasidic propaganda, as is much of the movie. Streisand's film is a comedy. Singer's story is serious drama.

In the book, When Yentl says, "I wasn't created for plucking feathers and chattering with females," (page 47) is she really speaking like a radical 20th-century feminist about social roles -- or is she speaking literally, on a mystical spiritual level? If she were merely objecting to "plucking feathers" (woman's work) why does she also object to "chattering with females" -- and why use the word "females," as if to stress this is about GENDER? I think she means that she was not created to be a woman, period, regardless of roles. She certainly does not object when her father tells her that she has a man's soul and that "even heaven makes mistakes."

She reaffirms this transgender identity on page 49, where Avigdor asks her, "Tell me the truth, are you a heretic?" Yentl answers, "God forbid!" Clearly, she believes in Orthodox Judaism and respects it, IN SPITE OF her personal dilemma. As their discussion continues: "... All Anshel's [Yentl's] explanations seemed to point to one thing: she had the soul of a man in a woman's body." How much plainer can you get?

But today, in the 2000s, being a female-to-male transgender person is no longer politically correct in the feminist movement. Since the days when Singer wrote this story, the radical feminists have trashed and reviled female-to-male (FTM) transgender people for being "politically incorrect" to the point that they (the feminists) simply cannot stomach the idea that THIS IS WHAT SINGER WAS WRITING ABOUT!!!!!

Yentl doesn't act like a feminist in the book. She doesn't go out campaigning for women's rights. On the other hand, she does enjoy cross-dressing: "On Sabbath afternoons, when her father slept, she would dress up in his trousers, his fringed garment, his silk coat, his skullcap, his velvet hat, and study her reflection in the mirror." (page 8) She also secretly smoked her father's pipe. These are not feminist behaviors, they are transvestite / transgender behaviors.

Yes, there were restrictions against women in the 1850s (which, by the way, is the time frame for this story. Keep in mind that gentile universities didn't accept women back then, either.) But that is NOT the reason that Yentl crosses over to live as a man. If she were merely a disgruntled woman wanting "male privilege," why did she choose to live as a man even after divorcing Hadass? In the Streisand movie she goes back to dressing as a woman and takes a ship to America where, presumably, she will be "free." But that scene IS NOT IN THE BOOK! In the book, she lives out her life as the man, Anshel. Exactly as an FTM transgender person would do.

short story is about a transsexual.......2004-12-30

The IBS short story (but not the movie) certainly IS about a transsexual. Tha character, Yentle/Anshel, is a woman who wants to be a man, and the study of Talmud is a major part of it only because Singer used 19th-early Eastern Europe as a setting. While Yentl is briliant and enjoys studying the Talmud this is not why she gets into her situation. Rather it's a literary mechanism. Singer clearly describes Yentl as a man inside a woman's body, and the reason why Talmud is emphasized is because of the setting in an eastern european jewish community. That is what the most respected men did in that culture; in modern Israel, it would be piloting an F-16 in the air force.

Although Yentl had studied secretly with her father, there were things that she had been hiding even from him: while he slept on shabbat afternoons she would dress up in his clothing, and smoke his pipe. She had not one female friend, then on the morning after the night when Anshel had married Haddass, the parents of Haddass held of the bed sheet and saw the blood. Singer writes that "Anshel had found a way to deflower Haddass", and that Haddass being so innocent and in love with Anshel hadn't realized that what was supposed to happen had not happened. IN OTHER WORDS...something happened SEXUALLY between Yentl/Anshel and Haddass, such that Haddass' hymen ruptured. Singer leaves the precise mechanism to the imagination, but it stands to reason that it was not the spilling of wine on the sheet as occured in the movie. It the short story it is actual blood. It seems hard to imagine but keep in mind that it is a culture wherein young women might never be told much if anything about sex before their marriage, the expectation being that they would find out from their husbands. Moreover the marriage goes on for several months with Haddass believing that her marriage is within a standard deviation of the norm.

It's just not conceivable that Yentl/Anshel is doing this -being intimate with Haddass via petting or whatever for several months - because of a heterosexual attraction to Avigdor. Then finally when she reveals herself to him and he suggest that they (Avigdor and Yentl) marry she says it wouldn't be good and that she's "neither one [gender] nor the other". And so she continues dressing as a man. She does not take a ship to another country as in the movie which would have been the right thing to do had she wanted to live as a woman and study the Talmud. She could have done that in western europe or america, but in the book she didn't and went on living as a man.

