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A Room in Chelsea Square

Michael Nelson

3.36 · Rating details · 55 ratings · 14 reviews

Publisher: GMP Publishers Ltd Date of Publication: 1986 Binding: soft cover Edition: Condition: Very Good Description: 0854490205

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Paperback, 208 pages

Published August 1st 2003 by Gay Men's Press (first published 1958)

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May 22, 2010 Erastes rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay-historical

Imagine Wodehouse set in the 1940′s with a gay main character as rich as Bertie and used to getting his own way in all things. It’s not a comedy, as such, although it has some amusing moments, it’s more a witty satire and an exploration of a particular set of men–gay and otherwise–in 1940′s London.

Patrick is, as the first line describes: “very, very rich.” He’s currently single, and, as the book opens, he’s shopping for presents for a handsome young man he’s recently met in the country. With eas Imagine Wodehouse set in the 1940′s with a gay main character as rich as Bertie and used to getting his own way in all things. It’s not a comedy, as such, although it has some amusing moments, it’s more a witty satire and an exploration of a particular set of men–gay and otherwise–in 1940′s London.

Patrick is, as the first line describes: “very, very rich.” He’s currently single, and, as the book opens, he’s shopping for presents for a handsome young man he’s recently met in the country. With ease, using a wide net of ex-boyfriends, he arranges Nicholas a job at a tabloid newspaper to tempt him to London, and when he arrives, meets him at the station and inveigles excuse after excuse to prevent the young man starting work, moving him into his suite at a hotel, and lavishing an expensive lifestyle on him.

The book takes place over the space of a week, following Nicholas’ introduction into Patrick’s lifestyle, meeting his friends and resisting Patrick’s advances. He’s not entirely the ingénue that Patrick imagines him to be however:

Nicholas had a thoroughly miserable bath. He knew that he couldn’t evade Patrick’s advances much longer. It was no good pretending that Patrick was going to support him from purely altruistic motives. Patrick wanted his pound of flesh, he was was going to make sure he got it. What did sex matter anyway? It was a small price to pay for all the things that Patrick could offer him in exchange.

The novel was published entirely anonymously when it first came out and from the frank portrayal of gay characters you would think you could understand why, but it goes a little deeper than that. In fact, it’s semi-autobiographical. The introduction in the 1986 reissued GMP version by Philip Core explains that “Patrick” is a thinly veiled portrait of Peter Watson: associated for a long while with Cecil Beaton, co-founder of the ICA and wealthy homosexual sponsor of Bacon, Colquhoun, MacBryde, Vaughan, Minton and other homosexual painters. Michael Nelson (the “Nicholas” of the book) was in reality pursued by Watson, who bought him Picassos and Sutherlands as part of his seduction technique.

Nicholas–like the real life Nelson–is prevented from starting at his Tabloid newspaper by the dangling of a greater carrot, a job on a new arts magazine “Eleven” (which was “Horizon” in real life) together with his friend Michael, Christopher Pyre (Stephen Spender in reality) and a former protégé of Patrick’s: the bon-viveur Ronnie Gras (Cyril Connolly). It is Nicholas’ constant prevarication as to whether to succumb to Patrick’s gentle but lavish onslaught that eventually causes his downfall.

But aside for the historical interest, it’s a highly enjoyable and entertaining read, particularly because it’s written in the rather affected slang of the upper middle and upper class of the time.

And some dialogue must have been positively shocking at the time, although it probably went over the head of many, just as the outrageous double-entendres of Julian and Sandy slid past the censors in Round the Horne. There’s one scene where Nicholas says he’s tired and Patrick advises he should rest, saying:

"An hour on your back with your legs up will do you the world of good."

Much of the dialogue is hugely bitchy too, and I loved it, because that’s no exclusivity of being gay – that’s how people really talk.

I highly recommend this: It might be rather too English for many, but if you enjoy any films of Noel Coward or in fact any film that deals with this era of the aesthete then you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. It’s also very interesting to compare and contrast with Mr Page and Mr Clive, which concentrates more on unhappiness and closeted misery, but then this book was written in the era, not about the era, so one wonders which one is nearer to the truth. ...more

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Feb 09, 2020 Thomas rated it liked it · review of another edition

An odd little book. In the 1958 edition I have it was still written by Anonymous.

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Jul 05, 2018 Jim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A sort of Dangerous Liaisons via The Boys in the Band (excuse the anachronisms), this short work tells of rich and manipulative Patrick and his select victims and associates in post-WWII London. Nicholas is his new target and Patrick sets him up as his new boy-toy, but Nicholas is (deservedly) hesitant.

