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

by Quentin Crisp (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 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: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 298,288 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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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 9 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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8 of 10 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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3.0 out of 5 stars A piece of gay history, 2 Sep 2009
By richie (brighton) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Naked Civil Servant (Stranger Than...) (Paperback)
Crisp is obviously eloquent and I found the book easy to read and entertaining, though turgid in places. His cynicism and view of the homosexuals lot in life was depressing; he seemed to speak in an authoratative manner based only on opinion and his perception of the world around him. I found him a depressing and rather unpleasant character - however, I also thought him incredibly brave and stong-willed. To have made a conscious decision to live his life the way he wanted to all those years ago, to have faced such hatred, aggression and rejection suggests an amazing strength of character and determination to be. As a character I found little to like, as a human being I was full of admiration.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

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 6 months ago by Vitamino

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