Flying Visits: Postcards from the Observer, 1976-83 - Hardcover

James, Clive

3.81

246 ratings by Goodreads

9780393022940: Flying Visits: Postcards from the Observer, 1976-83

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393022943 ISBN 13: 9780393022940

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1986

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Capturing the essence of cities and countries through wit, satire, and penetrating observation, the author develops a unique form of travel writing with small pieces called "postcards," in which he renders impressions of such phenomena as sumo wrestling and the Russian language

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About the Author:

Clive James was educated at Sydney University and Cambridge, where he was President of Footlights. In addition to his bestseller Unreliable Memoirs and his novel Brilliant Creatures, he has published four mock-epic poems, The Fate of Felicity Fark, Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage, Britannia Bright's Bewilderment and Charles Charming's Challenges; three books of literary criticism, The Metropolitan Critic, At the Pillars of Hercules and From the Land of Shadows; a book of verse letters, Fan-Mail, and a verse diary, Poem of the Year. Between 1972 and 1982 he was television critic for the Observer; the three volumes of selections from his column are entitled Visions Before Midnight, The Crystal Bucket and Glued to the Box. As a television performer he has appeared regularly in several series, most notably Cinema, Saturday Night People, Clive James on Television and The Late Clive James. His television documentaries include Paris Fashion Show and Live in Las Vegas.

From Publishers Weekly:

Literate, brilliantly perceptive and witty, James's travel writing lays fair claim to S.J. Perelman's mantle. In this collection of James's London Observer pieces he describes his visits to his native Australia, Moscow, Japan, Salzburg and Jerusalem, and such U.S. sites as New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Epcot Center. There are also delightful entries on Margaret Thatchers visit to China, in which the Prime Minister is variously described as the War Leader, the Strong Woman, the Woman of Science and the Dragon Lady. James is devastating with similes (Arnold Schwarzenegger looks "like a brown condom full of walnuts") and trenchant in his observations ("Disney World is a vision without imagination"). A thorough pleasure.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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