About this ebook
A young man from Northern England struggles to find a sense of belonging at Oxford University during WWII in this “brilliant” novel by a literary icon (The Times).
John, who’s never traveled far from his northern town of Huddleston, finds himself an undergraduate at Oxford University in 1940. A shy, insecure working-class young man, he is awed by his confident, careless roommate and yearns to fit in, clumsily pursuing a girl from a wealthy family. But as his efforts fail, he retreats further into a dream world in this early novel by Philip Larkin, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated poetic voices of postwar Britain.
“Provides a revealing portrait of Oxford and the English class system as it existed during World War II . . . Mr. Larkin’s gift for using landscape as a mirror of an individual’s emotions is very much in evidence.” —The New York Times
Includes an introduction by the author
John, who’s never traveled far from his northern town of Huddleston, finds himself an undergraduate at Oxford University in 1940. A shy, insecure working-class young man, he is awed by his confident, careless roommate and yearns to fit in, clumsily pursuing a girl from a wealthy family. But as his efforts fail, he retreats further into a dream world in this early novel by Philip Larkin, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated poetic voices of postwar Britain.
“Provides a revealing portrait of Oxford and the English class system as it existed during World War II . . . Mr. Larkin’s gift for using landscape as a mirror of an individual’s emotions is very much in evidence.” —The New York Times
Includes an introduction by the author
About the author
Philip Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and St John's College, Oxford. As well as his volumes of poems, which include The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows, he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter, and two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Diary, and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the WHSmith Award.
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