SASSENACH

by Peter Francis Browne ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1986

If eccentrics are funny--say a 90-year-old flasher who cuts his own throat when he and his pornographic books have been exposed--then what could be funnier than a whole nation of eccentrics? Such as Wales. Harry Gum shares a modest film studio with Angus Tree in London. They've hoped to make a feature film but have been reduced to bread-and-butter promos, industrials and so on. For some reason, Harry sees little cash from the studio while Angus lives high--off Harry's earnings. Eventually, Harry splits with Angus, who is soon thrown in jail on a sex charge anyway. Temporarily unemployable in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Leeds, Harry takes a job as a documentary director with Cambrian Television in Jerusalem, Wales. The station and its staff turn out to be as antediluvian as the countrymen they believe they are supplying shows for; actually Cambrian TV's best rating falls well below their rival station's Learning Icelandic show. Harry soon finds himself to be a Sassenach, or Englishman non grate, and it's not long before he's crossed the path of the League of the Red Dragon, a secret group whose insigne is a dragon plunging a sword into St. George. The head of the League is potty old Lord Oswald Roland Llugwy Warrenhurst, the father of three beautiful daughters, one of whom--Ethel--has an affair with Harry. Also roiling up the countryside are the Rainbow People, a hippie commune whose very existence raises the ire of Welsh xenophobes (nearly all Welshmen). When Harry decides to film a documentary that includes the Rainbow People at a local affair, the entire documentary is reedited to show the Rainbow People as nose-picking clods. Harry blows up--but the League has many harder blows to drop on him before he finally departs Wales forever. There are brilliant descriptions of perpetually rainy Wales and many funny moments, such as Harry's discovery of a mysterious crab claw in his locally made pork sausage, and especially about his small-minded TV station. But so much of the novel seeks boffo laughs from turns of grisly bad taste that tedium will quickly set in for many readers--though a British Terry Southern will find an audience to charm.

Pub Date: May 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Secker & Warburg--dist. by David & Charles

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION