Absolute Beginners
Encyclopedia
Absolute Beginners is a novel by Colin MacInnes
, written and set in 1958 London
, England
. It was published in 1959. The novel is the second of MacInnes' London Trilogy, coming after City Of Spades (1958) and before Mr. Love and Justice (1960). These novels are each self-contained, with no shared characters.
perspective of a teenage freelance photographer, who lives in a rundown yet vibrant part of West London he calls Napoli. The area is home to a large number of Caribbean
immigrants, as well as English people on the margins of society, such as homosexuals and drug addicts.
The themes of the novel are the narrator's opinions on the newly-formed youth culture and its fixation on clothes and jazz
music, his love for his ex-girlfriend Crêpe Suzette, the illness of his father and simmering racial tensions in the summer of the Notting Hill race riots
.
In June takes up half of the book and shows the narrator meeting up with various teenaged friends and some adults in various parts of London and discussing his outlook on life and the new concept of being a teenager. He also learns that his ex-girlfriend, Suzette, is to enter a marriage of convenience with her boss, a middle-aged gay fashion designer called Henley.
In July has the narrator taking photographs by the Thames, seeing the musical operetta H.M.S. Pinafore
with his father, has a violent encounter with Ed the Ted and watches Hoplite's appearance on Call-Me-Cobber's TV show.
In August has the narrator and his father take a cruise along the Thames towards Windsor Castle
. His father is taken ill on the trip and has to be taken to a doctor. The narrator also finds Suzette at her husband's cottage in Cookham
.
In September is set on the narrator's nineteenth birthday. He sees this, symbolically, as the beginning of his last year as a teenager. He witnesses several incidents of racial violence, which disgust him. His father also dies, leaving him four envelopes stuffed with money. Suzette has separated from Henley, but still seems uncertain as to whether she should resume her relationship with the narrator. The narrator decides to leave the country and find a place where racism doesn't exist. At the airport, he sees Africans arriving and gives them a warm welcome.
The narrator also encounters a left-wing trade unionist called 'Ron Todd' in a jazz club. In 1985 a real-life trade unionist called Ron Todd
became general secretary of the TGWU.
and clothes. As such, it chronicles the first years of what would become the mod subculture
in the 1960s. MacInnes has the narrator use a very stylised form of speech. For example, when the narrator and Zesty-Boy talk about why Vendice no longer uses Dido's newspaper for advertising, MacInnes writes it as:
The narrator is never given a name. When asked it by a girl at a party, he avoids the question. When pressed, he says, sarcastically, David Copperfield
. He is variously addressed in the book as "blitz baby", "kid", "teenager", "child", "infant prodigy" and "son": all terms that emphasize his youth. The majority of the other characters are given nicknames or referred to by their job titles, rather than by their real names.
and released in 1986. The narrator was given the name Colin, after Colin MacInnes, and was played by Eddie O'Connell. Patsy Kensit
played Crêpe Suzette and David Bowie
appeared as advertising man, Vendice Partners. Bowie also wrote and performed the title song
, which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart in March 1986.
The film used many of the characters of the book, but changed a lot of their motivations and the story's ending. It also made more use of the idea of older characters exploiting the young, which was merely hinted at in the novel.
The novel was republished by Penguin Books
to tie in with the films release. The cover showed O'Connell and Kensit in front of a stylized silhouette
of the London skyline.
.
His group The Jam
released a single called "Absolute Beginners
" in 1981. It reached number 4 in the UK charts. His second band, The Style Council
recorded the song "Have You Ever Had It Blue?" for the 1986 film.
Colin MacInnes
Colin MacInnes was an English novelist and journalist.-Early life:MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, who was also related to Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin. His family moved to Australia in 1920, MacInness returning in 1930...
, written and set in 1958 London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was published in 1959. The novel is the second of MacInnes' London Trilogy, coming after City Of Spades (1958) and before Mr. Love and Justice (1960). These novels are each self-contained, with no shared characters.
Introduction
The novel is written from the first personFirst-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
perspective of a teenage freelance photographer, who lives in a rundown yet vibrant part of West London he calls Napoli. The area is home to a large number of Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
immigrants, as well as English people on the margins of society, such as homosexuals and drug addicts.
