En 1929, el brillante y ácido escritor Evelyn Waugh tuvo la oportunidad de emprender un viaje a lo largo y ancho de todo el Mediterráneo, de Monte Carlo a Port Said, de El Cairo a Sevilla, pasando por ciudades como Nápoles, Constantinopla, Argel o Barcelona. Waugh, por entonces un valor emergente de la literatura inglesa, quiso dejar testimonio escrito de esta odisea. Sin embargo, como era consciente de lo poco original de sus destinos, se propuso dar una vuelta de tuerca a su relato y analizar los lugares y laspersonas que conoció adoptando una postura diferente, ingeniosa y muy, muy británica, que ya se adivina en el curioso título de este libro de viajes, «porque todos los lugares que visité durante mi viaje ya están perfectamente etiquetados». La perspicaz mirada del autor para captar los detalles y su afilada pluma dibujan con acierto y humor un paisaje humano que se despliega ante nosotros, haciendo de Waugh un compañero de viaje ideal y de Etiquetas un libro espléndido y entretenidísimo

Recently I have fully begun to appreciate the writing genius of Evelyn Waugh. I always realised he was good, but now I am starting to understand more fully his greatness. Throughout 2013 I have read, or reread, a number of his books, along with the splendid Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead by Paula Byrne. Having read all of his fiction, bar Sword of Honour, which I am poised to start, I was keen to sample some of Evelyn Waugh's non-fiction.

I am delighted to report that "Labels" is every bit as good as his wonderful fiction. In "Labels", we join Evelyn Waugh on a trip around the Mediterranean in 1929: he travels from Europe to the middle east and north Africa. Waugh chose the name "Labels" for this, his first travel book, because he thought the places he visited were already "fully labelled" in people's minds. Despite this, he brings a fresh and entertaining perspective to all that he encounters. His pen captures the local colour and the amusing idiosyncrasies of being a tourist. The writing is a delight, and each page is full of fun, amusing anecdotes, and incident. Even when he is bored, he still manages to write about it entertainingly. I look forward to reading more of his travel books, and more of his non-fiction.

Three things particularly struck me about this book:

1. The style is very chatty, humorous and self-deprecating, which is completely as odds with his misanthropic reputation.

2. His innate snobbishness results in some outrageous humour. For example, the cruise ship on which Waugh travels, occasionally encounters another cruise ship favoured by German tourists. He describes this ship as "vulgar" with inhabitants who are all "unbelievably ugly Germans" albeit "dressed with great courage and enterprise e.g. One man wearing a morning coat, white trousers and a beret".

3. By focussing on various minor details of his travels, Waugh provides the modern reader with all kinds of fascinating insights into tourism and travel in 1929. For example, the book starts with Waugh was taking a flight to Paris - he was one of only two passengers in a tiny plane, and this mode of transport was very new and unusual at the time. His detailed description of the experience is very informative about the early years of air passenger travel.

A very enjoyable read and, at a mere 174 pages, pleasingly quick and easy to read.

4/5 ( )

This delightful book describes an extended tour around mainly Mediterranean Europe of the inter-World War years – it is in fact describing Waugh’s own heavily disguised honeymoon. The resulting book gained much praise and interest...
“the new book that interests me most this week is Labels … less for any outstanding merits it may possess than from the fact that I wrote it myself” as the author himself wrote in review!

Full of that marvelous inherited gifted family wit, the book contains several favorite sentences, often quoted or at least partly remembered by fans of this family’s writing. A gushing encounter at a tony cocktail party:
“..I love your books so much I never travel without them.. I keep them in a row by my bed.”
“..by any chance you are not confusing me with my brother, Alec? He has written many more books than I.’
“Yes, of course. What’s your name then?”
“Evelyn.”
“But… they said you wrote!”
“Well, yes I do a little. You see I couldn’t get any other sort of job”.
Evelyn adds ruefully that he wondered if she would add Labels to the row by her bed.

Another gem, perhaps the most famous paragraph written in the entire genre of travel…
“I do not think I shall ever forget the sight of Etna at sunset; the mountains almost invisible in a blur of pastel grey, glowing on the top … the whole horizon behind radiant with pink light, fading gently into a grey pastel sky.” Then the final sentence: ”Nothing I have seen in Art or Nature was quite so revolting.”

A wonderful romping read with many more gems for the reader to find.

Entertaining description of travels through inter-war Europe. ( )