Patrick toys with his colleagues about starting a magazine. Among those he enlists are the eccentric fashion, wine & cuisine snob Ronnie, the bumbling painter Christopher (who, despite his self-d ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 John Anthony rated it liked it

Published in 1958 but written much earlier. It is set pre WWII. A period piece perhaps. The characters are generally effete hedonists who people a world that I rather hope doesn't exist anymore. Patrick is Rich Queen Bitch par excellence. There are other characters here who rank pretty high up on the obnoxiousness list too.

This is the sort of book that can give a queen a bad name..but it is probably worth reading for the times in which it is set and the particular breed depicted here. There are ...more

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Apr 29, 2018 Monica L rated it really liked it

Very funny yet very sad. It reminds me of "The Catcher in the Rye." It is a very real story. I have known many women that get into similar situations. Very modern even if the book was written in 1958. ...more

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Jan 15, 2015 Hannah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq-fiction, fiction

You know those dreams where you're running through quicksand trying to catch a bus that you just can't get to? That's what reading this is like. ...more

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Aug 31, 2020 Eternallyfab rated it liked it

Bit of a shaggy-dog tale, this. It's like one of those dreams where things keep not happening. From page to page to page, very little unfolded. While that may have been intentional, it sapped my investment in the narrative. When I thought stuff might actually be happening, or when it focused on Patrick and Nicholas (the two best-written characters in the novel), I got excited. But ultimately, it left me hanging, with the characters pretty much in the same position where they started (except for ...more

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Mar 26, 2018 ALEARDO ZANGHELLINI rated it liked it

Shelves: allusively-homoerotic-to-gay-themed

Funny rather than witty. My Gay Men’s Press edition from the 1980s has an illuminating introduction clarifying the book’s autobiographical basis. It was, apparently, his own experience that the author portrayed in the character of Nicholas — a young journalist whose sexual favours Patrick (a fantastically rich man in his 40s) courts through not-so-subtle financial inducements.
The kept boy’s perspective comes across so effectively in Nicholas’s musings that at times I found myself almost persuade ...more

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Jul 11, 2017 Sophie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

"You see, humanity is ugly at the best of times. But it's ugliest when it tries to be beautiful, because it's being dishonest. Everyone in here is dishonest. They upset me terribly."

"Remark the pure paleness of the amber with its suspicion of green."

"You observe the absence of a spirit lamp," he said. "A senseless and barbaric Victorian innovation."

"I only ask one thing of you," said Patrick. "Do be careful of the pictures. If you don't like them turn them to the wall. But please don't throw thi ...more

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Feb 13, 2019 Martin rated it really liked it

This is an old fashioned (written in 1958) gay comedy of manners. It is the story of a handsome and naive young man recruited from the provinces by a rich and sophisticated older gay man. Need I say more. It reminded me of early Patrick Dennis and a prologue in the GSV edition that I read explained the whom the leading characters were based upon. I first heard of this book in the Edward Gorey biography because Gorey designed the cover for the earliest American edition. I think it has been recent ...more

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Feb 09, 2020 Erik Van Linden rated it it was amazing

I found this a great and entertaining read. ‘There continually occur moments in one’s life when one has to choose between possessions and integrity.’
A bit of a dark view in the human, gay soul. As much as I would like to deny it, there is a lot of insight in this book.
Nice pageturner!

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Apr 27, 2020 Keith rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay-writers, british-writers

Hmmmm this was a delicious book to read. It was filled with some characters that are ghastly, witty, high camp, sycophantic, cowardly, gluttonous, sadistic, megalomanic, crestfallen, heinous, devious and remorseless.

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Nov 20, 2012 Moloch rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Moloch by: Visto alla Libreria Feltrinelli di Perugia

Shelves: humor, lgbt, narrativa, narrativa_britannica_e_irlandese, usato

Merito della copertina se ho notato questo libro fra i tanti che affollano gli scaffali di una grande libreria della città; e a questa bella copertina (di chi è l'immagine? Non c'è scritto nulla nel libro) ho scoperto che corrispondeva anche un contenuto potenzialmente interessante, perciò, dopo qualche mese di attesa che comparisse nel mercato dell'usato, ecco che il libro è stato acquistato, letto in poco più di un pomeriggio e ora recensito.

Questo romanzo uscì anonimo nel 1958, quando ancora Merito della copertina se ho notato questo libro fra i tanti che affollano gli scaffali di una grande libreria della città; e a questa bella copertina (di chi è l'immagine? Non c'è scritto nulla nel libro) ho scoperto che corrispondeva anche un contenuto potenzialmente interessante, perciò, dopo qualche mese di attesa che comparisse nel mercato dell'usato, ecco che il libro è stato acquistato, letto in poco più di un pomeriggio e ora recensito.

