George MikesReseñas

Great

How to Scrape Skies /. Wisdom for Others /. Shakespeare and Myself

A collection of "How to Scrape Skies", "Wisdom for Others", "Shakespeare and Myself"

First Published by Andre Deutsch 1946

I don't have a copy of the book anymore but I initially got it from the library on cassette.

Why are English people so different from other Europeans? This book tries to explain the strange things that the English do and say. "Penguin Readers" is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English.

Hogyan legyünk külföldiek Angliában? Hogyan legyünk sznobok? Hogyan legyünk görögök? Nos, ez megoldhatatlan. Viszont szórakoztató a próbálkozás. Legalábbis, ahogy Mikes összegyűjti őket, és leírja. Egyedül célszerű olvasni. Különben a jelenlévők – nevetésedet hallván – elkérik a könyvet.

Tsi-Tsa – azaz: Cica – a magyar anyanyelvű angol író, George Mikes eladdig macskátlan londoni házba sétált be egy szép napon, és úgy befészkelte magát a legjobb fotelbe (és Mikes szívébe), hogy onnan soha többé el nem távozott. Illetve… De erről egyelőre ne többet!
George Mikes – az egyetlen angol író, aki a Baranya megyei Siklóson született – könyvek hosszú sorában vallott arról, hogyan kell „idegennek”, „utánozhatatlannak”, „gazdagnak”, „szegénynek”, „dekadensnek”, „jenkinek”, és még sok egyébnek, többek között „hetvenévesnek” lenni. A népszerű író, a rádiós személyiség és világvándor homoros írásaiból gyűjtött csokorral adózunk emlékének és – remélhetőleg – szórakoztatjuk el a Vidám Könyvek Drága Olvasóit.

George Mikes says, 'the English have no soul; they have the understatement instead.' But they do have a sense of humour - they provide it by buying over three hundred thousand copies of a book that took them quietly and completely apart, a book that really took the Mikes out of them.

„Életem során mindig igyekeztem minél távolabb kerülni a pénztől. Általában sikerült.”
Talán meglepő, de a pénz roppant kellemetlenségekkel jár: a gazdagok állandóan aggódhatnak, hogy esik a tőzsdeárfolyam, betörnek értékes festményekkel zsúfolt dél-francia villájukba, vagy váltságdíj reményében elrabolják családtagjaikat. Ezzel szemben a szegényekre leselkedő legnagyobb veszély az, hogy esetleg meggazdagszanak.
George Mikes, az Angliában élt, magyar származású író és humorista a rá jellemző bölcs humorral és éleslátással járja körül a pénzhez való viszonyunkat, a milliomoslét gyötrelmeitől az alkudozás művészetén át a szegénység világtörténetéig, s bebizonyítja, hogy a szegénység nem kerülni való, hanem kifejezetten kívánatos állapot.
A könyvet Sárközi Mátyás Mikesre emlékező utószava és Kelemen István illusztrációi egészítik ki.

Consists of How to be an Alien (first published in 1946), How to be Inimitable (1960) and How to be Decadent (1977). Playful, gentle satires about the English (or rather, Londoners); the third probably less good than the first two (which it occasionally regurgitates).

I remember around forty years ago hearing Wilfred Massiah, my English teacher at school, eulogising this book, or at least one of the component sections, [How to be an Alien], citing it as one of the funniest observations of the British that had ever been written. I had then, and retain now, a huge regard for Mr Massiah, and owe him a huge debt for pointing me towards any number of great writers, and regret never having found the opportunity to tell him so. In this instance, however, I fear his normally reliable judgement had completely failed him.

Back in the 1970s, when he was recommending this book to me, it was already some thirty or so years old, and it is now more than seventy years since it was first published, so it is reasonable to expect that literary tastes have changed considerably. I still fail, however, to understand why it proved so popular (and in publishing terms it was a huge success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies over the decades). I found it laboured, trite, utterly banal and comprehensively unfunny. It didn't even merit the dismissive judgement of, 'I laughed until I stopped'. Laugh? I never even started

The author of this book thinks he's a psychic. He tells the reader about some Japanese custom, then assumes that they are so narrow-minded as to think it's bizarre. He then points out their narrow-mindedness, which may all be in his head, by likening it to some Western custom. I suppose he thinks he's clever, but I find this insulting, not to mention that I find people who can carry on an argument all by themselves pretty irritating. Not a positive way to present people, so I put it down lest my annoyance with the author would carry over to his subject.

