The Complete McAuslan

By George MacDonald Fraser

George MacDonald Fraser’s hilarious stories of the most disastrous soldier in the British Army – collected together for the first time in one volume.

Private McAuslan, J., the Dirtiest Soldier in the Word (alias the Tartan Caliban, or the Highland Division’s answer to the Pekin Man) first demonstrated his unfitness for service in The General Danced at Dawn. He continued his disorderly advance, losing, soiling or destroying his equipment, through the pages of McAuslan in the Rough. The final volume, The Sheikh and the Dustbin, pursues the career of the great incompetent as he shambles across North African and Scotland, swinging his right arm in time with his right leg and tripping over his untied laces.

His admirers know him as court-martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover and golf caddie extraordinary. Whether map-reading his erratic way through the Sahara by night or confronting Arab rioters, McAuslan’s talent for catastrophe is guaranteed. Now, for the first time, the inimitable McAuslan stories are collected together in one glorious volume.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Dec 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780007325665

George MacDonald Fraser

The author of the famous ‘Flashman Papers’ and the ‘Private McAuslan’ stories, George MacDonald Fraser has worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numeous films, most notably ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘The Four Musketeers’, and the James Bond film, ‘Octopussy’. George Macdonald Fraser died in January 2008 at the age of 82.

Reviews for The Complete McAuslan

[santhony_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author of this work is one of my favorites, having read most of his Flashman novels of historical fiction. I read his non-fiction work on the English/Scottish border wars, The Steel Bonnets, and found it virtually unreadable. While these works of fiction are a vast improvement over The Steel Bonnets, they suffer from some of the same drawbacks.The books in the Flashman series are uproariously funny, in addition to being historically accurate (in most cases not involving the title character) and highly educational. Adding to the experience is the historically accurate language, references and customs. This accuracy, a strength in the case of Flashman, actually detracts from the reader’s enjoyment in this collection of stories. For you see, while I am perfectly capable of deciphering the King’s English and have some understanding of English culture, the same cannot be said for heavy Scottish dialect and unfamiliar Scottish terms and/or customs. Added to this is the military milieu in which these stories are set. Frequent, arcane military references are made which quite simply mean nothing to me.Now, it is possible to simply skim over some of the language and military jargon and still enjoy the underlying humor of the stories, because like Flashman, there is real humor here, but only taking in 80% of the writing necessarily detracts from the experience. I would think that if you were a Scottish member of the military, you would find this collection absolutely first rate.This is a collection of three previously published works, each having as its narrator a young Subaltern (First Lieutenant?) named McNeil, who has a filthy, bumbling idiot named McAuslan in his regiment. Each work is broken into several amusing short stories, in which McAuslan plays a minor, peripheral role. Moderately amusing, but in light of the drawbacks noted above, not up to Flashman standards.

[liits-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having worked alongside quite a few different Scottish regiments, I can vouch for the honesty of this book. What I cannot convey is the humour. It is one of the very few “laugh out loud” book that I have ever read.

[juliebean_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is time that you hear "the sub-muckin', the whole cheese, the hail clanjamfry, the lot' about the Scottish Highland Regiment that served in Africa after World War II.George MacDonald Fraser has written the stories of this regiment and its most infamous soldier, Private McAuslan, in three collections: "The General Danced at Dawn", "McAuslan in the Rough", and "The Sheikh and the Dustbin".Through the narration by platoon commander Dand McNeil, McAuslan comes alive as the dirtiest soldier in the world, "wan o' nature's blunders; he cannae help bein' horrible. It's a gift."Yet McAuslan is one of the most loveable creatures in all of literature. He may be grungy, filthy, clumsy, and disreputable, but he tries to do his best. Through his many misadventures, McAuslan marches into the heart of the reader, right leg and right arm swinging in unison, of course.McAuslan, outcast that he is, experiences some infamous moments in his career: court martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover, golf caddie, expert map reader, and champion of the regimental quiz game (!). His tales, and the tales of his comrades-in-arms, are poignant at times, hilarious at others. These tales are so memorable because they are based on true stories.The reader basks in all things Scottish in the stories. The language of the soldiers is written in Scottish brogue, although Fraser says in his introduction, "Incidentally, most of this volume is, I hope, written in English." Don't fret - a glossary is provided. (Reading the glossary alone causes some serious belly laughs.If you read only one book this year, read this one. It's a volume that the reader will not soon forget.