The Great Divorce
By C.S. Lewis
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About this ebook
The Timeless Novel About a Bus Ride from Hell to Heaven
In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer finds himself in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven. The amazing opportunity is that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven, can. This is a starting point for an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment. Lewis’s revolutionary idea is the discovery that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. Using his extraordinary descriptive powers, Lewis’s The Great Divorce will change the way we think about good and evil.
C.S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and have been transformed into three major motion pictures. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) fue uno de los intelectuales más importantes del siglo veinte y podría decirse que fue el escritor cristiano más influyente de su tiempo. Fue profesor particular de literatura inglesa y miembro de la junta de gobierno en la Universidad Oxford hasta 1954, cuando fue nombrado profesor de literatura medieval y renacentista en la Universidad Cambridge, cargo que desempeñó hasta que se jubiló. Sus contribuciones a la crítica literaria, literatura infantil, literatura fantástica y teología popular le trajeron fama y aclamación a nivel internacional. C. S. Lewis escribió más de treinta libros, lo cual le permitió alcanzar una enorme audiencia, y sus obras aún atraen a miles de nuevos lectores cada año. Sus más distinguidas y populares obras incluyen Las Crónicas de Narnia, Los Cuatro Amores, Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino y Mero Cristianismo.
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Reviews for The Great Divorce
2,757 ratings58 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Some very interesting theological ideas and a brilliant allegory.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The essense of the human condition captured in a great story. The most re-read book in my library.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this fantasy tale, Lewis explores the nature of heaven and hell and the ramifications of salvation and redemption. In the introduction, he points out that this is an imaginative exploration of these locations, not to be taken as gospel or even as his own beliefs, but a simple fantasy that explores what could be.Hell is a drab place, where fights break out and people are drawn into deeper and deeper solitude. It is always gray, that fading light that just precedes night time, and the weather is damp and drizzly. The narrator, presumably Lewis himself, isn't at first aware of the true nature of his surroundings, and neither are we. Through vivid descriptions and cryptic dialogue we piece together an idea that this is hell that he is traversing (which is later confirmed by an angel). By chance he sees a queue, and for want of anything better to do he joins it, later discovering that it is a bus line, and he hops on board. The bus, however, is no ordinary means of public transport: it flies.The dull gray drops away, light percolates through shut window blinds, and the bus approaches cliffs that loom over the riders. The top of the top of these sheer rock walls reveals a lush green valley, and beautiful mountains in the distance. The light is the soft brilliance of early dawn, just before day breaks. Of course, this is heaven.While the physical settings of heaven and hell are, in themselves, fascinating, Lewis's inventive mind has more to offer. The denizens of hell become mere ghosts in the bright land, so insubstantial that even the smallest stalk of grass pierces them, water is solid, and an apple weighs a ton. The angels that descend upon the bus riders have come with a purpose, one angel to one ghost, in a last attempt to break through their worldly walls and win them to repentance and salvation. The exchanges between the angels and the ghosts, still stubbornly clinging to their flawed ideas that placed them in hell in the first place, become philosophical debates where Lewis has a chance to refute some common criticisms of Christianity.I've always liked Lewis, because he has a touch for explaining theological conundrums in simple terms, and because he has a rich imagination. This book combines both. Clearly, the fantasy is just a vehicle to delve into those philosophic exchanges, but since his intention is clear from the introduction I didn't feel like he was playing a trick. On the contrary, I thought it was a clever way to make subject matter that could otherwise be dry become very entertaining.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As noted here, Lewis' "The Great Divorce," caused me to think and ponder many different concepts. The fantastic thing about the contemplation process was that it occurred while reading a piece of fiction.Maybe the idea of feel of the book can best be described in Lewis' preface: If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) was precisely nothing: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in "the High Countries." In that sense it will be true for those who have complete the journey (and for no others) to say that good is everything and Heaven everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven.Emphasis in the quote is my own.Maybe this does not describe the feel of the book at all or make full sense unless you have fully read the book. I would love to expand on the ideas Lewis expresses through his work, but I simply can not, in my own words, share these in a way which would do the piece any justice.It is my highest recommendation that you read this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have read several things by the great C.S. Lewis including his children's fiction and some of his theological works, but reading The Great Divorce was my first foray into his "adult fiction." I have to say that Lewis absolutely does not disappoint.From the back cover:C. S. Lewis takes us on a profound journey through both heaven and hell in this engaging allegorical tale. Using his extraordinary descriptive powers, Lewis introduces us to supernatural beings who will change the way we think about good and evil. In The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer, in a dream, finds himself in a bus which travels between Hell and Heaven. This is the starting point for