Judaism, sexuality, movie vs book... .......2004-11-11

The movie does attack the issues of feminism - albeit somewhat unrealistically. Yes, as one reviewer put, there are many restrictions on Chasidic women (and men!), but not necessarily in an oppressive manner. The laws of Judaism are really quite complex (and no I am not orthodox). Nevertheless, I believe the book is a story about s transsexual, Yentl (Anshel) who felt as though she were a man in a woman's body. Incidentally, she was brilliant and capable of the complex studies of the Talmud, but the book has very little to do with feminism or oppression of women.
Nevertheless, it is an excellent read, highly recommended. For the period on which it was written, Singer was very much ahead of his time in tackling such an issue.

Book Description

A year had passed since Ben Holiday bought the Magic Kingdon from the wizard, Meeks. But unbeknownst to him, he has been the victim of a trap by Meeks, who has succeeded in stealing the Paladin and appropriating his face. Suddenly none of Ben's friends know him, but all of his enemies do. He must win it all back again--only this time on his own!

Customer Reviews:

The Black Unicorn - worthy of accolade.......2007-08-22

I wasn't sure what to think of Terry Brooks - I had heard so many conflicting opinions of his books. A few years ago, someone gave me a big box full of them, and I finally took the plunge and began reading the Magic Kingdom of Landover series. The Black Unicorn, second volume in the series, is everything that a good magical fantasy novel should be, and everything that a good contemporary fantasy novel should be.

Brooks' characters are intelligent, sympathetic beings that I couldn't help beginning to care about. In addition, there's a bit of the humor and punnery more common to Piers Anthony's Xanth series present, and it is a delightful addition to the typical fantasy ingredients.

The residents of Sterling Silver (the King of Landover's living castle) are all suddenly experiencing strange dreams, and Ben Holiday, Willow and Questor Thews each depart on a quest to follow the dream they have been sent. But where did the dreams come from?

I am anxiously anticipating reading Wizard at Large, which is the next volume in the series, and I would eagerly recommend The Black Unicorn, and the Magic Kingdom of Landover series to any fans of fantasy and magic.

hey.......2005-10-25

i would say this book was good. was kind of out of in regards to all the specific details but i got alot of the main plot.

An absorbing and straightforward plot.......2005-10-23

Very east to read and its worth buying the whole series of 5 books. Although they can be read seperately from each other the story interweaves throughout all books. I like the way the author does not let his character figure out to quickly what is happening even though the reader knows what is happening.

A well thought out novel, with a fun story.......2005-09-23

Brooks has an amazing way to twist words and thoughts together in a flow that paints a beautiful picture for his readers. When reading The Black Unicorn, I found that I was able to visualize the world that Ben Holiday and his friends traversed from day to day, and that I was able to understand, at least in part, the lives of those who would inhabit the world.

In The Black Unicorn, Brooks shows his readers a part of the world - the faery lands - that are so intwined with Landover. He shows us how the faeries used the realm of dreams to intervene in life as the Landoverian people know it, by showing Willow the black unicorn, by assisting Ben in his quest to rediscover himself. Brooks shows his readers how subtle influences can change the course of history.

And for that feat, I love his story of the Black Unicorn.

The Black Unicorn.......2005-05-23

In this second installation of the Landover series by Terry Brooks we find Ben Holiday a year after he first came to Landover. Through a scheme by the evil wizard, Meeks, Ben finds himself a stranger to his friends and banished from his castle. There have also been sightings of an elusive and mysterious black unicorn who may hold the key to Ben's return to his kingship.

This is a nice, entertaining, series which I am enjoying. I am hoping the farther along the series goes, the better they will become. I am already getting more attached to the characters which keeps me coming back to this series. However, I dont consider it on the same level as Edding's The Belgariad or Goodkind's Sword of Truth.

Average customer rating:

The Black Unicorn: Poems
Audre Lorde
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0393312372

Average customer rating:

THE WORST BOOK EVER
A wonderful book for all ages!
Good Read
Interesting...but nothing extraordinary
What a Find!

