Antrobus Complete

Rating:
Summary: Diplomatic Corpse
Review: "Antrobus Complete" is a series of humorous short pieces or anecdotes about life in the British diplomatic service, as told by the ex-diplomat Antrobus to a friend and former colleague.

Durrell sends up or satirises the old diplomatic types: their xenophobia, eccentricities and misogyny. The "old school tie" and "keeping up appearances were of overriding importance to the likes of Ambassador Polk-Mowbray, who ran the Embassy in which Antrobus worked. The stories are sometimes hilarious: for example, relating the deleterious influence of American English on the standard of British diplomatic dispatches (consternation being caused by the demise of the Latin tag); and the disturbing nature of the French:

"Where you have French people you find culture creeping in. (Why, she had the nerve to ask me one day "are you fond of Racine?" to which I riposted instantly, "I never bet on horses, Madam".)"

The overall standard of the stories is somewhat variable: sometimes Durrell fails to reach the wit of the best, but overall enjoyable.

G Rodgers