Research Catalog

Title

Voltaire's coconuts, or, Anglomania in Europe / Ian Buruma.

Author

Buruma, Ian

Publication

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

326 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

"Voltaire's Coconuts is a combination of history and biography which looks at how Europeans have been fascinated by all that it means to be English. Dutch by birth, Ian Buruma came to live in England in 1990 for the third time in his life and noticed a new mood of introspection. Englishness was a subject of endless discussion." "In this book Buruma examines these ideas about Englishness and what Europeans admired or loathed about Britain. Voltaire wondered why British laws could not be planted in France, or even Serbia, like the precious seeds of coconut trees. Karl Marx thought the English were too stupid to start a revolution; Goethe worshipped Shakespeare; Baron de Coubertin's idea of the modern Olympic Games was inspired by Tom Brown's Schooldays; Theodor Herzl's dream of the Jewish state was fuelled by his love of British aristocracy; and the German Kaiser was convinced that Britain was run by Jews." "Combining biographical stories of these European Anglophiles and Anglophobes with memories of his own Anglo-Dutch-German-Jewish family, Ian Buruma has found a wholly original way of describing the relationship between Britain and Europe."--BOOK JACKET.

Alternative Title

• Voltaire's coconuts
• Anglomania in Europe

Subject

• National characteristics, British
• National characteristics, English
• Great Britain > Civilization > 19th century
• Great Britain > Civilization > 18th century
• Great Britain > Foreign public opinion, European
• Europe > British influences
• England > Foreign public opinion, European
• Europe > Relations > Great Britain
• Great Britain > Relations > Europe
• Europe > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-314) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Churchill's cigar -- Voltaire's coconuts -- Goethe's Shakespeare -- Fingal's cave -- The Parkomane -- Graveyard of the revolution -- Schooldays -- A sporting man -- Wagnerians -- Jewish cricket -- The Anglomane who hated England -- Leslie Howard -- Dr. Pevsner -- The man in the tweed coat -- The last Englishman.

ISBN

• 0297643126
• 0297643216 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^^00693422^

OCLC

• 45419277
• SCSB-11798642

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library