Keep the Aspidistra Flying (Paperback)

George Orwell

ISBN 10: 0198858310 / ISBN 13: 9780198858317

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021

About this Item

Paperback. "Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success." Disgusted by society's materialism, Gordon Comstock leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet. In his race to the bottom, only Rosemary, his long-suffering girlfriend, challenges Gordon's self-destructive course. The novel contains the most sustained reflections on the role of the author and theartistic imagination anywhere in Orwell's fiction, as the book's protagonist struggles (and ultimately fails) to reconcile his romantic-aestheticist sensibilities with the pressures of the literary marketplace and withsocial expectations. Completed while Orwell travelled north to work on The Road to Wigan Pier, this novel is a key transitional text in his career. Offering a powerful portrayal of the emotional toll of precarity and the desire to break with capitalism, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a significant work of mid-century British fiction but it also speaks to our own time. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has madeavailable the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expertintroductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. "Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success." Gordon Comstock decides to live in poverty rather than compromise with the 'money god'. Disgusted by society's materialism, he leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780198858317

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Keep the Aspidistra Flying (Paperback)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198858310
• ISBN 13: 9780198858317
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

"Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success." Gordon Comstock decides to live in poverty rather than compromise with the 'money god'. Disgusted by society's materialism, he leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet.

About the Author

Benjamin Kohlmann teaches English literature at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He is the author of Committed Styles: Modernism, Politics, and Left-Wing Literature in the 1930s (2014) and Speculative States: Literature and Reform in Britain, 1870-1920 (forthcoming). His articles have been published in PMLA, ELH, Novel, and other journals. He has co-edited several essay collections, including A History of 1930s British Literature (2019), with Matthew Taunton.