Angel Pavement edition by JB Priestley David Burrill Tom Priestley DJ Taylor Lee Harrison Literature Fiction eBooks
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Angel Pavement
by J. B. Priestley
Introduced by John Sutherland
Additional content
A First Word by Tom Priestley
Priestley and the Critics A Well Worn Path by Lee Hanson
Tucked away in the City of London, lies a dingy, almost forgotten side street known as Angel Pavement. Here can be found the headquarters of Twigg & Dersingham, suppliers of veneers and inlays to the cabinet-making trade. Business is bad and getting worse. The firm is fighting for its life and its staff are gripped by the fear of insolvency and redundancy. Into their midst descends the mysterious and charming Mr. Golspie and his beautiful daughter, Lena. Together they set in train a sequence of events that will transform the lives of everyone who works there.
Shot through with Priestley’s trademark social conscience, Angel Pavement is one of the great London novels; a vivid evocation of the 1930s metropolis in an age of recession. It is also a brilliant and startlingly relevant examination of what happens to a group of workers when the destructive force of a rapacious financial predator is unleashed among them.
“There’s a part of London no-one can take from me, because I invented it.” J. B. Priestley
“The whole fabric of the few lives, are opened up to us with a warm and generous assiduity that is entirely convincing… Magnificent.” The Times
“A novel by a man who thoroughly enjoys the whole spectacle of life and can communicate his enjoyment.” The Daily Telegraph
“A marvellous writer.” David Hockney
“A lost classic from the teeming world of Depression-era London.”
DJ Taylor
www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk
Angel Pavement edition by JB Priestley David Burrill Tom Priestley DJ Taylor Lee Harrison Literature Fiction eBooks
Priestley was a major figure in the cultural life of twentieth-century Britain, as novelist, playwright, essayist, broadcaster and all-round man of ideas. His reputation seems to have dimmed somewhat in recent years and I am not sure that he is known very much at all outside the UK. This is a pity, because he was a writer of immense talent.Priestley's play An Inspector Calls is still revived from time to time, and it and others of his works have been adapted for the screen. In particular, I recommend The Last Holiday (1950) starring Sir Alec Guinness, if you ever have the chance to see it. I also seem to remember a good movie version of Dangerous Corner, made way back in the days when Joan Collins was gorgeous enough to warrant a visit to `the flicks'.
The Good Companions and Angel Pavement are his best-known and best-regarded novels. Angel pavement is the name of a little side street in London's commercial district. It was also adopted as the name of a rock group, in the sixties I think. In this novel, it is the setting for a social drama, a slice of London life before the war and the blitz changed everything. There is a rich cast of characters in a keenly observed commentary on the lives of ordinary working people. Among the memorable episodes is a beautifully written account of a recital of Brahms' First Symphony. I challenge you to find a better description of a piece of music anywhere in literature. Angel Pavement is by turns funny, sad, pessimistic and passionate, but always hauntingly real.
So how is it that such a great writer is now so neglected? Well, he committed the unforgivable sin of being hugely popular. Every critic and academic knows that no one whose work is loved by millions, and is so easy to read, can be a serious writer. In short, he is a victim of snobbery. But don't let them fool you! Whether novel, play or movie, give Priestley a try. Angel Pavement is a good place to start.
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Angel Pavement edition by JB Priestley David Burrill Tom Priestley DJ Taylor Lee Harrison Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Set in 1930 London, Angel Pavement tells of how Twigg and Dersingham is saved at the last minute by the gregarious Mr Golspie, and how the mundane and socially restricted lives of its staff are transformed by his presense. Priestley superbly pads out each character and uses each to illustrate the frustrations brought on by petty rules, restrictions and poverty under Britains old class system;something Priestley always viewed as absurd.
Angel Pavement is very much of its era and describes and decries a London and Britain that no longer exists, but still can make you smile with some of the Priestley dry wit, and often the social situations sketched are wonderful comedy pieces.
Despite the tale being written in and during the great depression, this is just a good comic yarn with the odd social comment thrown in. Unlike the great American poroletarian books of that time, British authors could never find the realism needed,perhaps (like Dickens) restricted by political and social etiquette of the day.....all of which is very ironic!
Priestley was a great playwright, and Angel Pavement would be easy to write as a screen or stage play if anyone out there wants to try their skills out!
An enjoyable read.
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I appreciated this book far more the second time I read it because I saw more in it. At first, I felt that Priestley was giving way too much information about his characters, but by the end of the book it had dawned on me that he was writing about fundamental lessons in life that we can all relate to and, in order to do that, he needed to give the reader a thorough look into the hearts and minds of his characters.
The focus of the story is the firm of Dersingham & Twigg, struggling to survive in 1930 London, a time of great economic hardship. It's address is a street called Angel Pavement, hence the name of the book. The catalyst of the tale is the arrival at the firm of a man of no scruples, Mr Golspie, who intends to use the firm to make a lot of money very quickly and then get out. Both he and his beautiful daughter are incarnations of the fantasies that two staff members, Turgis and Miss Matfield, have on a daily basis. Turgis hungers for love and sex; Miss Matfield longs for adventure and excitement. Well, both get their fantasies made real through the Golspies, but with devastating consequences. Smeeth, the office manager, yearns for safety and security but has always feared that he will not have it. Again, through the actions of Golspie, his fears come true. Then there's the principal of the firm, Mr Dersingham, who is going through the motions of being a businessman; his heart is not in it and he just muddles through his life. When Golspie departs, he has turned Mr Dersingham's world upside down but we are left with the idea that he will actually begin to live the life he has always wanted to.
Priestley is saying through the lives of his characters 'be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it', but he is also saying that out of great pain and upheaval, life can improve because we become wiser and more mature. This is a timeless story of human experience, and Priestley does a masterful job of describing the scenes in which it is set, London in the grip of a bleak, depressing winter. He also captures perfectly the mangled English of the working class British. This is indeed a book about life that we can all relate to.
Priestley was a major figure in the cultural life of twentieth-century Britain, as novelist, playwright, essayist, broadcaster and all-round man of ideas. His reputation seems to have dimmed somewhat in recent years and I am not sure that he is known very much at all outside the UK. This is a pity, because he was a writer of immense talent.
Priestley's play An Inspector Calls is still revived from time to time, and it and others of his works have been adapted for the screen. In particular, I recommend The Last Holiday (1950) starring Sir Alec Guinness, if you ever have the chance to see it. I also seem to remember a good movie version of Dangerous Corner, made way back in the days when Joan Collins was gorgeous enough to warrant a visit to `the flicks'.
The Good Companions and Angel Pavement are his best-known and best-regarded novels. Angel pavement is the name of a little side street in London's commercial district. It was also adopted as the name of a rock group, in the sixties I think. In this novel, it is the setting for a social drama, a slice of London life before the war and the blitz changed everything. There is a rich cast of characters in a keenly observed commentary on the lives of ordinary working people. Among the memorable episodes is a beautifully written account of a recital of Brahms' First Symphony. I challenge you to find a better description of a piece of music anywhere in literature. Angel Pavement is by turns funny, sad, pessimistic and passionate, but always hauntingly real.
So how is it that such a great writer is now so neglected? Well, he committed the unforgivable sin of being hugely popular. Every critic and academic knows that no one whose work is loved by millions, and is so easy to read, can be a serious writer. In short, he is a victim of snobbery. But don't let them fool you! Whether novel, play or movie, give Priestley a try. Angel Pavement is a good place to start.
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