A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA by William Boyd (hier online bestellen)
The story:
In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job.
His love of women, his fondness for drink, and his loathing for the country prove formidable obstacles on his
road to any kind of success. But when he becomes an operative in Operation Kingpin and is charged with
monitoring the front runner in Kinjanja’s national elections, Morgan senses an opportunity to achieve real
professional recognition and, more importantly, reassignment.
After he finds himself being blackmailed, diagnosed with a venereal disease, attempting bribery, and
confounded with a dead body, Morgan realizes that very little is going according to plan.
Excerpt from book:
Chapter 1:
"Good man," said Dalmire, gratefully accepting the gin Morgan Leafy offered him, "Oh, good man." He presents
his eager male friendship like a gift, thought Morgan; he's like a dog who wants me to throw a stick for him
to chase. If he had a tail he'd be wagging it.
Morgan smiled and raised his own glass. I hate you, you smug bastard! he screamed inwardly. You shit, you
little turd, you've ruined my life! But all he said was, "Congratulations. She's a fabulous girl. Lovely.
Lucky chap."
Dalmire rose to his feet and went to the window that looked over the Deputy High Commission's front drive.
Heat vibrated up from the parked cars, and a dusty even light lay over the view. It was late afternoon,
the temperature was in the low nineties, Christmas was less than a week away.
Morgan watched in disgust as Dalmire tugged and eased his sweaty trouser seat. Oh Priscilla, Priscilla,
he asked himself, why him? Why Dalmire? Why not me?
"When's the great day then?" he asked, his face all polite curiosity.
"Not for a while," Dalmire replied. "Old Ma Fanshawe seems set on a spring wedding. So's Pris. But I'm easy."
He gestured at the sombre bank of clouds which loomed over the rusty sprawling mass that was the town of
Nkongsamba, state capital of the Mid-Western region, Kinjanja, West Africa. "Looks like we're in for a shower."
Morgan thought about replacing the gin in his filing cabinet, decided against it and poured himself another stiff
three-fingers. He waved the green bottle at Dalmire who threw up his hands in mock horror.
"Lord no, Morgan, couldn't take another. Better let the sun hit the yard-arm."
Morgan shouted for Kojo, his secretary. The man promptly emerged from the outer office. He was small, neat
and dapper with a starched white shirt, tie, blue flannels and black shoes loose on his feet. Every time he
was in Kojo's presence Morgan felt like a slob.
"Ah, Kojo. Tonic, tonic. More tonic," he said, trying to keep himself in check.
"Comin', sah." Kojo turned to go.
"Hold on. What's that you've got?" Kojo held several looping strands of paper-chain.
"Christmas dec'rations, sah. For your office. I thought maybe this year. . . ."
About the author:
William Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana, on 7 March 1952. He was educated at Gordonstoun School,
Glasgow University and Jesus College, Oxford. His first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), was published
while he was a lecturer in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and won the Whitbread First Novel Award and
a Somerset Maugham Award.
His other novels include An Ice-Cream War (1982),
Brazzaville Beach (1990), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) , and The Blue Afternoon (1993), which won the Sunday Express Book of the Year
award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Fiction). Armadillo (1998) is set in London and follows the
adventures of insomniac loss-adjustor Lorimer Black. The book was adapted for television as a four-part
series screened by the BBC in 2001 with a screenplay by the author. The publication of Boyd's book Nat Tate:
An American Artist 1928-1960 (1998), the 'biography' of a neglected genius, reportedly fooled a number of
prominent art critics who claimed to have heard of the wholly fictional painter.
A former television critic for the New Statesman (1981-3) magazine, William Boyd is also a scriptwriter.
He wrote the television screenplays for Good and Bad at Games (1983), Dutch Girls (1985) and Scoop (1987),
as well as the screenplays for film versions of two of his own books, A Good Man in Africa and Stars and Bars.
He also wrote and directed the First World War drama The Trench, first screened in 1999. A new radio play,
the ghost story A Haunting, was first broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in December 2001. His screenplay for The Galapagos Affair is shortly to be made into a film.
William Boyd became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983. His eighth novel, Any Human Heart (2002),
is a history of the twentieth century told through the fictional journals of novelist Logan Mountstuart.
William Boyd lives in London.
Buchdaten:
A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA by William Boyd
Sprache: Englisch
Broschiert - 96 Seiten - Penguin Books
Erscheinungsdatum: 25. März 1982
ISBN: 0140058877
Preis: € 13,50
More works from the same author:
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