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Noël Coward in His Own Words
Compiled by Barry Day
Methuen Drama £7 99
159 pages
Dateline: 2nd November, 2008
It is quite difficult to review a book the title of which is so perfect
a summary of its contents. Ironically, when it was originally published,
it was far less appropriately entitled Noël Coward: a Life in
Quotes.
Barry Day has trawled through Coward's work in an effort to find the
finest morsels, most only a sentence or two long, expounding on his
view of life, or simply just demonstrating his talent to amuse. Some
are extracted from plays, others from novels, many from his diaries
and a few from other sources, some never previously published.
While readers may be familiar with the writer and some of these pieces,
it is still a pleasure to read them again, although if ever there was
a book designed to sit in a bathroom or by a bedside this is it. However
brilliant a writer Coward might have been, more than about five minutes
of genius at a stretch can prove indigestible.
In very short doses, perhaps one to five pages at a time, Noël
Coward in His Own Words is a delight, giving at times an almost
autobiographical insight into the career and opinions of its author
but also proving him an adept social commentator who clearly did not
suffer fools gladly.
This brief retrospective might also persuade readers that they wish
to learn more about the man and his work. Methuen Drama are certainly
well able to help, as publishers of his diaries, letters, lyrics, short
stories and eight volumes of plays, not to mention biographies and memoirs.
Enough said.
Philip Fisher
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