Fielding Gray: The Fourth Novel Of The Alms For Oblivion Sequence
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Boards - good; faded spine; light bumping on corners. Binding - tight. Text - light foxing on book block; clean and bright copy.
A darkly witty and morally unflinching work of British literary fiction, Fielding Gray serves as both a standalone novel and the fourth installment in Simon Raven's ambitious ten-volume Alms for Oblivion sequence, though it functions as a prequel, chronicling the formative years of its titular anti-hero. Set in the late 1940s at an English public school and later in the army, the narrative uncovers the pivotal events that shape Fielding Gray's character — his doomed romantic entanglements, his intellectual ambitions, and the moral compromises that will define his adult life. Raven writes with a sharp, cynical elegance, presenting a world where privilege, desire, and self-interest collide against a backdrop of postwar disillusionment. The novel illustrates Raven's central preoccupation with the decay of the English gentleman class, arguing through Gray's trajectory that talent and sensitivity are no match for the corrupting pressures of class, money, and social expectation. Sophisticated, caustic, and deeply humane beneath its cool surface, it stands as one of the most compelling entries in a sequence widely regarded as an underappreciated masterwork of twentieth-century English fiction.
Author: Simon Raven
Format: Hardback
Published: 1967, Anthony Blond
Genre: Modern fiction
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Boards - good; faded spine; light bumping on corners. Binding - tight. Text - light foxing on book block; clean and bright copy.
A darkly witty and morally unflinching work of British literary fiction, Fielding Gray serves as both a standalone novel and the fourth installment in Simon Raven's ambitious ten-volume Alms for Oblivion sequence, though it functions as a prequel, chronicling the formative years of its titular anti-hero. Set in the late 1940s at an English public school and later in the army, the narrative uncovers the pivotal events that shape Fielding Gray's character — his doomed romantic entanglements, his intellectual ambitions, and the moral compromises that will define his adult life. Raven writes with a sharp, cynical elegance, presenting a world where privilege, desire, and self-interest collide against a backdrop of postwar disillusionment. The novel illustrates Raven's central preoccupation with the decay of the English gentleman class, arguing through Gray's trajectory that talent and sensitivity are no match for the corrupting pressures of class, money, and social expectation. Sophisticated, caustic, and deeply humane beneath its cool surface, it stands as one of the most compelling entries in a sequence widely regarded as an underappreciated masterwork of twentieth-century English fiction.