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Black Mischief Paperback – August 15, 2002

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 438 ratings

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.
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), whom Time called "one of the century's great masters of English prose," wrote several widely acclaimed novels as well as volumes of biography, memoir, travel writing, and journalism. Three of his novels, A Handful of Dust, Scoop, and Brideshead Revisited, were selected by the Modern Library as among the 100 best novels of the twentieth century.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Revised edition (August 15, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316917338
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316917339
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 1 x 7.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 438 ratings

About the author

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Evelyn Waugh
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Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (/ˈɑːrθər ˈiːvlɪn ˈsɪndʒən wɔː/; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966), known by his pen name Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, biographies and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and reviewer of books. His most famous works include the early satires Decline and Fall (1928) and A Handful of Dust (1934), the novel Brideshead Revisited (1945) and the Second World War trilogy Sword of Honour (1952–61).

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
438 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book humorous and entertaining. They praise the witty writing style and brilliant characters. However, some readers feel the book is racist in certain aspects.

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15 customers mention "Humor"15 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it humorous, entertaining, and witty. The characters are described as amusing. Overall, readers describe the book as a good read and a masterpiece of literature.

"...This novel, like all of his novels (or all I'm familiar with) is satire, and not meant to be advice for good living, correct doctrine, or any sort..." Read more

"...There are gulp-inducing moments, and laugh-inducing ones, and the marvel is not only how often these come up but how closely together." Read more

"book was very enjoyable and all that i heard it would be for any reader to enjoy. lots of brilliant characters" Read more

"...In this novel, Colonial officials make for some very amusing characters but they are also portrayed as 'gaga' place holders...." Read more

3 customers mention "Characterization"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's characters brilliant and perceptive. They appreciate the author's sense of humor and characterization skills.

"...lots of brilliant characters" Read more

"A masterpiece of literature; humorous, perceptive, entertaining, exposes clash of civilisation in colonial era in remarkable way...." Read more

"Evelyn Waugh displays his biting sense of humor and talent for characterization in this work, part of a large repertoire." Read more

3 customers mention "Racism"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book racist in many aspects. They say it's funny but guilty of cultural slurs.

"...This book is definitely 'racist' in many aspects...although it was still a time when Racism was rampant and a social satirist might be expected to..." Read more

"...Racism, sexism, etc. It does treated everybody badly - fair? Fine writing and fun entertainment...." Read more

"Wickedly funny but guilty of cultural Waugh Crimes..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2015
    I clicked the boxes on the new, dumbed down Amazon review writing page, but I must say it doesn't admit any nuance. Five stars, they say means "I Love It", which is not what I mean at all when I give something five stars. So why did I now? Because I'm reading Evelyn Waugh's Letters, and I'm at the part where a Roman Catholic paper publishes diatribes against this novel. All I can say is they don't get it. This novel, like all of his novels (or all I'm familiar with) is satire, and not meant to be advice for good living, correct doctrine, or any sort of propaganda. You can't have read one novel by Waugh and think that's what he writes. However, I can imagine that the paper could not do him any greater service than lambast his novel, since, then as now, readers would flock to it were it forbidden.
    I found it endlessly witty, and if asked what it satirizes, I'd say it's the idea of British Imperialism, of which many earnest novels were being written in his day. At the same time he wrote fiction, he was writing travel books. I've just finished "Labels" (the British title), which is one, but there was another, called "Remote People" which he wrote around the same time, and which I've not read. but which, I think, provides some of the regional background or local color for this novel. Also, there are bits in the Letters I recognize as turning up in this novel.
    There is a corollary to the incredibly idiotic post-modern attempt to read everything backwards so as to deconstruct it in the fact that when Waugh's most famous novel, "Brideshead Revisited" was published, it was dismissed as religious propaganda, which shows how virulently anti-Catholic England in many ways still was. No one reads it that way now. It's been made into a mini-series, a movie, and reprinted in numerous ediitons. A great many readers have apparently got through it and lived to tell the tale. And so with this novel. Waugh himself thought it a rattling, ripping story, and laughed as he wrote it, as may also readers who take it in the same generous, if satiric spirit.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2007
    "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.
    22 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017
    book was very enjoyable and all that i heard it would be for any reader to enjoy. lots of brilliant characters
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Mike Brooke
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not his Better book
    Reviewed in Canada on April 12, 2024
    I did not find this very good and in fact never finished it
  • Old Hand
    5.0 out of 5 stars Like him or loathe him
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2016
    Like him or loathe him, Evelyn Waugh is a stylistic genius. This is the third time I've had to buy this book because friends and family don't borrow it, they keep it. I find that I cannot skip over one word of it, but can never work out how he does it. He is not popular these days because he is regarded as a racist and a snob, which I find a bit pathetic. He was a product of his time; his wit and deftness of expression spares no one. He couldn't have been easy to live with, but that's hardly the point. Not reading his books or putting others of them for pc reasons is narrow-minded and unworthy. Laugh aloud, but don't feel guilty or hate yourself for it or you will miss this brilliant, despairing satire of times past and not so past.
  • Rigal Olivier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Chef d'oeuvre
    Reviewed in France on February 8, 2013
    mais niveau d'anglais requis plutôt sérieux. La version française est excellente également.

    L'oeuvre d'Evelyn Waugh en général mériterait d'être plus connue et étudiée ...
  • M. J. Gilfedder
    4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and biting
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2024
    Very satirical, darkly funny and, as you would expect from Waugh, he shows a great command of the English language and prose. Not my favourite Waugh book, but well worth reading. It's perceptive and sharp, based on his own experiences in Africa and the social class he was circulating in. I see books like Black Mischief and Vile Bodies as Waugh refining his skills and talents which would later mature in Brideshead and Sword of Honour. But they stand alone well as important and entertaining literature. 7/10
  • Dr W. H. Konarzewski
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not Evelyn Waugh at his best
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2014
    I'm afraid I just didn't get on with this book. Waugh tells the story of British ex-patriates living in a fictitious African country through snippets of dialogue, which are witty enough in themselves, but which became increasingly tedious and disconcerting as the book progressed. If only he'd written it the same way as he'd written Decline and Fall with a meaningful, clear narrative, it would have been so much better. My other problem with the book was repetition of technique - something ghastly happens and someone British dismisses the incident with a typical British understatement. After a while, one groans rather than laughs.

    As one would expect, the dialogue is acutely observed and very funny at times, but most modern readers may well want more than that to sustain interest. If you're new to Evelyn Waugh, try one of his other books as a starter.