In Youth is Pleasure & I Left My Grandfather’s House

by Denton Welch, William S. Burroughs (Foreword)

First published in 1945, "In Youth Is Pleasure" is a beautiful and unassuming coming-of-age novel by the English writer and painter Denton Welch (1915-1948). Painfully sensitive and sad Orville Pym is 15 years old, and this novel recounts the summer holiday after his first miserable year at public school--but as in all of Welch's work, what is most important are the details of his characters' surroundings. Welch is a Proustian writer of uncanny powers of observation who, as William S. Burroughs wrote, "makes the reader aware of the magic that is right under his eyes." Film director John Waters includes this novel as one of his "Five Books You Should Read to Live a Happy Life If Something Is Basically the Matter with You," and writes: "Maybe there is no better novel in the world than Denton Welch's "In Youth Is Pleasure." Just holding it in my hands, so precious, so beyond gay, so deliciously subversive, is enough to make illiteracy a worse social crime than hunger." Also included in this edition is the first U.S. publication of "I Left My Grandfather's House." This first-person account of an idyllic walking tour in the British countryside undertaken when Welch was 18 makes a fascinating companion piece to the fictionalized, though no less autobiographical, "In Youth Is Pleasure."

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Literature, Coming Of Age, British Literature, Classics, LGBT

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Maurice Denton Welch was an English-American writer and painter, admired for his vivid prose and precise descriptions.

Reviews

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Nothing Happens, really, but it happens perfectly.

In Youth Is Pleasure captures, so well, the thrill of the unexpected that can inhabit the most ordinary spans of time and place. As well as the tumult of teen years, where everything happens in flashes of overexposure, high and low, but ultimately everything is (likely) actually part of a modest normality, even when it's exceedingly strange. Here, it's all a very believable and unhysterical tumult of teen experience. I can see why John Waters and William Burroughs both recommend this (and somehow both link it to Jane Bowles!). And as others have pointed out, there's an odd subtle subversiveness underlining the ordinary seemly Britishness of the story.

I Left My Grandfather's House follows with memoir of that very British practice of he Walking Tour, which honestly I wish remained more of an option in this time and place. Once again, nothing much happens, but the incidentals of travel and landscape and human interaction provide ample justification.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Youth Is Pleasure - A rambling tale of 15-year-old Orvil's summer holiday away from the school he loathes, mostly spent in a boring hotel with his father and two older brothers. Consumed by the grotesqueries of everyday life, Orvil roams the nearby riverside, allowing his expansive imagination to guide his encounters with an array of eccentric characters.

Orvil watched his father paying the bill. He wanted to snatch the notes off the plate and run with them until he came to a 'bus. He would climb on top of the 'bus and ride in front till he came to the sea-coast. A barge would be waiting there for him. It would be like Cleopatra's barge, all golden, with feather fans and music. And he would swim out to the barge and they would draw up the anchor at once and sail with him thousands of miles, until at last they came to an extraordinary island of ruined temples. There they would put him on shore, and he would build a hermitage in a corner of one of the ruined temples. It would be made of bricks set between the marble drums of the colonnade. He felt the rough mealy bricks and the chipped marble, stained gold as if iron water had been pouring over it. He saw the feathery bones of his last sardine meal, and the jug of goat's milk, brought to him by a peasant. He would be a hermit for ever . . .

'I Left My Grandfather's House' - A fragment from Denton Welch's journal, detailing a walking tour he took to Devonshire at the age of 18 during his summer break from art school. Vivid and earnest, Welch's prose lends an affable intimacy to the experience of reading his journal, which elegantly captures the fickle uncertainty and yearning of late adolescence.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denton Welch, a prodigy of prose, a daintier Albion Rimbeau, dead so woefully young, is woefully under-read. Usually the youngly dead do better in the numerics of book-movement dead. Sadly upon sadly this isn’t the case. For for how direly under-read he is he is the BEST example I can think of of why and how easily that dictum of necessity of knowing rules to adequately break them breaks down, (because) he gives every indication he doesn’t know he’s doing what he's doing, and he’s not only perfectly vivid (blurbs speak to descriptive and memorial powers, which, yes, cannot be put aside) but tremendously perceptive, insightful, seems all too capable of expressing in words and expressions we find EXACT, (in a way kind of redolent of the way we smack our foreheads for unthinking the epic profitability of prototyping and printing by the tens of millions a kind of bowl dotted all over with holes for draining pasta water) but which we ourselves have failed to prototype on our tongues and print in plain air, the thousand good/bad feelings drenching the million moments of heroic/petty love/unlove in consequence of the commerce of human souls—yet DW is self-effacing, at odds with himself, leprous with contradiction and ugliness one can only adore with compassion if one is the type to identify with and relate to DW’s type. Here is a writer that speaks to you or doesn’t, I mean, I think. I’m afraid there’s no middle ground but surely he deserves so much better, deserves to transcend circumstances of public oblivion. He isn’t conventionally hard or difficult. I’m convinced he’d be a hit in the classrooms of high school English: he is naughty and he is snobby and he is melancholy, sometimes: and weren’t/aren’t/won’t sometimes so many of us too? RIP

