The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp - Softcover

Davies, W. H.

3.82

627 ratings by Goodreads

9781848689800: The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848689802 ISBN 13: 9781848689800

Publisher: Amberley Publishing, 2010

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In his note to the 1920 edition of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, W. H. Davies states that it was written 'on the advice of friends who claimed my life of adventure would have an interest for the public'. They were not wrong. Starting with his early life in Wales, Davies documents how he was always restless as a child, having minor brushes with the local constabulary and often truanting from school. His restive demeanour continued into his youth, where he openly admits he was 'running wild, taking no interest in my trade, and determined to throw off all restraint'. Acting upon impulse, Davies embarked for America and began a life that would take him the length and breadth of that country. With refreshing honesty Davies leaves little of this life to the imagination, offering detailed accounts of his American tramping, varying from the extraordinary honour of tramps who look down on the working man, to the winter months spent in prison to avoid the cold, to the weakness of spending any money he saved on excessive drinking sprees. However, after a tragic accident he returns to England with ambitions of becoming a published author. In a touchingly evocative narrative, Davies recounts his financial difficulties leading to his tramping of England trying to earn enough money to self-publish his work. The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is a fascinating read, which takes the reader on an incredible journey through the life of a supremely talented, tragically flawed, yet undeniably unique man.

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About the Author:

W. H. Davies (1871-1940) was a renowned Welsh poet, most famous for his poem Leisure (1911). He published his first book, The Soul's Destroyer and Other Poems in March 1905. He wrote few works of prose; Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908) is his most famous. He married in 1923 and his last place of residence was Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. In 1926 he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Wales. In 1938 a plaque in his honour was unveiled in Newport.

Review:

“Davies and Kerouac are so similar it’s like they have had the same illness. !ey kept searching, longing, moving. . . !ey are mesmerising narrators. . . [Davies’s] story has the tension and suspense of a man whose life and soul is in jeopardy.”

The Times (London)

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