I loved the turn of phrase and turn of thought. I loved leaving Tsi-Tsa eternally alive and quite well.

For a book published in 1946 you should expect all the obvious stereotypical examples of what foreigners expect the British to be like;
The quaint customs of greeting an acquaintance then asking how they are, to which only the formal reply 'I'm fine. How are you' should be given regardless of circumstance.
The English obsession with discussing the weather; and the social protocol of never contradicting anyone in polite conversation.
Then there is the ultimate British crime of having taken a delicate and refined beverage of tea, and through generations of ignorance and bad taste transformed it into the colourless and tasteless gargling-water we know today as English Tea.
Not to mention queuing, long awkward silences, buses and taxis, the list goes on and on.

You would expect a book published eighty years ago to now appear very dated and inaccurate.
I only wish to God it were...

(Nicolas Bentley's line drawings are a perfect accompaniment to the text.)

Back in 1955, the then Duke of Bedford was one of the first members of the aristocracy to open his stately home to the public as a means of raising funds to cover the running costs. He published this book in 1971, ostensibly as a "how to" manual for his (literal) peers who might be considering doing the same.

It is, in fact, packed full of genuine and useful advice for the would-be stately home entrepreneur, or indeed anyone in a service or tourism business. It's also a highly entertaining read for the public at large. The duke was a sharp observer of human behaviour and had a bone-dry sense of humour. He combined this with what reads as a genuine appreciation of and gratitude for his customers, and a delight in sharing his possessions with other people who enjoyed them.

The book was written in collaboration with George Mikes of "How to be an alien" fame. It's hard to tell exactly what blend of ghost-writing, co-writing and editing was going on here, but the duke was certainly capable of writing well on his own account, as he'd had a career as a journalist. It's clear that the general observations and much of the humour came from the duke -- and that the two men shared a wryly funny view of the foibles of the English. The original hardback edition is set off with illustrations by ffolkes, including a rather splendid colour illustration on the dust jacket.

It's a short book, only 125 pages, but it had me smiling on nearly every page, and left me feeling that I would have liked to meet the duke. Very much recommended if you like this sort of book.

It's long since out of print, but readily available online at reading copy price.

A masterpiece of self-deprecation, funny, witty and at times hilarious. Even though somewhat dated (the first part 'How to be an alien' was published in 1946), the author appears to go straight to the heart of quintessential Britishness.

I actually acquired this book for the quirky ink cartoons by the French cartoonist Zabo. As it turned out these were not as perceptive (or as numerous) as his observations on the Chinese in his own book ´Hong Kong: Sweet and Sour´. Which leaves George Mike´s text. It is certainly dated; his Japan is the both pre-bust and pre-boom, taking us back to 1970. The observations on the Japanese character are more or less true, easily digestible and I suppose enlightening for anyone with little or no acquaintance with Japan. It treats Japan and the Japanese very gently and misses some of the more modern developments such as anime and love hotels. But for all of that, and perhaps because of that, it is an inoffensive sort of book that one could safely give to a maiden aunt visiting Japan for the first time.

Further re Zabo. I have the Penguin edition of this book which appears to have skipped Zabo cartoons that are on the covers of this work from other publishers. So I may have undersold him in relation to his Japanese work.½

נראה שלמיקוש נגמרו הנושאים

מסתבר שאפילו בשוויצרים אפשר למצוא צד מצחיק

מיקש חוזר לטפל בארצו המאמצת

תורה של איטליה הגיע

הגיע הזמן לצחוק מן הצרפתים

בשלב הזה כבר חיכינו בקוצר רוח של מיקש, הפעם הוא מטפל בגרמנים

האמת שאני לא יודע על מה מיקש כתב כאן, אבל אני יודע שקראתי אותו