What is it about the English? Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? As Jeremy Paxman remarks in his preface to The English, being English “used to be so easy”. Now, with the Empire gone, with Wales and Scotland moving into more independent postures, with the troubling spectre of a united Europe(and despite the raucous hype of “Cool Britannia”), the English seem to have entered a collective crisis of national identity.

Jeremy Paxman has set himself the task of finding just what exactly is going on. Why, he wonders, “do the English seem to enjoy feeling so persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy?” He ranges widely in pursuit of answers, sifting through literature, cinema and history. It is an intriguing investigation, encompassing many aspects of national life and character (such as it is), including the obligatory visit to that baffling phenomenon, the funeral of Princess Diana. Yet Paxman finds something fresh and interesting to say about even that now rather threadbare topic. In the end, he seems to find further questions to ask instead of answers. But why not? To him it is a sign that the English are acquiring a new sense of self. And some indication of this might lie in the obvious response to his remark that the English, being top of the British Imperial tree, had nicknames for the fellow nationalities–Jock, Taffy, Paddy and Mick–but there was no corresponding name for an Englishman. Of course, there is now, and it comes from one of the bits of empire to which so many undesirables were exported: Whinging Pom. –Robin Davidson

 

在這個世界上，可能很少有一種動物像英國人（精確地說，應該是英格蘭人）這麼複雜、惹人討厭，而影響世界的程度是這麼大。

愛爾蘭人憎恨英格蘭人，蘇格蘭人厭惡他，法國人更是英格蘭人的宿敵。如果你以為法國人是特例，那你就錯了。在歷史上跟英格蘭打過仗的族群不計其數，從西班牙的無敵艦隊、納粹德軍、俄國沙皇、荷蘭海軍、清朝官軍、阿根廷，都是英格蘭的手下敗將，仇恨的種子也深深種下。這還沒包括英國在十九世紀拓展殖民帝國的過程中加諸於印度等地的羞辱。

而今天，想到英格蘭人，腦中浮現的也是一幅不搭調的拼貼圖畫：一方面是衣冠楚楚、說話輕細的英國紳士淑女，一方面是在壓抑外表底下的淫蕩（王室的若干成員堪稱個中代表），還加上在足球場上有嚴重暴力傾向的英國球迷。

到底英國人的真面貌是什麼？同樣也是英格蘭人的帕克斯曼（其實他是英國的猶太人）以英國式的幽默，冷眼剖析這種謎一般的動物，趣味橫生，令人捧腹開懷，讀者從書中也會體認到，這個現代世界所賴以維繫的金融體系、經濟理論、連絡網路（火車、電視、郵政系統）都是英國人所創立的，在作者冷嘲熱諷之餘，也對英國人這種古怪動物肅然起敬。