The Naked Civil Servant - Softcover

Crisp, Quentin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452254132 ISBN 13: 9780452254138

Publisher: Plume, 1983

Synopsis

In this autobiography, Quentin Crisp describes his unhappy childhood and the stresses of adolescence that led him to London. There in bedsits and cafes he found a world of brutality and comedy, of shortlived jobs and precarious relationships. All of which he faced with humour and intelligence.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"As soon as I stepped out of my mother's womb...I realized that I had made a mistake", Quentin Crisp declares, giving a small hint of the witty and wry approach he takes toward the life he describes with uninhibited exuberance in this classic autobiography, which is both a comic masterpiece and a unique testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Crisp not only came out as a gay man in 1931, when the slightest sign of homosexuality shocked public sensibilities, but he did so with grand and provocative flamboyance, determined to spread the message that homosexuality did not exclude him or anyone else from the human race. His hilarious descriptions of encounters with parents, friends, employers, soldiers and sailors, and the law reveal the strength and humor of an honest man, determined to face the world with the uncensored, unapologetic truth about himself.

About the Author:

Quentin Crisp was born on Christmas Day 1908 in Sutton, a suburb of London. After leaving school he became an illustrator and a designer of book covers before spending the next 35 years of his life as an artists' model. In 1981 he moved to New York City and became a resident alien, living in a one bedroom flat in Chelsea which he famously never cleaned ("After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse"), and describing himself as a "resident waif." He died in 1999, just one month short of his 91st birthday.

About this edition

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0452254132
• ISBN 13: 9780452254138
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212