William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa

Martin Kich (Wright State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1981

Places

United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Drawing immediate comparisons to the work of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis, Boyd’s first novel, A Good Man in Africa, is a satiric character-study of a hapless British diplomat in West Africa. Leafy is First Secretary at the British Commission in the provincial capital of Nkongsamba, in the fictional country of Kinjanja. Although only in his mid-thirties, Leafy is already balding and overweight and well on his way to being irrecoverably debauched. He is at least as concerned about drinking and chasing skirt as he is in meeting his official responsibilities. But he has considerably more success with satisfying his thirst than with satisfying the women with whom he becomes involved. Priscilla Fanshawe, the daughter of Leafy’s s…

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468 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "A Good Man in Africa". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 July 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7138, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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