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Pretending To Be Me: Philip Larkin, A Portrait by Tom Courtenay

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Pretending To Be Me: Philip Larkin, A Portrait

Author
Tom Courtenay
Narrator
Tom Courtenay
Publisher
Little, Brown Book Group
Publish Date
21 April 2005
Run Time
1 hour 20 minutes
Format
Audiobook
Genre
Films, cinema

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What to expect

PRETENDING TO BE ME is an intimate, acerbic and occasionally scurrilous show about the poet, jazz aficionado and Hull University librarian, Philip Larkin.

Larkin ('the magnificent Eeyore of British verse' - Daily Telegraph) has moved home; surrounded by packing cases, playing selections from his favourite jazz LPs, and making himself cups of tea - and later whiskies - he reflects wryly on writing and life.

Hilarious and moving, the narrative shifts seamlessly between Larkin's outrageous wit and the poems, which Courtenay reads with powerful directness and simplicity.

PHILIP LARKIN, one of the foremost figures in 20th-Century English poetry, feared his epitaph would be: 'They fuck you up, your mum and dad'. This, and other familiar poems, 'An Arundel Tomb', 'The Whitsun Weddings' and 'High Windows' are included in PRETENDING TO BE ME.

Critics Review

  • Shrewd, unpredictable and funny

    OBSERVER

  • A rare, rich pleasure

    DAILY TELEGRAPH

  • Courtenay is simply masterful

    Sunday TIMES

  • A perfomance to treasure - a tour de force

    MAIL on Sunday

User Reviews

No reviews yet.

Details
Author
Tom Courtenay
Narrator
Tom Courtenay
Duration
1 hour 20 minutes
Release Date
21 April 2005
ISBN
9781405501750
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Little, Brown Book Group
Genre
Films, cinema

Synopsis

PRETENDING TO BE ME is an intimate, acerbic and occasionally scurrilous show about the poet, jazz aficionado and Hull University librarian, Philip Larkin.Larkin ('the magnificent Eeyore of British verse' - Daily Telegraph) has moved home; surrounded by packing cases, playing selections from his favourite jazz LPs, and making himself cups of tea - and later whiskies - he reflects wryly on writing and life.Hilarious and moving, the narrative shifts seamlessly between Larkin's outrageous wit and the poems, which Courtenay reads with powerful directness and simplicity.PHILIP LARKIN, one of the foremost figures in 20th-Century English poetry, feared his epitaph would be: 'They fuck you up, your mum and dad'. This, and other familiar poems, 'An Arundel Tomb', 'The Whitsun Weddings' and 'High Windows' are included in PRETENDING TO BE ME.

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