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I was sort of surprised that Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) chose this as his desert island read this morning ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/p ) I read it in my late teens and I have not felt the need to re-read it, there's so much else to get through, but he seems to find a lasting impact in it. Anyone else ?
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 10:32 - Jul 3 by EJP
Adrian Mole did ...
I suppose I should re-read his diary, I've forgotten that. Also Captain Sensible, he was the one who recommended 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' to Cook.
Yes, I've read it. Was lent to me by the father of a girlfriend. Resonated with me a fair bit, being a decorator and also at times having lived very much hand-to-mouth (with short arms).
Plus, if not an outright socialist, I am certainly a fan of civilised societies which look after their members, rather than allowing rapacious greed to hoard wealth and trash the place for the rest of us. I don't think that requires a revolution, nor is it incompatible with moderated, rules-based capitalism.
The style is perhaps a little preachy for the modern ear, but the depiction of the underlying need is very clear - and based upon the author's genuine experiences.
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 10:58 - Jul 3 by Guthrum
Yes, I've read it. Was lent to me by the father of a girlfriend. Resonated with me a fair bit, being a decorator and also at times having lived very much hand-to-mouth (with short arms).
Plus, if not an outright socialist, I am certainly a fan of civilised societies which look after their members, rather than allowing rapacious greed to hoard wealth and trash the place for the rest of us. I don't think that requires a revolution, nor is it incompatible with moderated, rules-based capitalism.
The style is perhaps a little preachy for the modern ear, but the depiction of the underlying need is very clear - and based upon the author's genuine experiences.
This
Read it years ago. Had major influence at the time.
Better to stay silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 12:44 - Jul 3 with 1629 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 10:32 - Jul 3 by EJP
Adrian Mole did ...
I read it as a youngster, having had it given me by my grandad, who was a miner like my dad. He maintained that the book was a major influence on the election of the transformative, landslide winning Labour government in 1946. I have loved it & reread it many times since. If you can come to terms with Noonan's (Tressell's) idiosyncratic writing style, I have always believed that it should be more widely read.
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 14:11 - Jul 3 with 1501 views
Yes. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was (and probably still is) a go to book for those involved in the trade union movement, as I once was. That's where it was recommended to me. Some very powerful messaging in there and paints a grim picture of what it was like to be a worker when very few rights existed. I also thought it was fascinating that the book and author weren't recognised at the time and it wasn't until much later that the book saw the light of day. The book was released in 1914 but Tressel died in 1911. Well worth a read in my opinion.
Edit: This thread has piqued my interest so I've looked a bit more into it. It seems that the 1914 release was of only the partial manuscript. The full version wasn't released until 1955. 44 years after Tressell's death. Another interesting fact is that Tressell was a pen name and was chosen as it represented one of the tools of the trade of those represented in the manuscript.
[Post edited 3 Jul 14:50]
"Look, I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see?"
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 14:40 - Jul 3 with 1402 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 14:29 - Jul 3 by VanDusen
Read it three times in my youth. It's fantastic even though it's pretty much the same message rammed home again and again over 600 pages.
But then I grew up in Hastings where it's set so it has a special significance.
Yes, I started it but gave up. It was a bit too repetitive and polemical for a novel for my liking.
But I am aware of the Hastings connection, because one of the places where the author lived was pointed out to me when I was campaigning in Hastings for Labour in 2015
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 14:55 - Jul 3 with 1347 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 14:40 - Jul 3 by DJR
Yes, I started it but gave up. It was a bit too repetitive and polemical for a novel for my liking.
But I am aware of the Hastings connection, because one of the places where the author lived was pointed out to me when I was campaigning in Hastings for Labour in 2015
This BBC radio dramatisation is available to listen to on YouTube, which you might find more digestible. No longer on BBC Sounds (last broadcast 2024 on R4Extra, but watch out for it being repeated there again as the station lives on repeats).
