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A Cornish Childhood: Autobiography of a Cornishman
by
A.L. Rowse
A brilliant piece of autobiography, the early life of a working class boy in a Cornish village and a record of the various stages in his progress from elementary school to secondary and thence to Oxford.
Hardcover
,
282 pages
Published
January 1st 1979
by Clarkson N. Potter: Distributed by Crown Publishers
(first published June 1942)
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I was all set for a good time - thick childhood memoir (my favorite kind of book)set in a great time historically...110 pages in, however, and I come to an unusual conclusion - I don't like this man! Something about him sets my teeth on edge. If he were only telling about his life, I would have read on - but he splatters his opinions around over-generously. Somehow I do not care that he considers French culture superior to German. I quit.
A personal story of Rowse's unlikely journey from a childhood in a working-class milieu in the village of Tregonissey near St. Austell to a distinguished Oxford historian specialising in the first Elizabethan era. Written during WW2 and voicing prejudices in favour of the French and their culture and against the Germans. He admires fellow cornish writer Arthur Quiller-Couch and looks down on 'armchair socialists' who romanticise the working classes. The uphill struggle left its scars, both physi
...more
It's obvious from this autobiography that Rowse is a historian. He writes in elegant, if embittered, prose about the working class of his childhood, the influences that made his family what they were, and his discovery of another way of life. It's not a kind book; he sees the flaws of his family as well as their strengths - but it is an interesting window into pre-war Cornwall.
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Alfred Leslie Rowse, CH FBA, known professionally as A. L. Rowse and to his friends and family as Leslie, was a prolific Cornish historian. He is perhaps best known for his poetry about Cornwall and his work on Elizabethan England. He was also a Shakespearean scholar and biographer. He developed a widespread reputation for irascibility and intellectual arrogance.
One of Rowse's great enthusiasms wa ...more
More about A.L. Rowse...
One of Rowse's great enthusiasms wa ...more
