Richard Cobb
There is always a great deal of satisfaction in reading about journeys carried out, generally in winter, in conditions of ex- treme discomfort and to places where you have to queue up for food and for pretty well everything else and where officials snarl. Denis Hills's Return to Poland (Bod- ley Head, £12.95) describes a trip to that country, after a gap of 45 years, in a drafty and rusty van (in which he generally slept). An eager recruit for punishment, the au- thor prolonged the agony by taking in East Germany as well. An excellent read, un- likely to appeal to the Polish and East German Tourist Boards.
East End, 1888 by W. J. Fishman (Duck- worth, £18.95) is a splendid piece of historical research and intuition, compas- sionate and moving, illuminated by the author's intimate knowledge of the terrain. Here is a centenary worth commemorat- ing.
This year I made the delighted discovery of Francois Cavanna's Les Ritals (Paris, Belfond). It is a wonderfully verbal book, especially when relaying the sales-talk of les baratineurs at the Saturday market of the Parisian suburb, Nogent-sur-Marne. A book that one can hear.
While on holiday in the summer I started on Richard Ellmann's Oscar Wilde (Penguin, £6.99). I did not think anything relating to Oscar Wilde could be tedious but I gave up by page 130, overcome by aesthetics. Perhaps I should have another go.
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