Corker's Freedom [Hardcover]

John Berger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 1995

An exhilarating and engrossing novel about the elderly owner of an employment agency whose romantic yearnings and inarticulate dreams propel him into a world of fantasy. Corker's Freedom displays the storytelling magic that is a hallmark of Berger's acclaimed fiction.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reprinted in the wake of his success with the Into Their Labours trilogy, Berger's 1964 novel (written eight years before the Booker Prize-winning G , and being issued in the U.S. for the first time) describes a day in the life of a man bent on breaking with his past. Sixty-three-year-old London employment agency owner Corker is Berger's Leopold Bloom--a man plagued by the conviction that he hasn't done enough with his life and who is now determined to free himself from a narrow existence. Blind to all but his need to make some sort of heroic gesture, he begins a fractured odyssey, abandoning his crippled sister and inadvertently bringing tragedy on both of them. The novel chronicles Corker's first heady days at large and their tragicomic aftermath, giving Berger a chance to meditate on the naivete with which we view "freedom," on the ways a restrictive social order defines character and on how our unfulfilled yearnings often run riot in the prisons we build for them. Berger's insights about the dangers of a romantic European ideal, here symbolized by the role Vienna plays in Corker's intellectual life, remain pertinent today. The end--rendered in a postscript--is sad and funny; Corker's Pyrrhic victory is both painful and uplifting. Berger, who cares deeply about his characters, has created an unforgettable one in Corker.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

By interspersing interior monologs with elaborate accounts of office routine, Berger ( Keeping a Rendezvous , Random, 1992) reveals a day in the life of William Corker, the aging proprietor of a small employment agency in Clapham. Having just fled the house where he had been living with his invalid sister, Corker seeks freedom by moving into rooms above his office and abandoning himself to romantic dreams much like those of J. Alfred Prufrock. In a lecture on the glories of Vienna, Corker gradually speaks what he feels rather than what is expected of him. Soon after this illusory moment of liberation, however, he finds himself penniless and implicated in a criminal conspiracy. Action in Berger's novel is limited, but scrutiny of character is as intense as that found in Proust or Henry James. Minute details are telling and may require patient attention from some readers.
- Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (August 5, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517156199
• ISBN-13: 978-0517156193
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

John Berger was born in London in 1926. He is well known for his novels and stories as well as for his works of nonfiction, including several volumes of art criticism. His first novel, A Painter of Our Time, was published in 1958, and since then his books have included the novel G., which won the Booker Prize in 1972. In 1962 he left Britain permanently, and he lives in a small village in the French Alps.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Snatching freedom from the jaws of sacrifice, August 24, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: CORKER'S FREEDOM: A Novel (Hardcover)

Written thirty years ago and published in the U.S. for the first time in 1994, Berger's novel describes one day in the life of a man, 64 years old, who decides to claim his freedom.

As the story opens William Corker has left his invalid sister and decided to move into rooms over his employment office. A bachelor, he sacrificed marriage and all his other potentials to care for, first, his mother, then his sister, crippled with rheumatism.

The narrative moves between Corker's plans and reminiscences and his young assistant's observation of the change in his boss and the momentous change in his own life - he has just lost his virginity. Interspersed are paragraphs from the various people who come in seeking employment - a vigorous, middle aged housekeeper Corker fantasizes employing for himself; a young, snooty woman who demonstrates Corker's naivety and optimism while casing the joint for her boyfriend; and an elderly impoverished housekeeper terrified of being put in a home to die.

Corker is ebullient, proud of himself and feeling daring. Alec, his assistant, is by turns suspicious and excited. Unable to quite overturn the habits of a lifetime, Corker sacrifices his visions of the blowsy housekeeper and tentatively decides on the elderly one - who's asking less than half normal wages. But he vacillates while Alec fumes with the impatience of youth, helping Corker shove furniture around upstairs and dreaming of his girl while he listens to the old man go on about art and travel.

The tone is wistful and ironic with a hint of acid. The story builds to a climax which seems certain to end in disaster, what with an ongoing robbery, the entrance of the querulous sister and the addition of some unaccustomed alcohol. A trifle wordy but a poignant and humorous look at the contrast between sacrificed hopes and youthful incomprehension.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I want to be less ignorant of the consequences of not being good.", July 11, 2000

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Corker's Freedom (Paperback)

William Corker, ever-so-proper, and presumably celibate, has spent his life caring for his mother and his domineering sister, and now, at age 64, he has made the break, found his own apartment, and is living, joyfully, on his own, above the employment office where he works. The inner thoughts, memories, and poignant regrets of Corker as he approaches old age, contrast delightfully with the decidedly uncelibate, hormone-induced thoughts of his employee, 17-year-old Alec. Berger illuminates every possible intergenerational contrast and conflict here, evoking great humor and equally great sympathy for Corker and Alec, both of whom the reader recognizes as naïve.

Within this delightful and amusing story, however, Berger deals with serious universal themes related to one's life goals and responsibilities, how one wants to be remembered, and how personal freedom is defined. After caring for others for sixty-four years, Berger's only desire is "I do not want to die as I am, when I die I want to be different, I want to be less ignorant of the consequences of not being good."

Corker takes an irreversible step into his independent life during a tipsy travelogue of Vienna. It is here that Berger uses language most brilliantly to reveal the many ironies of Corker's life. What Corker actually says, what he knows, and what he would like to say to and about the other characters in the audience, all of whom have affected his life, are combined in this one stunning scene. We can observe him taking chances for the first time and experiencing "the general triumph of having spoken out and been listened to."

Simultaneously, however, the reader is privy to ironic events that are taking place outside the lecture hall, events over which Corker has no control and which will force him to continue living his new, "free" life, whether or not he wants to. The epilogue which shows us Corker two years later, reveals Berger's consummate irony: Corker is still speaking out and still living free, though not in the way that either he or we would have predicted. A fine study of a man at the end of his life, the novel showcases Berger's masterful use of irony and brilliant manipulation of language, making this a novel that language lovers will not want to miss. Mary Whipple

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sorry but it's very boring, February 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Corker's Freedom (Paperback)

This is not one of Berger's best: in fact it's not far short of the worst thing he's ever written. Almost entirely without humour, this is a dull dog of a book. Only the seriously committed need bother: others perhaps should look to his '60s masterpiece 'A Fortunate Man' or the later 'Into Their Labours' trilogy. But please steer clear of this one.