Half of the book is written as advice to a young writer, around the theme of how a novel might last ten years. Contains a brief history of literary trends from the 'mandarin' prose of the Georgians to the inter-war generation. Connolly writes immaculately and contains the famous warning that there is no more dreary enemy of art that "the pram in the hall"

The other half is a straight autobiography of his Edwardian childhood, through prep school (as a contemporary of Orwell) and Eton. His descriptions are splendid.

More accessible than 'The Unquiet Grave', a book I would recommend to anyone with literary aspirations.

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5.0 out of 5 stars THE great book about class, 11 Dec 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Enemies of Promise (Paperback)

Not just a tome for the product of Public Schools to get their hands on (although it should be an obligatory text before being allowed to pass out, it will tell you more about yourself than you ever want to know), this is one of the best - maybe the best - book on the nature and reasons for our current class system. It details the forces governing, and the implication of, the Public School system based on Connolly's own experience and is astute and unforgiving about the system's far-reaching consequences and flaws. His particular triumph is to show us how the future of the upper class is branded into them in the classroom and that the extremes experienced in that environment are such that Public School pupils are never free of their consequences. Absolutely brilliant - and not a little unsettling.

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