Volume 45, Number 8 · May 14, 1998
Europe: Iceberg Ahead
By Timothy Garton Ash
Europe Adrift
by John Newhouse
Pantheon, 339 pp., $27.50
Readers of Proust will remember M. de Norpois, the writer on diplomatic affairs who sprinkles his articles in the Revue with 'The Court of St. James was not the last to be sensible of the peril' or 'that perpetual double-dealing which is so characteristic of the Ballplatz.' John Newhouse is a latterday M. de Norpois. His Europe is one of discreet, off-the-record chats with distinguished, silver-haired officials in thick-carpeted rooms, of conference chambers, received wisdom, and grand generalizations. Except that nowadays some things have to be explained for an Anglo-Saxon readership. Thus, for example: 'The institutions of Paris, starting with the 'Quai' (Quai d'Orsay), as the Foreign Ministry is generally known, were all but genetically programmed against having an intime relationship with America.' Later we read that 'pace Paris' Britain might develop a stronger relationship with Germany. M. de Norpois would be proud of that little 'pace Paris.' In between, we have quotations from a host of unnamed senior diplomats, politicians, observers, and so on.
Review, 2450 words
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