A temporary clerk, still on probation, Mister Johnson has been in Fada, Nigeria, for six months and is already in debt. Undaunted, he not only entertains on the grandest scale with drums and smuggled gin, but also intends to pay a small fortune for a wife.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Joyce Cary was born in 1888 into an old Anglo-Irish family in Londonderry, Ireland. At the age of sixteen he studied painting, first in Edinburgh and then in Paris. From 1909 to 1912 he was at Trinity College, Oxford, where he read law. He then fought and served in the Red Cross in the Balkan War of 1912-13. Thereafter, having joined the Colonial Service in 1914, he served in the Nigeria Regiment during the First World War. He was wounded while fighting in the Cameroons, and returned to civil duty in Nigeria in 1917 as a district officer. West Africa became the locale of his early novels. Cary settled in Oxford in 1920, and died there in 1957.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A colonial tragi-comedy,
This review is from: Mister Johnson (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)
"Mister Johnson", by Joyce Cary, is a tale of an intriguing, quixotic native character, set in colonial Nigeria. Cary draws on his own experiences as a colonial official in Nigeria, drawing a rich, topical, authentic picture of the country during the early thirties. The eponymous anti-hero, referred to only as "Johnson", is a pathetic creation who sees himself as an enthusiast for Empire, a champion of progress and civilisation, with the King of England numbering among his friends. In reality, he is despised by his European boss, Rudbeck, as a member of an inferior race. Johnson's life, his attempt to to become more English than the English, is set precariously between these two extremes -- the urgings of superiority and the reality of degradation, eventually leading him to the gallows. The story's culmination, involving larceny, treachery and murder, sees Johnson emerging as a pathetic but genuinely human creation, whose plight is an illustration of a genuine human dilemma.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
this is not the book,
By VIKRAM INDRAJIT CHOPRA (DEHRADUN, India) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mister Johnson (Paperback)
Please note that this is a play based on the book NOT the actual book. Hence 1 star. I had read the book many years ago and the book deserves 5 stars. I ordered it unknowingly, got the play and wrote to AMAZON who very kindly refunded me the amount. Please look for the book elsewhere since it seems to be out of print.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mister Johnson,
By Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mister Johnson (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)
MISTER JOHNSON, perhaps the best of Joyce Cary's African novels, is about a man who fails to heed the reality all about him in favor of an illusory world of his own creation. Johnson is a Nigerian native; he comes to view the British colonial system, especially as represented by the incompetent road builder Rudbeck, through the prism of his African roots and experiences. Johnson tends not to filter things through the process of logical reasoning, but empirically through all his senses. The potential for disaster is great and is finally realized with the robbery and the subsequent murder he commits.Cary narrates the story in the present tense, which gives it a strong feel of immediacy. Johnson's delusions, from his total lack of understanding of his bride Bamu, who doesn't like him at all, though he doesn't realize it; his near worship of Rudbeck; and his even thinking he is above the law because "I king of all dem country" - a laughable self-deception if it didn't carry such frightening consequences, is sad and poignant. Despite being his own worst enemy, the reader can't help but sympathize with the ever singing, joyful, optimistic, Johnson.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