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely has a book been so mistitled. Reading In Youth Is Pleasure over the past few evenings, I wondered if I'd ever read a sadder book. But the elusive charm and mystery of this miniature set of stories is that the sadness is all in its grace notes – that in fact the entire tale is a kind of grace note. By all accounts, Denton Welch had a lonely, at times desperately unhappy, childhood; at 20 he was almost paralyzed by a careless driver as he walked his bike on a country road. For the rest of his short life he suffered terrible pain, in and out of hospitals, until he died in 1948 at the age of 33. But with spirit and intensity of a true artist, he created something strange - a few short novels, some strong paintings and his Journals (now out of print, which somehow is exactly what you'd expect).

I can understand why there's a Denton Welch cult, although I find it bizarre that William Burroughs was among them. These two tales – the first an autobiography disguised as fiction, the second an account of a walking tour that ends as abruptly as it begins – run as simply & pellucidly as one of those English streams Denton is always dipping into. Almost nothing happens. He is always alone, even when befriended by strangers who seem as odd and lonely as he. I can't say I actually enjoyed the book. It was like being in someone else's dream for a while, someone fragile, solitary and doomed – another one of those graceful English youths (Keats, Wilfred Owen) who float above their ruined lives.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished In Youth is Pleasure, and am about to embark upon the next title in this book. Before finishing the book, I must confess my love for Orvil Pym, the main character. I love Orvil in such a way that I struggle to describe it even to myself, it has been so long since such character lust has overtaken me. I adored Zeno, yes, but this young Orvil speaks to the gay teenage boy in me (who apparently is not spoken to often enough. I must work on that). The book is about Orvil's (his dad calls him Microbe, which I am quite fond of as well) wanderings while on summer vacation. His adventures lead him to seeing half nude women, discovering an ancient grotto, and having strange and violent encounters with a school teacher camping with students by the river near his hotel. Orvil covers himself in lipstick, and twice we read as he acts crazier and sicker than need be to defend himself from the boorish tedium of his classmates... sigh, Orvil, you are an early Belle and Sebastian song.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike anything else I've ever read. Orvil's method of observing the world reminded me so much of myself at certain turns I couldn't help but be entranced, and honest descriptions that startle with hilarity: "his meat-coloured face" or "The mushrooms, with their flattened damaged gills radiating from a centre, looked like shrunken scalps of coarse Oriental hair." Orvil would make for a quite entertaining food critic in the real world.

Leaving my Grandfather's House is an extended journal entry of wandering, emphasizing a particular malaise more than the adventure the writer is hoping for. Nothing much happens but observations, but they're told truthfully and so are interesting from an empathetic view. I read this one on a gloomy, rainy day, which complemented the underlying melancholy perfectly.

If you're the type that requires a clear plot, this may not be for you, but word and phrase lovers will find this to be a lovely sort of comfort food for their soul.

[Sara J. (kefuwa) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed the second half of the book ("I Left My Grandfather's House") which is about a boy who goes on a walking tour through the English countryside. A rather quaint and carefree read, I felt.

I didn't particularly like "In Youth is Pleasure" though. There were some bits I found interesting but mostly I just felt it was a bit pointless. Tch.

So 4 stars for the second half & 2 stars for the first half.

[Naz Basaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

wish i could read it all over again as if it was the first time. it awakened so many things inside me that i almost felt like i wasn't truly letting myself feel for quiet some time. and it made me write this little thing after a long time:
"i like the fact that our world is turning
i sometimes lay down and watch the clouds getting away from me
it calms my anxiety to see that nothing stays still
the fear of change can be rougher than it seems
with all the excitement it brings "
last but not least this is going to be one of those books that i'll be keep turning back to.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denton Welch was a highly unique writer, in many ways more a master of the short story form than the novel. But of his three novels, In Youth Is Pleasure is by far the best.

