The Aerodrome - Rex Warner
A truly ground breaking novel. Research it, then if
intrigued, as many readers will be, get hold of it.
Superior to 1984 and Brave New World. A forgotten masterpiece of 20th century English lit. The cover quote says - "Probably the only novel of its time to understand the dangerous yet glamorous appeal of fascism and the less confident, only half-satisfactory answer of traditional democracy". First published in 1941, Anthony Burgess says in his introduction -" do not read this introduction first, unless you don't mind major plot details given away".
It is about England, only insofar as "the Village" is given distinctively English characteristics, like the pub - no nationalities or city or country names are ever mentioned, and half the characters have titles rather than names: the Rector, the Squire, the Flight Lieutenant, the Air Vice-Marshal. It is, certainly, about the allure of fascism, but, to return to Burgess, it is an "ambiguous" book, and an academic examination of fascism it is not. There is lovely detail given to character and descriptions of the Village. It also is a black comedy so dark that almost the only chuckles it elicits are nervous ones. Bloody unusual, this duck. Burgess mentioned that he read it several times. I can see why. It is a strange and mysterious book.
The Flight-Lieutenant told us that he had accidentally used live instead of blank ammunition in the machine-gun whose performance he had been demonstrating. "The old boy took it right in the face, " he said, "and went over like a ninepin." He smiled as he recalled the scene to his memory, then added in a more serious voice: "It was a really bad show."
Last edited by Fantome; 12th Feb 2015 at 05:58.