Lavengro (Classic Reprint) [Paperback]

George Henry Borrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 23, 2010

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. (1851.) IN the following pages I have endeavoured to describe a dream, partly of study, partly of adventure, in which will be found copious notices of books, and many descriptions of life and manners, some in a very unusual form. The scenes of action lie in the British Islands. Pray be not displeased, gentle reader, if perchance thou hast imagined that I was about to conduct thee to distant lands, and didst promise thyself much instruction and entertainment from what I might tell thee of them. I do assQre thee that thou hast no reason to be displeased, inasmuch as there are no countries in the world less known by the British than these selfsame British Islands, or where more strange things are every day occurring, whether in road or street, house or dingle. The time embraces nearly the first quarter of the present century. This information, again, may perhaps be anything but agreeable to thee; it is a long time to revert to-but fret' no

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; CHAPTER I; Birth - My Father-Tamerlane-Ben Brain-Frencl~ Protestants - East; Anglia--Sorrow and Troubles-True Peace-A Beautiful Child-Foreign; Grave-Mirrors-Alpine Country-Emblems-Slow of Speech-The Jew; PAGE; -Strange Gestures • I; CHAPTER II; Barracks and Lodgings-A Camp-The Viper-A Delicate Child-Blackberry; Time-Meum and Tuum-Hythe-The Golgotha-Daneman's; Skull-Superhuman Stature-Stirring Times-The Sea-Bard 9; CHAPTER III; Pretty D : • ,-The Venerable Church-The Stricken Heart-Dormant; Energies-The Small Packet-Nerves-The Books-A Picture-Mountain-; like Billows-The Foot-Print-Spirit of De Foe-Reasoning Powers; -Terrors of God-Heads of the Dragons-High-Church Clerk-A; Journey-The Drowned Country 15; CHAPTER IV; Nocman Cross-Wide Expanse-Vive l'Empereur-Unpruncd Woods-Man; with the Bag-Froth and Conceit-I beg your Pardo

Product Details

• Paperback: 618 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (April 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451015054
• ISBN-13: 978-1451015058
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,696,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Literary buff's joy, January 2, 2003

By 

"fourdevoes" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lavengro (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed Borrow and look forward to meeting this character in heaven, where I believe he and Tolkien are having a great time talking philology. This is one of those books that, when you are done reading, you feel that you have made a friend and you miss him now that it's over. I am eager to read his other writings.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars entertaining, educational, particularly memorable, July 21, 1998

By 

sasha_ (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lavengro: The Classic Account of Gypsy Life in Nineteenth-Century England (Paperback)

This book (including Romany Rye, the sequel) is not an example of high-minded literature, but rather the account of Borrow's early life, and the beginning of his adventures. All escapades take place in the United Kingdom, of which he is admirably patriotic. As a character, he is actually somewhat quiet; but the situations and especially people he meets are both tangibly real (to a degree that I find unusual in a work of that time) and outlandish by any standards, Victorian (?) England's or ours. Above all the stories were fascinating, and are stamped permanently in my memory.

While one needs a taste for the "philological" to enjoy and understand these adventures, they are still only marvelous anecdotes, including brilliant character portraits and memorable descriptions.

One small quality that I appreciated, particularly since he writes so much of his experiences with Gypsies, is that Borrow is probably less rascist than many of his contemporaries seem to b! e.

By the way: while The Bible in Spain has the same qualities as Lavengro and Romany Rye, it is not nearly as well written; he indulges his taste for dry ramblings much more, and the interesting stories seem almost arbitrary in when he tells them and when he ends them; were he still alive, there would be much that I'd like him to elaborate on.

If anyone can tell me about his other writings (I have the impression that the quality can vary) I'd really appreciate some advice through email.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An autobiographical novel of late nineteenth century England, January 28, 2005

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lavengro (Paperback)

George Borrow lived in England during the nineteenth century. This book and it's sequel "The Romany Rye" are somewhat autobiographical in the way that "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is autobiographical about James Joyce. This book is also not a novel in its true form. It's more a vivid description of the English countryside and what it was like during Borrow's lifetime. The book and its sequel were not very well received when first published because English people did not want to read about gypsies and the gypsy lifestyle. Borrow's black psyche comes through in these pages quite clearly as he tries to explain his life and the problems that he encounters. As I read the book, I felt it was like seeing a real man's life, as it surely was. There are three main characters in the book - a scholar, a Gypsy and a Priest. Borrow takes quite a kick at Roman Catholicism and the pomp and circumstance of that religion in his book. But even with that his Priest is a shown as a very good man trying to bring his message to the masses. I did not read the next book "The Romany Rye", but this one was pretty good as a stand-alone.