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Paperback. Light bump on spine foot. Binding is intact, contents are clean and clear. AM
Paperback
Published January 1, 1975
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About the author
Colin MacInnes
26 books43 followersMacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell MacInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, and was educated in Australia. He served in the British intelligence corps during World War II.
He was the author of a number of books depicting London youth and black immigrant culture during the 1950s, in particular City of Spades (1957), Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr. Love and Justice (1960).
He was the author of a number of books depicting London youth and black immigrant culture during the 1950s, in particular City of Spades (1957), Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr. Love and Justice (1960).
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November 7, 2021
in which one of my favorite authors reminds me that he once had a sideline in being a totally pretentious fuckwit. the kind who makes a big deal of being horrified about small-minded bourgeois entertainments, going on and on about it in articles published within various bourgeois magazines. this bizarrely circular and hypocritical side to him is in full flower within the 55 pages of this treatise on quote unquote The Novel. although basically a 1-star book, his over the top snobbery also makes me smile, and so I bestow upon thee an additional condescending star for being an amusement.
to remind myself why exactly this guy is one of my favorite authors, I figured I'd do a little overview of his works.
To The Victors The Spoils - unread. War novel.
June in Her Spring - 2 stars. A dreary slice of life set in the Australian middle and lower classes. Very well-written but the sour focus on small lives made smaller by closeted sexuality and bourgeois complacency made this an unpleasant experience.
City of Spades - 2 stars. When a liberal author decides to "humanize" black people by having a merry simpleton as a protagonist and decides to castigate white people by portraying them as cartoonish monsters, I can't help but be embarrassed by such liberals. But I also remember this being fun and of course well-written, despite being embarrassing.
Absolute Beginners - 5 stars. My first book by the author and one of my all-time favorite novels. The book is a dream come true and really spoke to me on a personal level. It felt like a reflection of my own life in my 20s.
Mr Love And Justice - 2 stars. I remember this being forgettable, LOL. Reread?
All Day Saturday - 3 stars. I remember enjoying this one. It had that earthy and deadpan quality when describing young adult lives that is very Colin MacInnes. Need to reread.
Westward To Laughter - unread. A novel about slavery.
Three Years To Play - 5 stars. A wonderful book set in Elizabethan times and written in milieu-appropriate prose. Quite a feat and it still manages to be as joyful and vital and real as Absolute Beginners. This is buried treasure that really needs to be unearthed.
Out of the Garden - 4 stars. His last novel about upper class assholes manipulating lower class assholes is extremely experimental, extremely class-focused, extremely misanthropic. The mean-spirited sourness was, amazingly, not a turn-off for me. Clearly at this point in his storied career, the author just didn't care what anyone thought about his books and so MacInnes did MacInnes.
So far as societies go, save in the case of propagandist works of small literary merit, like Uncle Tom's Cabin, an immediate influence seems extremely rare: for in practical terms, did all Dickens's indignation and satire alter the inhumane tangle of English legal procedure in any essential way? Did Tolstoy convert any Russian government, Tsarist, or Marxist, to his pacifist views? Perhaps writers have a long-term, immeasurable effect on a people's social assumptions; but little more than that.Oh, Colin. I mean, you're not wrong... but kinda missing the point too. Although I have actually left out the specific overriding point of this long essay: the only examples of true art are Poetry and Drama. He does allow that Balzac and Swift may also perhaps be considered art. But in general, per MacInnes, The Novel is simply bourgeois entertainment, its influence minimal, its days numbered, its hardcovers best enjoyed by suburbanites and its gaudy paperbacks best enjoyed by the plebian set (in which he amusingly puts himself). Such an atrocious perspective and also a shocking one, coming from an author's who is most known for his down to earth style and his love for human vitality.
to remind myself why exactly this guy is one of my favorite authors, I figured I'd do a little overview of his works.
To The Victors The Spoils - unread. War novel.
June in Her Spring - 2 stars. A dreary slice of life set in the Australian middle and lower classes. Very well-written but the sour focus on small lives made smaller by closeted sexuality and bourgeois complacency made this an unpleasant experience.
City of Spades - 2 stars. When a liberal author decides to "humanize" black people by having a merry simpleton as a protagonist and decides to castigate white people by portraying them as cartoonish monsters, I can't help but be embarrassed by such liberals. But I also remember this being fun and of course well-written, despite being embarrassing.
Absolute Beginners - 5 stars. My first book by the author and one of my all-time favorite novels. The book is a dream come true and really spoke to me on a personal level. It felt like a reflection of my own life in my 20s.
Mr Love And Justice - 2 stars. I remember this being forgettable, LOL. Reread?
All Day Saturday - 3 stars. I remember enjoying this one. It had that earthy and deadpan quality when describing young adult lives that is very Colin MacInnes. Need to reread.
Westward To Laughter - unread. A novel about slavery.
Three Years To Play - 5 stars. A wonderful book set in Elizabethan times and written in milieu-appropriate prose. Quite a feat and it still manages to be as joyful and vital and real as Absolute Beginners. This is buried treasure that really needs to be unearthed.
Out of the Garden - 4 stars. His last novel about upper class assholes manipulating lower class assholes is extremely experimental, extremely class-focused, extremely misanthropic. The mean-spirited sourness was, amazingly, not a turn-off for me. Clearly at this point in his storied career, the author just didn't care what anyone thought about his books and so MacInnes did MacInnes.
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