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At Home: Memoirs
Penguin 1st 1655 1961 edition paperback vg+ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
10 people want to read
About the author
William Plomer
63 books9 followersWilliam Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE (he pronounced the surname as ploomer) was a South African and British author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He was educated mostly in the United Kingdom, but described himself as an "Anglo-African-Asian".
He became famous in the Union of South Africa with his first novel, Turbott Wolfe, which had inter-racial love and marriage as a theme. He was co-founder of the short-lived literary magazine Voorslag ("Whiplash") with two other South African rebels, Roy Campbell and Laurens van der Post; it promoted a racially equal South Africa.
He spent the period from October 1926 to March 1929 in Japan, where he was friendly with Sherard Vines. There, according to biographers, he was in a same-sex relationship with a Japanese man. He was never openly gay during his lifetime; at most he alluded to the subject.
He then moved to England, and through his friendship with his publisher Virginia Woolf, entered the London literary circles. He became a literary editor, for Faber and Faber, and was a reader and literary adviser to Jonathan Cape, where he edited a number of Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Fleming dedicated Goldfinger to Plomer. He was active as a librettist, with Gloriana, Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son for Benjamin Britten.
He became famous in the Union of South Africa with his first novel, Turbott Wolfe, which had inter-racial love and marriage as a theme. He was co-founder of the short-lived literary magazine Voorslag ("Whiplash") with two other South African rebels, Roy Campbell and Laurens van der Post; it promoted a racially equal South Africa.
He spent the period from October 1926 to March 1929 in Japan, where he was friendly with Sherard Vines. There, according to biographers, he was in a same-sex relationship with a Japanese man. He was never openly gay during his lifetime; at most he alluded to the subject.
He then moved to England, and through his friendship with his publisher Virginia Woolf, entered the London literary circles. He became a literary editor, for Faber and Faber, and was a reader and literary adviser to Jonathan Cape, where he edited a number of Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Fleming dedicated Goldfinger to Plomer. He was active as a librettist, with Gloriana, Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son for Benjamin Britten.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 23, 2014
This is a delicious book. It could be said that I loved it because its philosophy agrees with my own: he is a humanist, pacifist, feminist, anti-nationalist and opposed to racism, gentle in his dealings, thoughtful and kind and yet still quietly acerbic.
And all this couched in a language so preciously beautiful it makes you laugh and cry.
Plomer was born in 1903. This, his second MEMOIR was published in 1958. It offers insights into the characters of the members of the Bloomsbury set, who were his friends. It gives Plomer's stand on the times he lived through. He is sharp witted but modest. He is the finest of writers.
Plomer edited one of the finest books I have read - KILVERT'S DIARY - about a Welsh clergyman who died at the age of 39, two months after marrying: a delicate, gentle but revealing work. For "At Home" 5/5
And all this couched in a language so preciously beautiful it makes you laugh and cry.
Plomer was born in 1903. This, his second MEMOIR was published in 1958. It offers insights into the characters of the members of the Bloomsbury set, who were his friends. It gives Plomer's stand on the times he lived through. He is sharp witted but modest. He is the finest of writers.
Plomer edited one of the finest books I have read - KILVERT'S DIARY - about a Welsh clergyman who died at the age of 39, two months after marrying: a delicate, gentle but revealing work. For "At Home" 5/5
October 1, 2017
Despite some occasional snippets of wisdom, this memoir, by the English editor of KILVERT'S DIARY, is largely outdated and useless today.
October 30, 2015
At Home is the second volume of memoirs by William Plomer, a gentle man who wrote in the first half of the C20th. His poetry and novels do not seem to be read now but in the 1930s he edited the diary of a clergyman, the Rev Francis Kilvert and this diary has been recognised as a significant piece of English heritage. It sounds delightful and I would love to read it.
William Plomer was born in Africa and spent his youth in Japan and Asia. This volume begins with his trip to England in 1929 as he started his life as an Englishman in England. Perhaps because of this background he seems to enjoy human diversity without that illusion of superiority that Englishmen of that period often display. And his writing is smooth, easy flowing and full of interest. He writes about that earlier age of the 1930s, Bloomsbury and country house weekends with people far richer than he is but who foster him because of his talent and charm. And he is an Englishman and of the same social class as they are. There are lovely stories about T S Eliot and Lytton Strachey and Paul Robeson and Virginia and Leonard Wolf, or 'The Wolves' as he calls them. When he writes about his experiences he is easy to read and full of charm.
The few chapters on ideas are not as easy to read. When he writes about his work as a reviewer he is dull and in the chapter on religion he seems to be addressing arguments that not longer have any currency. The chapter on different sensitivities seems to be a reaction to the reception of some of his poetry. This slim book would have been slimmer without these chapters but I would have finished with a greater appreciation of the man. But I do like William Plomer.
William Plomer was born in Africa and spent his youth in Japan and Asia. This volume begins with his trip to England in 1929 as he started his life as an Englishman in England. Perhaps because of this background he seems to enjoy human diversity without that illusion of superiority that Englishmen of that period often display. And his writing is smooth, easy flowing and full of interest. He writes about that earlier age of the 1930s, Bloomsbury and country house weekends with people far richer than he is but who foster him because of his talent and charm. And he is an Englishman and of the same social class as they are. There are lovely stories about T S Eliot and Lytton Strachey and Paul Robeson and Virginia and Leonard Wolf, or 'The Wolves' as he calls them. When he writes about his experiences he is easy to read and full of charm.
The few chapters on ideas are not as easy to read. When he writes about his work as a reviewer he is dull and in the chapter on religion he seems to be addressing arguments that not longer have any currency. The chapter on different sensitivities seems to be a reaction to the reception of some of his poetry. This slim book would have been slimmer without these chapters but I would have finished with a greater appreciation of the man. But I do like William Plomer.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews