Name: Black Mischief
SKU: MISCHIEF
Price: 4.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Black Mischief

£4.99

Published in 1932, Evelyn Waugh’s third novel came on the back of the hugely successful Vile Bodies, and in Black Mischief he turned his satirical eye on the struggles of a small African nation to keep up with the progress of Europe. The fictional Azania’s modernisation is captained by foolish Oxford-educated Emperor Seth and Basil Seal, an Englishman on the make, who has stolen his mother’s jewellery to finance his travels. With no qualifications and no local knowledge, Basil is appointed Minister for Modernisation by Seth, who sees Basil as a representative of “Progress and the New Age”. This Penguin edition from 1962 has drawings by Waugh himself, which do nothing to soften the novel’s accusations of a bigoted representation of sub-Saharan Africa.

1 in stock

Description

Published in 1932, Evelyn Waugh’s third novel came on the back of the hugely successful Vile Bodies, and in Black Mischief he turned his satirical eye on the struggles of a small African nation to keep up with the progress of Europe. The fictional Azania’s modernisation is captained by foolish Oxford-educated Emperor Seth and Basil Seal, an Englishman on the make, who has stolen his mother’s jewellery to finance his travels. With no qualifications and no local knowledge, Basil is appointed Minister for Modernisation by Seth, who sees Basil as a representative of “Progress and the New Age”. This Penguin edition from 1962 has drawings by Waugh himself, which do nothing to soften the novel’s accusations of a bigoted representation of sub-Saharan Africa.