ANGLO-EGYPTIAN COMEDY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27676, 4 June 1955, Page 3

ANGLO-EGYPTIAN COMEDY

The Picnic at Sakkara. By P. H. Newby. Jonathan Cape. 239 pp. This is P. H. Newby’s funniest novel.

It is also a remarkably good study of the Egyptian character. In fact, as a subtle analysis of the complex relationship between Englishmen and Egyptians it is as good as, if not better than, E. M. Forster’s celebrated

- novel about the comparable relationship between Englishmen and Indians, “A Passage to India.” The central character is an English : Professor, trying to introduce his students to the pleasures of English literature in a university where antiEnglish political demonstrations are a daily occurrence. In the character of I one. of his students, Muawiya Khaslat, ' P. H. Newby presents the ridiculously contradictory tensions that animate the Egyptian when he contemplates the Englishman and English culture. Muawiya loves the myopic and charming Professor, but he hates the English. He belongs to the fanatical Moslem Brotherhood, who order him to murder the Professor, but he warns the Professor in advance not to trust him, and hjs attempt at murder is distinctly half-hearted. His dramatic gestures, volatile temperament and divided loyalties are characteristic of the Egyptian character, with its rather synthetic sense of drama, and deep love of intrigue. The Professor is surrounded with trouble. His wife, having furnished herself with an .illusory love-affair has recently decided that she is about to leave him. His liberal and humanitarian impulses have urged him to compile material for a report on the living conditions of his Egyptian students. But such activities immediately become political, and temporarily lose him the friendship of his illustrious Private pupil, Tureiya Pasha and his elderly feminist wife the Princess, plunge him into conflict with his university superiors, and cause the gratified students to invite him to a ceremonial picnic. The plot of the novel—like that of most good comedies—is highly complicated, but it is beautifully constructed, and everything dovetails neatly. There are innumerable moments of delicious absurdity, and the unexpected happens at every turn. Remarkable pentetration into character and into the roots of political conflict and the inferiority complex that usually lies behind fanatical nationalism are everywhere implicit in this excellent comedy. When the Professor is finally driven to resign from the University and return to England, his departure is the achievement of Muawiya, but—comments Mr Newby it was not intimidation. It was deep regard, shot through with jealousy; an abortive love affair.” And this perhaps is true of all the young and aggressive , nations who have succeeded in getting rid of their benevolent guardians ' Urbane and ironic, Mr Newby makes i many a similar comment, profound in suggestion, in the course of his highly entertaining tale.

PUNCH’S SPRING NUMBER

ios? e c leadin <T feature in PUNCH’S 1955 Spring Number, just to hand, is a parody • of the Russian humor2S»iF ap « r Krokodil.” The idea is Siu 1 ! n J ly .carried through; from a technical point of view it is remarkable to notice how effectively Russian ■ tol! P f rtfafaafad Simply by mixing r h6 to f ?u ts of . En ß ,lsh type. A cartoon from the special number on the change of Prime Ministers in Britain is reproduced on this page. There are r? V iv a L b J lght articles, among them P. G. Wodehouse’s piece on the one hundredth anniversary of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” most enjoyable feature is Punch s treatment of the strike that deprived England of the London national daily newspapers for several weeks. To safeguard the public against the recurrence of such a calamity, two standby leading articles for “The Times are suggested—one each of the normal and “Fourth Leader” style. When other industries strike, the Army is often called in; "Punch” produces a newspaper in the style the Army might produce. The tragedy of a local reporter of a London daily is recorded; normally he seldom reached print, but so many things happened in nis dead-and-alive hole” during the strike which could not be printed that the frustrated man killed himself m his despair. A racing scribe deplores that though over a couple of weeks he had remarkable success in picking winner after winner, “due to rash and ill-considered industrial bickering these naps failed to appear in print.” Finally, a “Vox Populi” column records these gems: “I’m only a working woman, but I have my pride. This is the first time in 30 years my husband has hit me on the he i?- <^^l !t T the ‘lllustrated London News.’ ” -WOMAN AT WILLESDEN. “While reading through the shelves of the linen cupboard, I found a mislaid set LADY le CRO°Up S ° me sentimental value.”— “Let us give thanks for even a week or two of added life for the whispering Canadian pines, soon to be butchered for pulp to jnake newsprint.”—MAN OF THE TREES.”

“It would have suited me better before Christmas, when my feet were bad.” STRAND NEWSVENDOR.