Volume 900 pages
Looking Back
About the book
When John Osborne died at Christmas 1994, his obituaries cited his autobiographical writings as perfect examples of undiluted talent and acerbic wit. Now, Osborne's superb autobiographies,
A Better Class of Person: 1929-1956 and
Almost a Gentleman: 1955-1966 (winner of the J. R. Ackerley Prize), are available for the first time in one volume,
Looking Back.
'A brilliant, funny, melancholy and acrimonious book of memoirs . . . Almost every page confirms that his powers as an elegist, definer of the Zeitgeist and master of unforgiving disgust remain undimmed.'
Observer
This volume also contains 'Bad John', a review by Alan Bennett of
A Better Class of Person, and David Hare's eulogy for John Osborne at the memorial service for Osborne in 1995.
