Caryl Phillips. THE EUROPEAN TRIBE (Picador, #4.99).
* THIS slim volume of traveller's tales might be retitled Journeys
With A Shoulder Chip, and is written proof that being black doesn't mean
that you can't be an intellectual and social snob. The author brandishes
his education and status like a club, and his text is littered with
snide digs at people who have committed no offence other than to fall
under his fastidious gaze. He thinks that wearing a shell suit should be
a criminal offence.
His thesis is that Western Europe is riddled with racism -- which is
almost certainly true, but not reliably to be deduced from the author's
own experiences, which can all too credibly be explained in terms of
people simply not caring for the author or his attitude. The vignettes
of Casablanca, Paris, and other stops on his tour of resentment are
occasionally insightful, but permeating the book is Caryl Phillips's
belief that these places should be cleaner, happier, and nicer because
he is there. He tries to hold up a mirror to the face of European
tribalism but succeeds only in showing us his own ego.
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