Flying Visits
Postcards From The Observer 1976-83
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Travel writing at its humorous best, Flying Visits collects the Postcards of Clive James originally written for the Observer between 1976 and 1983 – full of his distinctive wit and satire.
Whether enduring Australian television, exploring the mystifying Soviet Union, watching sumo training in Japan, or enjoying Sondheim via serial killers in New York, James is never less than thoroughly entertaining.
As a time-capsule of the period or as a humorous journey across the globe, this is an enduring collection for the well – and not so well – travelled.
'He writes with such wisecracking intelligence that you're happy to be taken around by him - whether to Japan, Los Angeles, or Sydney' – Guardian
Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much-loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. His encyclopaedic study of culture and politics in the twentieth century, Cultural Amnesia, remains perhaps the definitive embodiment of his wide-ranging talents as a critic.
Praise for Clive James:
'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times
'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker
'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert
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.
