{"product_id":"keep-the-aspidistra-flying","title":"Keep the Aspidistra Flying","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1936, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eKeep the Aspidistra Flying\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is a sharp, darkly comic novel about money, social respectability and the difficulty of living according to one’s principles in a society governed by financial security. Its protagonist, Gordon Comstock, is a struggling poet who rejects the middle-class world of advertising and commercial ambition, abandoning a respectable job in favour of poorly paid work in a bookshop. Determined to resist what he sees as the tyranny of money, Gordon embraces poverty as a form of rebellion, only to discover that his ideals are increasingly compromised by hunger, humiliation and the strain placed on his relationship with Rosemary, a woman who offers him affection and a possible future. As his circumstances deteriorate, his resistance to material comfort becomes entangled with pride, resentment and a growing inability to distinguish independence from self-destruction.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAmong Orwell’s most personal early novels, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eKeep the Aspidistra Flying\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e draws on his own experiences of precarious literary life and his ambivalent relationship with the English middle class. The aspidistra, a hardy houseplant associated with respectable suburban interiors, becomes a potent symbol of the security and conventionality Gordon despises but cannot entirely escape. Orwell combines social observation with psychological comedy, exposing the contradictions of a man who longs to reject bourgeois values while remaining painfully conscious of status, success and other people’s judgement. Beneath the satire lies a serious question about the relationship between artistic freedom and economic necessity: how much can a person sacrifice in the name of principle before the sacrifice itself becomes another form of vanity? Less widely read than \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e or \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e, the novel nevertheless offers a revealing portrait of Orwell’s developing political and moral imagination, as well as an enduring account of the struggle to live honestly within an imperfect world.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903733055818,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/products\/keep-the-aspidistra-flying","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}