Questo romanzo uscì anonimo nel 1958, quando ancora nel Regno Unito l'omosessualità era considerata reato: oggi sappiamo che l'autore fu il tale Michael Nelson. Si potrebbe pensare a un coraggioso libro di denuncia e di rivendicazione di diritti, in un periodo in cui, come è spiegato nella Prefazione di Riccardo Reim, l'opinione pubblica britannica si stava seriamente interrogando se fosse lecito regolare la morale privata dell'individuo con gli strumenti della legge. Invece, gli avvertimenti del curatore e la lettura dello stesso romanzo ci fanno subito capire che non siamo di fronte a nulla di così "nobile": A Room in Chelsea Square è un romanzo che ha voluto astutamente sfruttare il clamore per un tema così scottante e attuale (in origine il protagonista, Patrick, era una donna!) e che semplicemente si fa beffe crudeli di tutto e di tutti, con un cinismo molto compiaciuto (Reim lo definisce "farneticamente gay e al tempo stesso omofobo"). Tanto vale, quindi, leggerlo con il proposito di farsi quattro cattivissime e politicamente scorrettissime risate, confidando nel più classico e tagliente del british humour e senza dar peso alle esagerazioni più kitsch.

Il ricchissimo, elegantissimo, spudoratissimo, "frocissimo" e non più giovanissimo Patrick ha messo gli occhi sul bel Nicholas, appena arrivato a Londra dal paesello con l'aspirazione di diventare giornalista. Nel suo tentativo di seduzione utilizza ogni mezzo possibile per vincere l'ostinata resistenza della sua preda, dai regali più costosi e pacchiani fino alle promesse di appoggio per la sua carriera, manipolando abilmente con la forza del suo denaro e con astuzia machiavellica tutto il suo circolo di amici, ex amanti, "protetti" per giungere all'obiettivo. Nicholas non è così ingenuo da non capire perfettamente cosa il suo mecenate desidera in cambio, e si rende conto benissimo di dipendere in tutto e per tutto dal favore di Patrick, ma i suoi continui tentennamenti, dovuti di volta in volta agli scrupoli morali, all'orgoglio ferito o semplicemente alla sua dabbenaggine, rischiano di fargli perdere tutto, perché, per quanto la sua fortuna sia nelle sue mani, non è affatto lui a condurre il gioco. La conclusione è quanto mai perfida: il lettore si aspetterebbe o la "rovina" completa di Nicholas che cede finalmente alle lusinghe del suo tentatore o il suo riscatto, e invece Nelson pensa a un finale molto più ambiguo e cinico. Proprio quando Nicholas, che non è affatto un santo, finalmente si decide, si trova costretto a ritirarsi, da solo, nell'umile cameretta a Chelsea Square che ha preso in affitto e che fino ad allora, ospitato in alberghi di lusso, non aveva mai raggiunto, invece di partire per le Bermuda con Patrick, che l'ha scaricato per un altro giovanotto più disponibile, a rimuginare sul fatto che, se avesse giocato meglio le sue carte, non avrebbe perso quell'occasione. Il finale l'ho nascosto, ma in pratica è tutto rivelato nella stessa Prefazione: se non volete saperlo, leggetela solo dopo aver letto il romanzo.

Non è certo un capolavoro (anzi, le situazioni sono un po' ripetitive e la struttura tenue), ma scorre via alla velocità della luce e regala un pomeriggio di gradevole intrattenimento scacciapensieri.

3,5/5

http://moloch981.wordpress.com/2013/0... ...more

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Sep 17, 2014 Adam Dunn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt

Boo.
Got to 46% and happily gave up.
Lines like "That wasn't first prize for the largest marrow at the Four Square Gospellers' flower show." make no flipping sense.
The book is described as camp. Maybe in the 1940's when it was written and everyone was still being rationed and rebuilding after the war this was camp, but not now. The Green Carnation is a much better example of camp in a much older book. Choose that one instead.
I couldn't keep the characters straight, didn't care what happened to the ...more

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About Michael Nelson

Michael Nelson

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Michael Nelson (known as ‘Mickey’) was born in 1921. He worked as a journalist before the Second World War, and during the war worked as secretary to John Lehmann, a prominent publisher and man of letters, and served as a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps. After his demobilisation, he lived with his boyfriend in Winchester and owned a bookstore there before meeting Rachel Holland, who knew N ...more