As with most of Welch's writings, the book is really fictionalized autobiography, and he excels at using the story of a family summer get-together at a luxury hotel as an excuse to explore the very many eccentricities of his alter ego Orvil Pym. As with Denton Welch himself, Orvil is high-strung, willful, and unabashedly queer. In contrast to his rather bland father and older brothers (his mother had died before the events of the novel), Orvil is all heat and light, and never afraid to act upon his strangest urges.

The highlight of In Youth Is Pleasure is chapter six, when Orvil temporarily leaves the hotel to visit the family of Guy Winkle, a former schoolmate whom Orvil readily admits to not liking. But Orvil makes the trip anyway, since he and Guy's sister Constance share an interest in history. The Winkle family are presented as a wonderfully absurd portrait of the muddled values and mannerisms of the British upper classes between the wars, and the clash between the peculiar Orvil Pym and the oblivious Winkle family is comedic weirdness of the highest order.

As William Burroughs notes in the introduction to this edition, "Denton Welch makes the reader aware of the magic that is right under his eyes". Part of that magic stems from Welch's unflinching gaze, which he was incapable of turning away even from what he found to be ugly, ridiculous, or painful. Welch was sui generis as a writer, and In Youth Is Pleasure is one of his signal achievements.

[Michael Flick · Rating 1 out of 5]

William Burroughs leads off with effusive praise ("When asked what writer has most directly influenced my own work I can answer without hesitation: Denton Welch.") in a Foreword, but I don't get it. Maybe I didn't have on board the drugs required for devotion. This is said to be a cult classic, but it's not my cult. I didn't find much, if any, pleasure in this youth.

It's not a coming of age story--if anything, the main character regresses to a more childlike state suddenly (and inexplicably) at the end. It goes nowhere and doesn't get there in any interesting way.

The third-person narrator has access only to the main character, Orvil Pym. That access is shallow, little or nothing beyond physical description. The limited interior thought is simplistic and in quotation marks, a technique that never works for me.

Also included in this edition is "I Left My Grandfather's House," a fragment from the author's diaries that was not published in his lifetime. It's a first-person chronicle of a walking tour in the English countryside when he was 18 years old. It's the account of a snobbish, disagreeable youth who has something negative to say about every place and person he encounters along the way.

[Babs M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved his style. His descriptions were spot on and you could actually feel them as he portrayed them. I was frequently saying to myself "yes, that is the feeling or thought " exactly that I could never describe so perfectly. I am so glad that I found him and how tragic he died at 33, from complications of being partially paralyzed in a bicycling accident at age 20. I will read everything I can find written by him, although sadly there is not much.

[Szedrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuine literature. Not easy to come by these days. Loved it.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The publisher, Open Road Integrated Media, reached out to me with this book as I’d previously read Jane Bowles’ Two Serious Ladies , and she is even mentioned in this work.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hesitant at first as Bowles’ work was very well written but I just didn’t like the characters. Thankfully, Welch’s characters were a bit more accessible for me. This is two shorter stories so I’ve separated my response into two parts. The publisher provided a copy of this book and I received no compensation for my honest opinion.

The one over-arching them the two pieces have in common is the idea of sexuality, specifically homosexuality, before it was commonly talked about and/or accepted. I tried (aka did a brief google search) to find out about Welch’s sexuality, but again this was a long time ago before our out and proud mantras of today. Welch died young, he was only 33, and there is only speculation outside of his written works which in today’s society seem pretty explicit. Regardless, I enjoyed both of these snippets of the past for completely different reasons.

Click here to continue reading on my blog The Oddness of Moving Things.

[Dermot O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Youth is Pleasure: 4.5 Stars - really enjoyed it.