The themes of the novel are the narrator's opinions on the newly-formed youth culture and its fixation on clothes and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music, his love for his ex-girlfriend Crêpe Suzette, the illness of his father and simmering racial tensions in the summer of the Notting Hill race riots
Notting Hill race riots
The Notting Hill race riots were a series of racially-motivated riots that took place in London, England over several nights in late August and early September 1958.-Context:The end of World War II had seen a marked increase in Caribbean migrants to Britain...
.
Plot summary
The novel is divided into four sections. Each detail a particular day in the four months that spanned the summer of 1958.In June takes up half of the book and shows the narrator meeting up with various teenaged friends and some adults in various parts of London and discussing his outlook on life and the new concept of being a teenager. He also learns that his ex-girlfriend, Suzette, is to enter a marriage of convenience with her boss, a middle-aged gay fashion designer called Henley.
In July has the narrator taking photographs by the Thames, seeing the musical operetta H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
with his father, has a violent encounter with Ed the Ted and watches Hoplite's appearance on Call-Me-Cobber's TV show.
In August has the narrator and his father take a cruise along the Thames towards Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
. His father is taken ill on the trip and has to be taken to a doctor. The narrator also finds Suzette at her husband's cottage in Cookham
Cookham
Cookham is a village and civil parish in the north-easternmost corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames, notable as the home of the artist Stanley Spencer. It lies north of Maidenhead close to the border with Buckinghamshire...
.
In September is set on the narrator's nineteenth birthday. He sees this, symbolically, as the beginning of his last year as a teenager. He witnesses several incidents of racial violence, which disgust him. His father also dies, leaving him four envelopes stuffed with money. Suzette has separated from Henley, but still seems uncertain as to whether she should resume her relationship with the narrator. The narrator decides to leave the country and find a place where racism doesn't exist. At the airport, he sees Africans arriving and gives them a warm welcome.
Characters
- The narrator - An unnamed photographer who turns 19 in the last section of the book. He makes most of his money by selling pornographic pictures, but is interested in having an exhibition of his other work. He lives in an attic flat in a building in London's W10 area.
- Crêpe Suzette - the narrator's ex-girlfriend. She is a promiscuous negrophile who intends to enter into a sexless marriage with her boss.
- The narrator's parents - his mother runs a boarding house and prefers the company of her boarders to that of her second husband, the narrator's father. She has a stormy relationship with the narrator, who keeps a photographic darkroom at the house as an excuse to visit his father. His father has been writing a book called The History of PimlicoPimlicoPimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....
for several years. - The Fabulous Hoplite - an occasional rentboy and part of the Knightsbridge-Chelsea set, who lives in the same building as the narrator.
- The Wizard - best friend of the narrator, a baby-faced sociopathPsychopathyPsychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
who works as a pimp, and after a falling out, joins with the far-right thugs during the riots. - Henley - a gay fashion designer who claims to be 45 and who intends to marry Suzette.
- Verne - the 25-year-old half-brother of the narrator.
- Mr. Cool - a young black man, born in London, who lives in the same building as the narrator and who is threatened by the local teddy boys to leave the area.
- Wilf - Mr. Cool's white half-brother.
- Call-me-Cobber - an Australian media celebrity and presenter of the ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
chat show Junction! - The ex-Deb-of-Last-Year - a young upper class female friend of the narrator's, who goes out with Call-me-Cobber.
- Ed the Ted - a pasty-faced Teddy BoyTeddy BoyThe British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
who has left his old gang and became part of a mob of racist hooligans. - Zesty-Boy Swift - an unsuccessful pop singer who became a highly successful songwriter.
- Dido Lament - a gossip columnist.
- Big Jill - a lesbian in her twenties who lives in the basement flat of the narrator's building. She controls young, lesbian prostitutes.
- Dean Swift - one of the narrator's pornographic models. A junkie and a lover of modern jazz.
- The Misery Kid - a devotee of old-style jazz.
- Mannie Katz - a poet friend of the narrator's; married to Miriam and father of Saul.
- Vendice Partners - Dido's ex-lover who works at a MayfairMayfairMayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
-based advertising agency.
The narrator also encounters a left-wing trade unionist called 'Ron Todd' in a jazz club. In 1985 a real-life trade unionist called Ron Todd
Ron Todd
Ronald Todd , generally known as Ron Todd, was the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union , then the largest general trade union in the United Kingdom, from 1985 until 1992....
became general secretary of the TGWU.
