Keep The Aspidistra Flying

Synopsis

ISBN: 978 1906147860 / Cat No: TT7CD 904 Orwell's early comic novel tells the story of Gordon Comstock, the mildly talented poet and bookshop employee who bitterly rejects the pursuit of money but dwells endlessly on the detrimental effect this decision has had on his life, from making him less attractive to women to necessitating his boring unambitious job. An interesting precursor to Orwell's later satirical works, Keep The Aspidistra Flying is a comic treatment of a man obsessed with his own disdain for the vulgarities of Capitalism, and how he is pushed by unfortunate choices made in the name of being anti-money to come around to a less obtuse approach. Comstock's girlfriend, Rosemary, is persuaded to sleep with him on a day trip to Burnham Beeches, but at the mention of contraception, a luxury Gordon maintains he cannot afford, Gordon loses his will to continue. When she later rejects him, he uses an unexpected small fortune that has come his way to see a prostitute, landing himself in jail. Drawing on autobiographical experiences of Orwell's from a time when he was living in London, the book is a fine example of his writing, and an early indicator as to other masterpieces of fiction he would write in the decade that followed.