Black Unicorn (Ibooks Fantasy Classics)
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: IBooks, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1596871628

Book Description

Nobody knew where it had come from, or what it wanted. Not even Jaive, the sorceress, could fathom the mystery of the fabled beast. But Tanaquil, Jaive's completely unmagical daughter, understood it at once. She knew why the unicorn was there: It had come for her. It needed her. Tanaquil was amazed because she was the girl with no talent for magic. She could only fiddle with broken bits of machinery and make them work again. What could she do for a unicorn?

Customer Reviews:

THE WORST BOOK EVER.......2007-04-13

The worst book I ever read
The Black Unicorn was the worst book I ever read. Tatith Lee was great if you like flying chairs, singing pictures, and obviously unicorns. My book I would not recommend to any boys at all. But if you are a girlie girl you should read this book. So this girl named Taquil is the Sorcerers daughter but she has no powers so she thinks. Her and Peeve, Peeve is her talking cat. They find a bone outside the castle which they live in.
Taquil runs away from her home because the unicorn comes alive and leaves and she goes after it leaving her home. But don't worry Taquil is very outgoing, and very smart. She can put anything together very fast. Taquil is very lonely and when she grows up she doesn't want to take over her parents legesey. Mostly because she wants to build her own and be a protecter of her city. She is very dependent because her parents are always busy.
Anyways she is out in the desert with peeve and there is no sight of the black unicorn and her parents just found out that her daughter is missing and they know it's all there fault. So it is all just one big mess right now for everybody. Taquil and peeve found a small cave to stay in for the night. Meanwhile at the castle the sorrier sends out a search and destroy group to find Taquil, and kill the unicorn. and that is as mush as I am going to tell you
So with all of the talking chairs and other things that were so magical in my point of view I thought it was the worst book ever.

A wonderful book for all ages!.......2006-05-25

I first read this book when I was in third grade, having found it in my elementary school's library. Now, ten years later, I am enrolled in the local University's English Education program and I still love it dearly.

The primary complaint that I seem to be seeing from many reviewers on this book is that the plot seems flat, and conflicts are resolved too quickly to really put the reader on the edge of his or her seat. However, consider that this is a book written for young readers, new to the world of the novel, whose sense of plot drive and character development are not yet as keen as seasoned readers'. This does not detract from Black Unicorn's excellence, by any means, in my opinion. However, I think that sometimes people pick up a book written for young readers and expect it to be just like Harry Potter, whose author has dedicated her professional life to developing plots, characters, subplots, secondary characters, guidelines for magic, and all other sorts of background material for her books. This dedication is admirable, to be certain, but not every author is afforded this kind of luxury when writing. As to the comparative shortness of this novel, consider, again, that it was written for young readers who may not know how to "stick it out" for a five hundred-page book.

The plot of Black Unicorn is somewhat removed from what one might come to expect from the traditional story about a girl and a unicorn--there are no enchanted forests, or knights in shining armor; only a lonely girl, her pet peeve (literally, a little cat-like creature called a peeve), and a unicorn whose coat is not white as the pure-driven snow, but black as midnight instead. It was refreshing, in a way, to read something that took a traditional legend out of context and used it to tell a different story in a completely different setting.

I highly recommend this book for anyone, but especially for young girls who love unicorns. I know that I can blame the inspiration for many of my own early forays into the world of fantasy writing on this book, as it is so good at cultivating the imagination and creativity of the reader.

Good Read.......2006-02-07

This book is an enjoyable read. It was simple and to the point. The second book in this series is much better though. This book is about a girl named Tanaquil that sets off after a black unicorn that takes her to new places and a great adventure. There she learns many things about life, the unicorn and herself.

Interesting...but nothing extraordinary.......2005-10-02

Black Unicorn is about Tanaquil who lives in her mother's desert fortress. Tanaquil is great at mending things and feels trapped in her mother's magical fortress. She yearns to leave and see the world, and is given that oppurtunity when she mends unicorn bones. The unicorn comes to life and Tanaquil finds herself on a journey.

Although it kept my attention for the most part, I didn't feel as though I really cared about the fate of any characters. The story felt as though it had very little depth. Every problem was resolved so quickly that you never had time to really care or understand what the stakes were. I really thought that it would have been more interesting based on the plot, but the brevity of the story took much of the fun out of it for me.

What a Find!.......2003-08-31

Tanaquil is the only daughter of a powerful sorceress who lives in a great fortress in the middle of a huge desert...but Tanaquil's life is not the fairy tale it may seem. Her mother is devoted to her magic and has very little to do with Tanaquil. Tanaquil has no magical ability of her own, no friends, and nothing to do but mend a few broken things about the fortress. She is bored, lonely, and discontent with her life.

