Publisher's Synopsis

Gordon Comstock loathes dull, middle-class respectability and worship of money. He gives up a 'good job' in advertising to work part-time in a bookshop, giving him more time to write. But he slides instead into a self-induced poverty that destroys his creativity and his spirit. Only Rosemary, ever-faithful Rosemary, has the strength to challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Through the character of Gordon Comstock, Orwell reveals his own disaffection with the society he once himself renounced.

Enlivened with vivid autobiographical detail, George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a tragically witty account of the struggle to escape from a materialistic existence, with an introduction by Peter Davison in Penguin Modern Classics.

Book information

ISBN: 9780141395470
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Pub date:
DEWEY: 823.912
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 276
Weight: 176g
Height: 170mm
Width: 112mm
Spine width: 17mm