ABSOLUTE
BEGINNERS - COLIN MACINNES
It's the mod bible, according to Paul Weller, and if he says so then
so it is for who else could be better placed to make such a
judgement? Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes evokes a
period and paints a picture of a time long past when the idea of
'teenage' and a London emerging from the wreckage of World War 2 was
something very new and exciting. It's a description of a time when
Britain was on the cusp of a great sea change where economic spending
power and the very idea of it lent a piquancy to those never in
possession of it before.
The story is neither here nor there because the point of Absolute
Beginners is in the language, the descriptions and the observations,
and if read like this is thoroughly enjoyable if not - it should be
said - a tad slow. Practically everyone has a nickname apart from the
unnamed narrator, and everyone talks in an endearing hep cat jive
slang that displays a love of English and American idioms. People are
referred to as 'cats', girls as 'chicks', police as 'cowboys', and
coloured people as 'Spades'. Most endearing of all, a good many
sentences spoken by the characters finish with the word 'child' in
the way that people nowadays would say 'mate'. It's a term used with
affection and one that's never used nowadays at all - and it really
should.
It's interesting that Colin MacInnes was in his forties when he wrote
Absolute Beginners because reading it today it feels as though it's
absolutely the voice of a teenager. Though very specific to the time
period it's set in, as in 1958, there's an authenticity about the
narrator's voice and outlook that doesn't fall into cliché or
direness. Three years after publication, Anthony Burgess's A
Clockwork Orange would be published and though not acknowledged, the
influence of Absolute Beginners upon the way Burgess had his Droogs
talk is obvious.
At one point, the narrator thinks to himself: "My lord, one
thing is certain, and that's that they'll make musicals one day about
the glamour-studded 1950s." Little could MacInnes imagine
that one day a musical would be made of his book starring David Bowie
and the legendary Lionel Blair. Not that the film of Absolute
Beginners should really be associated with the book because they just
don't compare as one is absolute rubbish and the other is required
reading for anyone with the slightest interest in British culture.
Paul Weller is probably right but I do wonder how Julien Temple got
it so spectacularly wrong?
John Serpico
I do think it's rather a special book and, like you, admire the way it's written like a teenager as well as enjoying its language (I was quite surprised at some of the expressions). My copy is rather endearingly (for the time of its issue) 'semi'-censored, with words spelt like f--k ! Makes me laugh that they've been left in and it's so obvious what they are, so the censorship seems pointless, but it's a 1964 edition.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite examples of dialogue is conversation with Ed-Ted and its phonetics - let me just find it and quote some... ok:
"If yer liv up ear" he said, "And don no oo Flikker is, yer do no nuffin".
"Yeah, who is he?"
"E eads me mob" (etc...)
I never saw the film but I don't think I want to!
Have you read 'Mr Love And Justice', by the way?
Hey, child. I've just rifled through SDS and read your review of Absolute Beginners. It's better than mine! I went for the obvious as in The Jam whilst you went for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. I salute your imagination.
DeleteWe can both agree, however, that the dialogue is brilliant.
I've not read Mr Love And Justice but again, I've just read your old review of it so now will go on my list of books to be read. So many books so little time. Which then led me to your Pick up a Penguin post from 2011 and Albert Camus. You are discerning of taste, child. The link on that page leads to a YouTube video that has now been closed, leaving me wondering what the tenuous connection was? I wonder if you still even remember? All those years ago...
Oh no, I thoroughly enjoyed yours and it is far better focused than mine. But enough of the mutual appreciation society! I would imagine you'd thoroughly enjoy Mr Love And Justice - I loved it.
DeleteAnd you intrigued me about my Pick up a Penguin post; even looking at it again now I cannot for the life of me remember what the mysterious link was. A tune, yes, but what? How could I forget something that I obviously put some consideration into choosing in the first place? Dammit, I've no idea!
PS. By the way I can't really take credit for my taste in these books, they were both down to a good friend who sent them my way. Lovely to share these things!
Delete