Tanaquil's life is changed forever when she chances to find the skeleton of a unicorn. It is in bits and pieces and scattered, but Tanaquil finds the bones and puts the skeleton back together...and then the unicorn comes to life!

Customer Reviews:

always a great story.......2002-02-27

My fav charector in this book again would have to Abernathy. Once again exciting and keeps you on the egde of your seat. Full ofadventures and many laughs. The Magic Kingdom is for any fantasy reader who would like a change of pace. Fun and danger

Average customer rating:

Joseph Conrad Meets Monty Python
Extremely funny
Exotic Madness!
Exotic Madness!
The Great Waugh

Black Mischief (Unicorn)
Evelyn Waugh
Manufacturer: Nelson Thornes Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0090885007

Book Description

Black Mischief, Waugh's third novel, helped to establish his reputation as a master satirist. Set on the fictional African island of Azania, the novel chronicles the efforts of Emperor Seth, assisted by the Englishman Basil Seal, to modernize his kingdom. Profound hilarity ensues from the issuance of homemade currency, the staging of a "Birth Control Gala," the rightful ruler's demise at his own rather long and tiring coronation ceremonies, and a good deal more mischief.

Customer Reviews:

Joseph Conrad Meets Monty Python.......2007-06-04

"Black Mischief" is not a safe book; it delves into racial and political divides as wide now as then and lets you know its author isn't aboard for any of that 21st-century sensitivity rot. Despite or perhaps because of this it is a good book, perhaps a great book, and worthy of your time.

In the island nation of Azania, just off the coast of East Africa, Oxford-educated Emperor Seth attempts to force his backward, war-torn nation to emulate the West. Help arrives in the form of a British ne'er-do-well, Basil Seal, "a man of progress and culture" as Seth styles him. This of course means Seal is trouble as well.

As I read deeper into "Black Mischief", I was struck by two things. One was how easily it flowed, not only with Waugh's always elegant prose but the plot itself. Waugh isn't ordinarily so clean a scenarist. The other was how like Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo" this is, making the same points about First World meeting Third World. Except where "Nostromo" was clumsy and dry, Waugh sells his message with wit and surreal humor.

He even goes to the trouble of mapping out Azania, which helps a lot given it is a nation entirely of Waugh's own imagining. As the characters cross its expanse, I found myself referring back to the map in front and enjoying how well it matched up with the narrative.

When I picked up "Black Mischief", I was concerned about the obvious racial aspects. Waugh was capable of writing hurtful things about blacks as well as other groups Waugh experienced from a distance. "Remote People," published in 1931 just one year before "Black Mischief", presents Africans in the role of bloody-minded savages.

Well, there are plenty of savages in "Black Mischief", too, only most of the ones we get to know best and like least are European. Seth begins to go wrong when he tries to imitate his imagined betters, picking up and dropping one faddish craze after another, whether it be autogyros or universal contraception. "THROUGH STERILITY TO CULTURE" reads one banner.

"He'll discover every damn modern thing if we don't find him a woman damn quick," an accomplish of Seal complains. Not that Seth's gullible. The West is just too full of bad ideas.

Take a couple of middle-aged animal-rights activists who walk through Azania's impoverished streets throwing scraps for dogs and complain when children try to make off with them instead: "Greedy little wretches."

Not all the jokes go over. Waugh does hit the same points over again, like the dense senior British envoy Sir Sampson and his scheming French opposite number M. Ballon. The notion of Azania as a plaything for Western mediocrities is a worthy one, central to Waugh's point regarding former colonialists suddenly opting to lead their ex-charges on the road of improvement. I just wished he was more subtle at it, or tied that part of the story better to the rest.

But there's nothing really bad in here, at least not anything like I expected, and there's quite a bit good, even brilliant. The first chapter alone packs enough intrigue and suspense for Frederick Forsyth, and the Conradian mood, though limned with humor, stays intact throughout. There are gulp-inducing moments, and laugh-inducing ones, and the marvel is not only how often these come up but how closely together.

