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

by Quentin Crisp (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 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: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 106,975 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

3 Reviews
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 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 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The book is also a valuble historical document shedding light on the blacked-out seedy streets of wartime Soho.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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5.0 out of 5 stars 20th Century England - The Outsider's Guide, 3 May 2009
By Vitamino (London) - See all my reviews
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. This book and the subsequent film undoubtedly ignited his fame but it was the next 30 years that would make him a star.

Intriguing from the start, we learn his most intimate details but not his real name. His passage through the 20th century reveals a view of England only an outsider could describe. In amongst the personal experiences we see the real nature of society and how its behaviour changes as a result of wartime bombing and post-war peace. How the majority revile him and how certain individuals (not necessarily gay) do not. It is a life affirming joy to learn that some not only accepted him as he was but also celebrated his commitment - even in those dark and uninformed days.

I suppose this book unwittingly questions the notion of normalcy and how, whilst many seek to follow the path prescribed, the real nature of human beings and how they respond to the unusual is not set in stone.

Nevertheless it does describe an eventual period of self-enforced penury in which he is frightened to leave his room. The final parts end quite bitterly as he considers how his inclinations and behaviour have led him to waste his life. But of course he didn't and the next chapter of his story was to turn this assumption upside down.

I'm making this book sound rather dour and such an account in anyone else's hands would be a drab thing indeed. No, Quentin Crisp was a highly intelligent and joyously articulate man and his writings reflect this. His views often seem to contradict accepted beliefs but he does so in a manner that suggests considered thought with the benefit of high intellect. Comparisons with Oscar Wilde are misleading. He does not make comments intended to provoke, his views on Wilde are made clear.

The Naked Civil Servant is a witty and highly enjoyable book. Although Mr Crisp has been regarded as something as a figurehead for the gay community this book should be read by everyone. As a story of a man outside society it's compelling and rewarding. And as a personal documentary on the attitude of society it's hard to beat.

But mostly it's just so rewarding. Funny and tragic in equal measure you'll find yourself smiling and occasionally, as your eyes track through the words, realising you've stopped reading and are considering all of the extraordinary avenues of reason it suggests.

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