I Left My Grandather’s House: 2.5 Stars - although the writing was good, he seems to describe a whole lot of nothing. A bit of disclosed information near the end helped sympathize with the rather dull protagonist, but ultimately wasn’t enough to remedy the verbose recollections of stale encounters

[Reacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very, very unique novel. Quite sure I've not read anything else like it before. It takes descriptive detail to the deepest, most micro level. Every action, every sensation, every emotion, every experience is described vividly and richly in the hyperreal, and time stutters to accomodate. As the William Burrows foreward to this novel says: "When students tell me I have nothing to write about, I refer them to Denton Welch." Indeed. Welch can turn a sip of tomato juice or a walk to the bakery into a symphony. If Welch wrote in today's times, he'd likely be called indulgent. Perhaps, but at least he'd be original. If you're a writer, reading Welch will help you. It'll help you drop into slow motion and peel back the skin on all your senses when you're visualizing a scene on the page. It'll show you everything you missed before. I don't believe every scene calls for the technique displayed throughout this book, but it can be quite effective when your pacing or point of view is flat and calls for a deep dive down to stir things up.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across a mention of Denton Welch on the blog Band of Thebes. I'd never heard of him, and I'm really glad I read this.

The novelette at the beginning is a great coming of age story, set at a resort hotel during a teenager's summer school holidays. It's one of those stories where seemingly insignificant events can be imbued with deep layers of meaning -- in the way teenagers do.

I liked the "I Left My Grandfather's House" memoir that appeared at the end of the book. It was strange to think about Welch writing down his memories of his 1933 walking tour of southern England after the accident that left him incapable of such a journey. His memory and attention to detail is phenomenal.

A great couple of works that will stick with me for a while, I think.

[aya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the most genius and truthful description i've ever read. Captures perfectly the way sensuality can be found in unexpected parts of life. The way Orvil expresses the physicality and sensuality of life makes him a completely original and genius character yet is at the same time completely relatable.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good. I enjoyed it a great deal and I found out about it thanks to John Waters. It would have fallen under my radar if he had not mentioned it in his most recent book. I enjoyed I Left my Grandfather's House even more than In Youth is Pleasure. This is worth reading for the wonderful language and turns of phrase you will not see the likes of anyplace else.

[eLwYcKe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a grower. At first it seemed very slight and i felt i was reading something that would leave no trace, no memory of itself behind. But I found myself warming to Orvil/Denton, he's quite a character: charming, impetuous, moody, imaginitive and adventurous, in his own quiet way.
Heavy on atmosphere, delicate, humorous observation and mild homoeroticism.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I must be too dense for this book. It was beautifully written, but nothing really ever happened. Which makes me sound like a complete idiot - but if there was a plot, I couldn't find one. A non-traditional plot structure, but whatever. I didn't actually read the second story in the book - I had it after the first.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ungodly gorgeous. Maybe the best of the boys-in-prep-school genre. I want to write a novel about how beautiful this novel is. But it could already be a novel about how beautiful Proust is. I'll tell in a few weeks.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orvil Pym is 15, mischevious, a bit neurotic, and discovering his sexuality. This is a British coming-of-age story that is quite hilarious at times, and I was surprised to find out that it was written in the 1940s considering how contemporary the humor feels.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from Apthorpe in Waugh's WWII trilogy, Orvile is one of my favorite characters. While Apthorpe would be the perfect train companion, Orvile would come in after the train arrives--while huffing onto a couch in a stiff room, wondering what to do next.

[Andy Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible two part meditation on queer youth in the south of England. A novel about a young boy on summer holiday with his family & an entry from Denton Welch's journal as a young man. Superb description and guarded gay longing ALL OVER THE PLACE. loved it.

[Chaserrrr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so badly wish I would have discovered this beautiful, hilarious, sad, tender, and very queer novel in my teen years. It would have saved me so much grief. Orvil Pym is my favorite character in fiction and I can't wait to read everything else that Denton Welch has written.

[Terry Sneed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I've enjoyed Denton Welch several times before, I cannot say I enjoyed IN YOUTH IS PLEASURE. Denton Welch is a very fine writer, and his descriptions are sometimes unique and perceptive. But this seems to me to be a somewhat puerile account and rather disturbing, at that.

[Karren321 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was interesting and well written. However unfortunately it descended into boring torture porn

It would have been much more interesting if the lines were actually blurred and you couldnt decide who was right and who was wrong

Forgiving mother seemed a little ridiculous to me as well

[Daniel Gillespie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sensitive book for sensitive boys. This book described how it felt to be me at one point in my life, and so I love it.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two beautiful books with the best titles ever. So gorgeous and direct.

[rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

captures that very particular time right in-between childhood and adolescence with absolute perfect clarity. beautifully written.