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The Naked Civil Servant (Flamingo)
 
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The Naked Civil Servant (Flamingo) (Paperback)

by Quentin Crisp (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Flamingo; New Ed edition (17 Jun 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006540449
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006540441
  • Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9 x 1.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 386,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

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.

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The Naked Civil Servant (Flamingo)
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The Naked Civil Servant (Flamingo) 4.4 out of 5 stars (5)
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Charming Man, 27 Sep 2004
By Robert Paul "robertjamespaul" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Most autobiographies are too long, too dull and too self-congratulatory. Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servent isn't. Crisp comes across as completely charming: a lovely, witty man, quick to laugh at himself, ready to listen to others.
He is full of eccentricities aside from the obvious - his decision to promote his homosexuality in a time when such an activity was unheard of, by his wearing makeup/dying his hair with henna - including never cleaning his flat ("after the first year the dust really doesn't get any worse") and never reading any books, ("books are for writing, not for reading" - actually a quote from another book of his).
He is endlessly quotable and very funny.
Yet for all the humour the tone of this book is sad. Crisp was endlessly abused, beaten-up and victimised because of his appearance.
The book is also a valuble historical document shedding light on the blacked-out seedy streets of wartime Soho.
And what exactly is a naked civil servent? You'll have to read it to find out, won't you?
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An Englishman in the Soho, 3 Sep 2002
This is the book that made Quentin Crisp famous (and infamous) and that gave him the title of England's Stately Homo. Quentin was an out homosexual even before the word 'out' was coined, and this is an ironic, and most of the times sarcastic, auto-biography on being a notorious effeminate man in the pre-70 "victorian" London days. Quentin's self-derogatory humour is, of course, only a way of criticising everyone and everything around him and getting away with it. In a Wilde kind of way this is a very very funny book, full of quotable material.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Book, 16 Jan 2010
This review is from: The Naked Civil Servant (Stranger Than!) (Paperback)
After reading so many positive reviews about The Naked Civil Servant on Amazon i bought a copy,i wont talk about the book as the other reviews have said everything,all i will say is that once i opened the first page i found that i couldnt put the book down,i absolutely loved it,and i personally think that this is a book that everybody should read before they leave this mortal coil.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A piece of gay history
Crisp is obviously eloquent and I found the book easy to read and entertaining, though turgid in places. Read more
Published 5 months ago by richie

5.0 out of 5 stars 20th Century England - The Outsider's Guide
It's extraordinary to think that this autobiography, in which Mr Crisp describes his first 60-odd years, should now appear as almost an introduction to his life. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Vitamino

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