Have you read any Waugh? Put out More Flags is set in England the year of the outbreak of the Second World War. It’s one of the last comic novels that Waugh wrote, and I thought it was one of his best. It’s a satire, with Waugh’s usual preoccupations with class and his usual merciless eye for the ridiculous, but with an undertone that is quite pointedly serious. The anti-hero is an unscrupulous type who has never been able to keep a job, and whose female relations see the war as his great opportunity to reedmen himself (and his mother hopes he’ll die heroically doing so). The other main character is a communist Jewish aesthete who wants to do something meaningful, and so decides to start a literary magazine.
Zoli is loosely based on the life of the poet Papusza. It tells something of the plight of the Romany (gypsies) in Eastern Europe starting around World War II, but in particular it follows the story of a young woman whose oral poetry is co-opted and used in communist Czechoslovakia. As a result, she’s banished by her people, who blame her for dealing with outsiders and for their forced settlement under the communist regime. The story is told from different view points: a modern day journalist trying to trace her story; Zoli herself as a child (in first person); an English expatriate who plays a role in making her famous and then nearly destroying her; and Zoli herself again (but in third person). It’s really a beautiful book, filled with melancholy, but through it all the ultimately indomitable spirit of Zoli shines through.
Anyway, both books are wonderful reads, although very different. If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask. As is probably apparent, books are quite a preoccupation of mine. :)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-06-27 04:28 pm (UTC)Zoli is loosely based on the life of the poet Papusza. It tells something of the plight of the Romany (gypsies) in Eastern Europe starting around World War II, but in particular it follows the story of a young woman whose oral poetry is co-opted and used in communist Czechoslovakia. As a result, she’s banished by her people, who blame her for dealing with outsiders and for their forced settlement under the communist regime. The story is told from different view points: a modern day journalist trying to trace her story; Zoli herself as a child (in first person); an English expatriate who plays a role in making her famous and then nearly destroying her; and Zoli herself again (but in third person). It’s really a beautiful book, filled with melancholy, but through it all the ultimately indomitable spirit of Zoli shines through.
Anyway, both books are wonderful reads, although very different. If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask. As is probably apparent, books are quite a preoccupation of mine. :)