 First edition cover | |
| Author | Quentin Crisp |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp |
| Followed by | How to Become A Virgin |
The Naked Civil Servant is the 1968 autobiography of British gay icon Quentin Crisp, adapted into a 1975 film of the same name starring John Hurt.
An autobiography is a self-written account of the life of oneself. The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical The Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid, but condemned it as "pedantic". However, its next recorded use was in its present sense, by Robert Southey in 1809. Despite only being named early in the nineteenth century, first-person autobiographical writing originates in antiquity. Roy Pascal differentiates autobiography from the periodic self-reflective mode of journal or diary writing by noting that "[autobiography] is a review of a life from a particular moment in time, while the diary, however reflective it may be, moves through a series of moments in time". Autobiography thus takes stock of the autobiographer's life from the moment of composition. While biographers generally rely on a wide variety of documents and viewpoints, autobiography may be based entirely on the writer's memory. The memoir form is closely associated with autobiography but it tends, as Pascal claims, to focus less on the self and more on others during the autobiographer's review of his or her life.
A gay icon is a public figure who is embraced by many within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities.
Quentin Crisp was an English writer, raconteur and actor.
The book began as a 1964 radio interview with Crisp conducted by his friend and fellow eccentric Philip O'Connor. A managing director at Jonathan Cape heard the interview and commissioned the publication. Having sold only 3,500 copies when first released, the book became a success when it was republished following the television movie broadcast. [1]
Philip Marie Constant Bancroft O'Connor was a British writer and surrealist poet, who also painted. He was one of the 'Wheatsheaf writers' of 1930s Fitzrovia. He married six times and fathered "an unknown number of attractive and intelligent children".
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
The book contains many anecdotes about Crisp's life from childhood to middle age, including troubles he faced by refusing to hide his homosexuality and flamboyant lifestyle during a time when such behaviour was criminalized in the United Kingdom. Crisp also recalls his various jobs including book designer, nude model, and prostitute. [1]
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions."
An art model poses for any visual artist as part of the creative process, providing a visual reference for the human figure in a work of art. However, more than being simply the subject of art, models are often thought of as muses, a source of inspiration without whom the art would not exist. The most common types of art works that use models are figure drawing, figure painting, sculpture and photography, but almost any medium may be used. Art models are often paid professionals with skill and experience but are rarely employed full-time, and artists may also rely on friends and family to pose. Paid art models are usually anonymous and unacknowledged subjects of the work. Models are most frequently employed for art classes or by informal groups of artists that gather to share the expense of a model. Models are also employed privately by professional artists. Although commercial motives dominate over aesthetics in illustration, its artwork commonly employs models. For example, Norman Rockwell used his friends and neighbors as models for both his commercial and fine art work. An individual who is having their own portrait painted or sculpted is usually called a "sitter" rather than a model, since they are paying to have the work done rather than being paid to pose.
The title derives from Crisp's quip about being an art model: employed by schools, models are ultimately paid by the Department for Education. They are essentially civil employees who are naked during office hours.
The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of Her Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, education, apprenticeships and wider skills in England.
The civil service is independent of government also composed mainly of career bureaucrats hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil servant or public servant is a person employed in the public sector on behalf of a government department or agency. A civil servant or public servant's first priority is to represent the interests of citizens. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the "civil service" varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown employees are referred to as civil servants whereas county or city employees are not.
