James Tait Black Memorial Prizes
The Good Companions (J.B. Priestley Classic Re-Issues)
A group novel about the people gathered around a touring theatrical troupe, growing as they influence one another. With humor and warmth, it portrays friendship, dreams, and what success can mean.
Work Information
A traveling troupe's journey slowly changes many lives.
Following a travelling theatre company, the novel lightly captures the atmosphere and relationships of provincial England. It is a large-scale, approachable novel that helped make Priestley widely known.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Great Northern Books Ltd
- Published
- 2018-06-04
- Pages
- 528 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 19.8 x 6.2 x 12.9 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780993344701
- ISBN-10
- 0993344704
- Price
- 3754 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Classics
Three unhappy characters, flee from their old lives to seek adventure on the open road. Fate brings them together and into the presence of a broken-down theatrical touring company. Throwing caution to the winds they save the group and set off on an unforgettable tour of the pavillions and provincial theatres of England. First published in 1929.
John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984) was one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century. Pre-eminently a dramatist, novelist and social commentator many of his works have become literary classics, among them The Good Companions, Angel Pavement, An Inspector Calls and Time and the Conways. His plays have been translated and performed all over the world and many have been filmed. During the Second World War his regular Sunday night Postscript radio talks attracted audiences of up to 15 million listeners. It was said that he was as popular and as important as Churchill in shoring up the nation's morale and in offering a vision of a better world to come. He was also a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a champion of public lending rights and represented the UK at two UNESCO conferences. In literary, social and political terms he was very much the last great man of English letters.
Reviews
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Brilliant Book.
A thoroughly enjoyable book. Hours of reading.
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An English adventure
I laughed a lot reading this, out loud. Every character is perfectly crafted in just a few paragraphs and speech patterns. As an English man living in France, these characters made me nostalgic and home sick, as lovely and charming as they all are.
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You Gotta Be in the Mood
You've got to be prepared for an extremely long period piece, written immediately after World War I, about the lives of British music-hall troupes, a little slow getting started, and devoid of really sensational plot developments. If that doesn't stop you, GET THIS BOOK. It's one of my best reads of 2013 and maybe 2012, as well. Priestley introduces us the three discontented people -- a lonely unmarried woman who's just sold all the furnishings in the family home and moved into a cottage, a disgruntled factory laborer in the North, and a well-born, underemployed music teacher in the worst fictional school since Dotheboys Hall in Dickens' MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. One by one, they leave their unsatisfying lives behind and take to the road. Inevitably, their lives intersect. Extremely evitably, if there is such a word, they all wind up involved in a failing variety troupe, working the rag-end of British vaudeville in its final, melancholy days. Among Priestley's many gifts are indelible characterization, a powerful sense of place, a fine, understated sense of humor, and the ability to write stories without villains. Adversity itself is villain enough in this world. The book reminds me of Dickens in both its humor and its theatricality but that's not to take away from Priestley's individuality. THE GOOD COMPANIONS was a sensational best-seller in its day, it's been the basis of several stage plays and half a dozen movies (Judi Dench, who starred in one of the films, provides an introduction to this excellent Kindle edition) and Priestley spent the rest of his life trying to write something that would make people stop thinking of him as the author of THE GOOD COMPANIONS. Just in case I haven't made myself clear, I love this book.
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Classic
Really nice read and a classic, good book for holiday reading and does not task one's brain with complex plots and intrigue. Easy reading for winding down.
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Beautifully written, but rather long.
The writing was superb - lots of subtle humour. Well drawn characters and a well developed plot. After page 500, I rather wanted it to be over, but carried on to the end anyway to see what happens, and glad I did. S feel good book and s long, satisfying read.