Yes. I found it an enlightening read and highly recommend it to anyone who has never read it.
On another note, what are people reading at the moment? I am currently getting through CJ Sansom's Shardlake series as well as reading Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club one.
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:13 - Jul 3 by Nthsuffolkblue
Yes. I found it an enlightening read and highly recommend it to anyone who has never read it.
On another note, what are people reading at the moment? I am currently getting through CJ Sansom's Shardlake series as well as reading Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club one.
A new thread maybe mate? But as you asked. Paul Weller - Dancing through the fire. Nearly finished. It's been a great read. As an aside, I'm off to see him in Bedford on Sunday.
"Look, I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see?"
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:27 - Jul 3 with 1194 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:13 - Jul 3 by Nthsuffolkblue
Yes. I found it an enlightening read and highly recommend it to anyone who has never read it.
On another note, what are people reading at the moment? I am currently getting through CJ Sansom's Shardlake series as well as reading Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club one.
I've recently completed Phillip Roth's American Trilogy, the first of which (American Pastoral) won the Pulitzer Price, and made a start on John of John by Douglas Stuart.
[Post edited 3 Jul 16:28]
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:46 - Jul 3 with 1169 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:13 - Jul 3 by Nthsuffolkblue
Yes. I found it an enlightening read and highly recommend it to anyone who has never read it.
On another note, what are people reading at the moment? I am currently getting through CJ Sansom's Shardlake series as well as reading Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club one.
Just finished “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito. Can recommend it.
Better to stay silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt
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So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 18:52 - Jul 3 with 1068 views
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:46 - Jul 3 by DJR
Talking about books which are a bit of a struggle, I read the first 100 pages of Don Quixote many years ago but found it too repetitive.
And last year, I read to the first volume of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (or In Search of Lost Time). Only another 2,800 pages to go!
[Post edited 3 Jul 16:47]
I think a few people have taken the Proust to the Desert Island. I have a dual language extracts from Cervantes that I take with me when I go to Spanish speaking countries as a 'get me started' and then leave off after thirty or so pages on my return because I find the Spanish very difficult, but you can see where a lot of comedy writing started in that book.
Currently reading 'Winston Churchill's Toyshop' by Stuart MacRae.
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 16:13 - Jul 3 by Nthsuffolkblue
Yes. I found it an enlightening read and highly recommend it to anyone who has never read it.
On another note, what are people reading at the moment? I am currently getting through CJ Sansom's Shardlake series as well as reading Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club one.
Max Adams The First Kingdom, about the end of Roman Britain and the transition to what came after.
Just finished Ronald Hutton's biography of Oliver Cromwell up to the end of the First Civil War and the final volume of Jonathan Sumption's history of the Hundred Years War.
Next is a biography of Sir Alf Ramsey by Dave Bowler, found by chance in a second hand bookshop the other day and another by Ron Hutton on paganism in Britain.
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 12:52 - Jul 3 by WednesdayJon
I read it as a youngster, having had it given me by my grandad, who was a miner like my dad. He maintained that the book was a major influence on the election of the transformative, landslide winning Labour government in 1946. I have loved it & reread it many times since. If you can come to terms with Noonan's (Tressell's) idiosyncratic writing style, I have always believed that it should be more widely read.
Think I'll give it a go.
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
So who else had read 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell ? on 19:23 - Jul 3 by Ryorry
Have you tried ‘The Outsider’ (aka The Stranger) by Camus? Does at least have the advantage of being very short, iirc! As well as rather good.
Think I did get to the end of The Age of Reason, but can’t remember anything whatsoever about it!
I think I've read the Age of Reason too but like you can't remember a thing.
I've also read the Outsider.
Interestingly, football played a part in the work of both authors.
Camus, a former goalkeeper, wrote.
"After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football.”
And Sartre wrote the following in one of his works which contained various analogies with football.
"In a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team."
EDIT; For anyone not aware, this song by the Cure was based on The Outsider.
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