Style
Although MacInnes turned forty-four in the summer of 1958, the book is written through the eyes of an eighteen-year-old, who is part of the new vibrant and affluent London youth culture of coffee bars, modern jazz and rock 'n' roll music, and Italian scootersScooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
and clothes. As such, it chronicles the first years of what would become the mod subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
in the 1960s. MacInnes has the narrator use a very stylised form of speech. For example, when the narrator and Zesty-Boy talk about why Vendice no longer uses Dido's newspaper for advertising, MacInnes writes it as:
'And why has Partner's pimpery taken their custom away from Dido's toilet-paper daily?' I asked Zesty-Boy.
'It may be that Dido's slipping, or the paper's slipping, or just that everything these days is falling in the fat laps of the jingle kings.'
'I wonder why Dido doesn't do a quick change and crash land in the telly casbah?'
The narrator is never given a name. When asked it by a girl at a party, he avoids the question. When pressed, he says, sarcastically, David Copperfield
David Copperfield (character)
David Copperfield is the character after which the 1850 Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield, was named. The character is widely thought to be based on Dickens himself, using many elements of his own childhood.-Origin:...
. He is variously addressed in the book as "blitz baby", "kid", "teenager", "child", "infant prodigy" and "son": all terms that emphasize his youth. The majority of the other characters are given nicknames or referred to by their job titles, rather than by their real names.
Film Adaptation
The novel was adapted into a musical film directed by Julien TempleJulien Temple
Julien Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, Absolute Beginners and a documentary film about Glastonbury.-Temple...
and released in 1986. The narrator was given the name Colin, after Colin MacInnes, and was played by Eddie O'Connell. Patsy Kensit
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit is an English actress, singer, model and former child star, known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder...
played Crêpe Suzette and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
appeared as advertising man, Vendice Partners. Bowie also wrote and performed the title song
Absolute Beginners (song)
"Absolute Beginners" was the theme tune to the film of the same name , composed and performed by David Bowie....
, which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart in March 1986.
The film used many of the characters of the book, but changed a lot of their motivations and the story's ending. It also made more use of the idea of older characters exploiting the young, which was merely hinted at in the novel.
The novel was republished by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
to tie in with the films release. The cover showed O'Connell and Kensit in front of a stylized silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
of the London skyline.
Paul Weller
The singer-songwriter Paul Weller, who was born in 1958, has described the novel as 'a book of inspiration'. This quote has been used on the cover of the 1986 paperback edition. Weller also chose the book when he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Desert Island DiscsDesert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
.
His group The Jam
The Jam
The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
released a single called "Absolute Beginners
Absolute Beginners (The Jam song)
"Absolute Beginners" was a single released by The Jam on 24 October 1981. Although it did not appear on any of the band's studio albums, it reached number 4 in the UK Singles chart...
" in 1981. It reached number 4 in the UK charts. His second band, The Style Council
The Style Council
The Style Council were an English band, formed in 1983 by the ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller, with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also...
recorded the song "Have You Ever Had It Blue?" for the 1986 film.
Release details
- 1959, UK, MacGibbon & Kee, Pub date ? ? 1959, Unknown binding
- 1966, UK, Hutchinson Educ. (ISBN 0-09-077220-2), Pub date ? February 1966, Hardcover
- 1970, UK, Ballantine Books (ISBN 0-345-21917-1), Pub date 12 April 1970, Paperback
- 1973, UK, Panther (ISBN 0-586-03770-5), Pub date 29 November 1973, Paperback
- 1980, UK, Allison & Busby (ISBN 0-85031-329-5), Pub date ? March 1980, Hardcover
- 1980, UK, Allison & Busby (ISBN 0-85031-330-9), Pub date ? March 1980, Paperback
- 1980, UK, Schocken Books (ISBN 0-8052-8039-1), Pub date ? September 1980, Hardcover
- 1985, UK, E P Dutton (ISBN 0-525-48189-3), Pub date ? November 1985, Paperback
- 1986, UK, Penguin Books Ltd (ISBN 0-14-002142-6), Pub date 27 February 1986, Paperback
- 1992, UK, Allison & Busby (ISBN 0-7490-0165-8), Pub date 16 July 1992, Paperback
- 2001, UK, Allison & Busby (ISBN 0-7490-0540-8), Pub date 14 March 2001, Paperback
External links
- Absolute MacInnes - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 15 April 2007 - Writing 1950s London: Narrative Strategies in Colin MacInnes's City of Spades and Absolute Beginners by Nick Bentley