Extremely funny.......2003-01-01

BLACK MISCHIEF is the sixth Waugh book I've read, and it's one of his funniest. The plot concerns goings-on in the fictional African empire of Azania (which is supposed to be off the coast of present day Somalia). Civil war has just erupted, and an English educated Azanian named Seth ends up the victor. He gets caught up with the British legation, including frivolous Basil Seal (an acquaintance of the recurring Waugh character - Lady Metroland). Basil is made the Minister of Moderization and has Seth's constant ear. Naturally, things spiral downward from there. BLACK MISCHIEF starts off a bit slow, and the first 75 pages are a bit tedious and confusing. However, things really take off afterwards. Waugh is always funny, but this book has more laugh-out-loud moments than most of his novels. Highly recommended for fans of Waugh and good satirical novels.

Exotic Madness!.......2002-06-08

The only humor today that even comes close to that of Black Mischief, is ironically, that of the outrageous, black comedians- otherwise Waugh rules.
The whole concept of the British in exotic countries is a farce, and when mixed with Waugh's equally lunatic native characters face to face with bizarre and inexplicable Western civilization- whew- anything could and does happen. There are no noble characters, of course, but redeeming fools, which is about as good as one can get in a Wauvian satire. My favorites are the animal rights ladies who come to Africa to see that the natives are treating their livestock well. These ladies, one named Miss Tin, land in the midst of a revolution and have to hit a driver in the head with a brandy bottle to get a ride to the English settlement. They followed a fellow anti-vivesectionist cleric who led the ministry of our `dumb chums.'
There is every kind of European religion stirring up trouble and as usual, the British are completely sequestered amongst themselves preoccupied with their gardens and other habits in blissful and selfish ignorance. The leader of these Imperialists is described as "a self-assured old booby." One of the titled females is named `Lady Everyman.'

The political relevance is so acute that it seems impossible that this was written in 1932. Waugh even seems to have some political consciousness in this book, certainly, he is gentler, on the whole while being enduringly funny. I would definitely place this as my second favorite Waugh. It has a gripping end and is a statement less of bigotry, (of which he probably was one, but who wasn't,) but also of the need to reevaluate what in the name of God all of the colonizing was about.

Exotic Madness!.......2002-06-08

The Great Waugh.......2000-09-04

I suspect this classic novel is out of print in the US for reasons of misguided political correctness, which is a great shame for this is probably Waugh's finest and funniest novel. (Penguin Books in the UK publish a copy which is available on the www.amazon.co.uk site).

Black, Oxford-educated Seth ("Emperor of Azania,Chief of the Chiefs of Sakuyu, Lord of Wanda and Tyrant of the Seas, Bachelor of the Arts of Oxford University")attempts to reform his backward, corrupt African nation with the aid of an amoral Englishman, Basil Seal. This being Waugh, all ends hilariously tragically. All the usual Waugh-like elements are here: the "disappearing hero" (ie non-active protagonist); the comic but desperately tragic fate of the main characters; the utterly misogynistic & unsympathetic view of all mankind; and all written with his usual, biting, elegant, hilarious satire. This novel is not racist. It may be a trifle politically incorrect to our enlightened generation (political correctness of course meaning that we think it but don't say it)but as with all novels more than 20 years old we have to read it in the light of the attitudes and opinions of the era in which it is written and this novel is a very accurate and funny reflection of the attitudes of the 1930's.

Despite the novel's title, the satire is aimed at all races and ethnic groups, with the white British Legation (portrayed as ignorant, inane, out-of-touch idiots) coming in for the bitterest attacks. Indeed, if our sympathies lie anywhere, it is with the well-meaning, likeable but ultimately ill-advised black emperor, Seth. Waugh was possibly the greatest and sharpest satirist of the 20th Century and this is possibly his greatest and sharpest novel.As an Englishman, I feel it is very sad that American readers are denied access to this classic work. ("If we can't stamp out literature in the country we can at least stop it being brought in from outside" - Evelyn Waugh, 'Vile Bodies')

Such advocates of political correctness should perhaps adopt Seth's own slogan for his doomed campaign "We are Progess and the New Age. Nothing can stand in our way." Read this novel - order it from the UK site if necessary - & judge it for yourself. I guarantee you a good read.

Average customer rating:
Black Unicorn
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UQ7SB8

Average customer rating:
Black Unicorn
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TXCYM0

Average customer rating:
The Black Unicorn
Terry Brooks
Manufacturer: A Del Rey Book/ Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPLJQG

Average customer rating:
Black Unicorn
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: Byron Priess
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKJSMY

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books