For our forthcoming production of Educating Rita we need to get our hands on about 3,000 books! The play is packed with literary references so we’d like to hear about the books that have inspired you. Our Sales and Marketing Officer Alex Bond shares one of his favourites…
There are so many books referenced in Educating Rita that it’s hard to keep up with them all! Frank lives in a world of literature from Thomas Hardy to E.M. Forster but a book that made a lasting impression on me is a slightly different kettle of fish to anything on Frank’s bookshelf…
Post Office is one of those books that you hate to read because you know from the first few pages that it’s going to be over all too soon. On its release in 1971 it launched the career of Charles Bukowski who went on to become one of America’s most influential writers. It’s a wickedly funny novel about the life of Henry Chinaski, the anti-establishment alter ego of Bukowski and is essentially an autobiography of Bukowski’s early years before he became a writer.
The story follows the ups and downs of Chinaski’s young life as he gets a job in the post office from which he won’t escape for the next twelve years, albeit with a short break where he gambles on horses for a living. A boozing womaniser Chinaski moves through life with no regard for where he is going or taking control over his life, stumbling from one escapade to the next, from one woman to the next, enduring the pains of everyday life.
You should hate the guy or at least think of him as a complete loser. But there’s an undeniable charm about him, a couldn’t care less attitude that is infectious and appealing. He’s not totally immoral, there are moments in the novel where he clearly has a heart. And he’s self-aware of the inanity of his existence, the absurdity of it all hating the day to day boredom of his job with an amused acceptance of it. His frank, no nonsense attitude is brilliant and it’s no surprise that Bukowski wrote this within a month of quitting the post office himself, it feels like an outpouring of creative feeling from someone who had been cooped up for twelve years – which is exactly what it is.
Bukowski’s writing rattles along at pace. It’s a short book at only 200 pages long. There’s no dead flesh here, this is writing at its most economic and direct. It’s brilliantly funny and understated, the writing is honest and that’s where its strength lies. I read the book in virtually one sitting, I literally couldn’t keep away from it, and could happily return to it again and again.
What book has made a lasting impression on you? It could be Bleak House? The Catcher In The Rye? Or even Rita’s favourite – Ruby Fruit Jungle. We’d love to hear from you so leave a comment below on our website or tweet us using the hashtag #EducatingMe.
Educating Rita runs from Thu 26 Sep – Sat 12 Oct 2013. You can book tickets online here or from The Lowry Box Office on 0843 208 6010.