King Leopold's Soliloquy by Mark TwainMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
If Leopold lived today, he'd probably tweet like Trump did. Or at least that's how Twain's imagining of him seems.
Published in 1905 in the middle of one of the first human rights campaigns of the modern world, Twain's format here reminds me of Sarah Cooper's lip syncing of actual things Trump said; comedy plumbed from the tragedy of reality.
Twain's Leopold is a master of narcissistic self-pity combined with subterfuge combined with throwing blame around in all directions and at all walls, hoping some of it will stick well enough that people will forget the original sin.
Brilliant satire. Combined with excellent reportage, as Twain includes excerpts of some of the written and pictorial evidence of the atrocities, placing them artfully as as fodder designed to elicit a continuation of Leopold's rant but structurally educating the reader as to the realities of the horror in the Congo.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment