Captain Pamphile

By Alexandre Dumas

The blurb on the back of this book describes it as a work of comedy, and in the first few chapters, it did have a sort of comic absurdity to it. Unfortunately, as the book progressed and the central character came to the fore, the comedy faded away and was replaced by politically biased absurdity. I'm sure some people would find this book to be amusing, taking the piss as it does, of European civilisation, imperialism and all the subsequent crimes of the last few centuries, but frankly, I found it dull. Dated. Certainly there is a cleverness in the way the work is written (originally it was a collection of related articles for a newspaper I believe) lulling the reader into a false sense of certainty and building up the character of Captain Pamphile in such a way as one might build a bear trap, but once the trap was sprung, I found myself not amused or surprised, but merely bored.

I had no preconceptions when I bought the book, but I was hoping for some escapism, in the vein of 'The Three Musketeers'. What I got though, was a lesson in the duplicity of humanity and especially of Europe. I don't mind cynicism, nor sarcasm. I am very fond of this form of humour having developed my tastes for such humour in Thatchers Britain when it was rife. What I object to though is when sarcasm is relentlessly biased, when wit is used as a rapier only against the political enemies of the author. I much prefer when sarcasm is used as a means to caricature all people, regardless of their political, sexual or religious persuasion.

I think perhaps that if the book had not attempted to describe itself as comedy, I would have been more inclined to accept its critical poke at European history as a valid point.