Imagen del autor

Colin MacInnes (1914–1976)

Autor de Principiantes : Absolute beginners

20+ Obras 1,237 Miembros 27 Reseñas 3 Preferidas

Sobre El Autor

Créditos de la imagen: Courtesy of Allison and Busby

Series

Obras de Colin MacInnes

Ciudad de ébano (1957) 173 copias
Mr. Love and Justice (1960) 126 copias
The London Novels (1969) 86 copias
Australia and New Zealand (1964) 71 copias
England, Half English (1961) 41 copias
Westward to Laughter (1969) 30 copias
Three years to play (1970) 28 copias
June in Her Spring (1952) 27 copias
To the Victors the Spoils (1950) 21 copias
All Day Saturday (1974) 13 copias
Sweet Saturday night (1967) 10 copias
Sidney Nolan (1961) 10 copias

Obras relacionadas

Absolute Beginners [1986 film] (1986) — Original novel — 24 copias
OZ 44, September 1972 (1972) — Contribuidor — 2 copias
London OZ 1 (1967) — Contribuidor — 1 copia
London OZ 3 (1967) — Contribuidor — 1 copia

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Nombre canónico
MacInnes, Colin
Otros nombres
McInnes, Colin (birth)
Thirkell, Colin (childhood)
Fecha de nacimiento
1914-08-20
Fecha de fallecimiento
1976-04-22
Género
male
Nacionalidad
UK (birth)
Australia (passport)
País (para mapa)
UK
Lugar de nacimiento
London, England, UK
Lugares de residencia
London, England, UK (birth)
Australia
Educación
London Polytechnic
School of Drawing and Painting, Euston Road, London, UK
Ocupaciones
novelist
journalist
Relaciones
McInnes, James Campbell (father)
Thirkell, Angela (mother)
Kipling, Rudyard (cousin)
Baldwin, Stanley (cousin)
Thirkell, Lance (half brother)
McInnes, Graham (brother) (mostrar todos 7)
Burne-Jones, Edward (great-grandfather)
Organizaciones
BBC Radio
British Army (WWII)
Biografía breve
Son of singer Joseph Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, Colin MacInnes was born in London, raised in Australia, and returned to England in 1930. He served the UK in WWII, after which he wrote his first novel, To the Victor the Spoils, and worked for BBC Radio until he could earn a living writing.

He was openly bisexual, and though obviously in love with the city of London, remained relatively realistic about urban life. This is reflected in his writing, which often addresses race relations of the day, urban squalor, and includes frank and realistic depictions of gay and lesbian characters.

Miembros

Debates

1914: Colin MacInnes - Resources and General Discussion en Literary Centennials (Febrero 2015)

Reseñas

That was fairly good. It starts off well, told from the point of view of two main characters, a nigerian student in london for a year of study and a newly appointed colonial welfare officer.
The coloured community of 1950s london is a pretty unique setting. As well as nigerians you have gambians, people from trinidad and other caribbean islands, and a number of americans usually visitors, GIs or showbiz types.

However after the initial setup things become a bit episodic or sporadic might be a better descriptor. With its variety of characters it reminds me a lot of [a:Evelyn Waugh|11315|Evelyn Waugh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357463949p2/11315.jpg], except not funny, then again i don't usually find his stuff all that funny either :P .
Like Waughs novels, by the end there arn't really any likable characters or over-arcing plot, its more just a series of incidents.
The main nigerian character probably comes off the worst until you remember he's 18, which pretty conclusively explains if not entirely excuses his actions ;) .
The book is about race but not really racism. Its surprisingly light on the racism for 1950s but mostly because there are only a few white characters and they're mostly of the very liberal type.

By the end the whole thing just feels a bit slight. Fun and interesting enough but a bit thin.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
wreade1872 | 2 reseñas más. | Nov 28, 2021 |
Energetic and well-written account of youthful mucking-about in London of the 1950s. London then, like any big city any time, offers freedom from conformism and constraints, a stage for self-expression and self-discovery, and a crew of charismatic chancers. This time also has milk bars and music, beatniks with their now-weird cool slang, and some, thankfully also now dated, race riots, as indeed did occur in 1958 in Notting Hill, then still solidly working class. Echoes of James Dean and somehow of Dean Moriarty.… (más)
 
Denunciada
eglinton | 18 reseñas más. | Mar 22, 2020 |
A picaresque novel of a young free-lance photographer in 1958 London. A little difficult for me to follow at times due to the author's heavy use of late '50s British colloquialisms and teenage slang. Though not nearly as heavy as "A Clockwork Orange" published three years later, which may have been influenced by the same events (e.g. Rising youth culture and gang violence, Teddy Boys, the Notting Hill Race Riots). I got more out of the education of events and sub-culture then anything else the book offered.… (más)
 
Denunciada
Tallowyck | 18 reseñas más. | Apr 15, 2019 |
A bit of just not quite stream of conscious as we follow the just turning 19 year old aspiring photographer and jazz lover around 1959 London. It is a bit of a critique of the people and a paean to the city as it should aspire to be. The mixed maturity level of the main character isn't quite realistic, but does convey what a liberal of the time hope he would be. It's a fun trip.
 
Denunciada
quondame | 18 reseñas más. | Apr 8, 2019 |

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Estadísticas

Obras
20
También por
4
Miembros
1,237
Popularidad
#20,751
Valoración
½ 3.6
Reseñas
27
ISBNs
87
Idiomas
6
Favorito
3

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