an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil which takes issue with William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In Lewiss own words, "If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven then we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell." While I have no doubt that this is not the scenario that I will find after death, it is none-the-less an extremely thought provoking story of God's justice, and man's stubborn inability to let go of earthly things when reaching for the things of heaven. Lewis is brilliant in portraying humanity in it's most redeemable and dispicable forms. On more than one occasion I found myself identifying with those who simply refused to become less themselves in order to become more of God." There are only two kinds of people in the end; those who say to God "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says in the end, "Thy will be done." All those that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek, find. To those who knock it is opened."I am sure that The Great Divorce will invoke either a "love it" or "hate it" response in the reader. It can do nothing else because it's subject matter is so very black and white. Either you see what is True in it and embrace it, or you call what is True utter nonsense and walk away in search of more palatable answers.It took me less than twenty-four hours to devour this book from cover to cover. My book came away underlined, annotated, dog-eared and the worse for wear. In short, it was a book much loved, and one which I am sure I will visit time and again." All Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world: but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World. Look at yon butterfly. If it swallowed all of Hell, Hell would not be big enough to do it any harm or have any taste... All the lonliness, angers, hatred, envies and itchings that it contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the very least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good. If all Hell's miseries together entered the conciousness of wee yon yellow bird on the bough there , they would be swallowed up without a trace, as if one drop of ink had been dropped into that Great Ocean to which your terrestrial Pacific itself is but a molecule."
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book is a wonderful image of Heaven, despite the unfortunate title, which refers instead to the multitude of weaknesses and issues that humans can cling to (and cannot repent and divorce) rather than to seek the Model that Jesus gave us. The book describes a dream of leaving earth and traveling to Heaven, where Lewis sees old acquaintances. Highly recommended, you will enjoy thinking of Heaven this way,
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SO MUCH we can let keep us from the divine or even just our own hopes and dreams.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was recommended by my pastor. I can't believe it was as good at he said. It was better. I figured that if he liked it, it would be a boring yeah,yeah on the church line. It ain't. Read it.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I can appreciate the quality of Lewis's writing - his visions of hell and heaven are both very well conveyed, and give more body to the ideas that many possess of these two places. The picture he draws of hell is particularly convincing, especially for us Brits - there is certainly something of hell in many of our lonely grey towns.The writing also falls down in places; one instance would have delighted Freud, when Lewis writes, 'Every young man or boy that met her became her son - even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door.' But I digress.By examining the idea of evil in our everyday actions, Lewis comes a long way on the road of self-help and a kind of spiritual psychology. This is all spoilt by this being a book about heaven. His thesis is to prove the kinds of behaviour that lead to eternal salvation and those that don't; but this presumes that Christianity is right, and that there is a hell and a heaven for people to go to.He is also enormously judgmental, as so many firm believers tend to be. This line sums up his beliefs perfectly, and further provides a reason that I can never subscribe to religious beliefs. 'You cannot love a fellow-creature fully till you love God.' No such statement could ever be uttered, no such judgment could ever be passed, by an atheist.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Blake wrote of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Lewis thought it would eventually end in a Great Divorce. In this book, Lewis shows Heaven and Hell, but in a way, they are subjective. If you choose the Earth over Heaven, you find the Earth is a suburb of Hell. If you choose Heaven over Earth, you instead find that Earth is a neighborhood on the outskirts of Heaven. Kinda. Likewise, those in Hell can visit Heaven whenever they like, and can stay in Heaven, only they have to give up all of their Earthly ways, and realize what's really important.While not a Biblical view of the afterlife, I found that Lewis' depiction of this afterlife to be quite imaginative and interesting: Hell is a place that you make your own, but what you make is not real, while Heaven, to a denizen of Hell is so real that you cannot even move the blades of grass or make ripples in water. I'm not sure how I feel about it from a theological point of view, but as a story that raises intrigue and thinking, especially of metaphysical things, it certainly does that fairly well.I would recommend this book alongside others by Lewis, specifically those theological fictions of his, such as Screwtape Letters (though, not necessarily, alongside Narnia). It may be too radical for some Christians, and too preachy for some non-Christians, but for everyone else, it's definitely thought-provoking.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lewis writes of a man's experiences leaving Hell for a sort of last chance at salvation in the afterlife. By no means is it evident to the reader or the characters that such is the nature of the events. Lewis uses this framework to present various scenarios of sin and goodness.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This classic Lewis book was fascinating, interesting, and moving.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is a book of allegory where a man takes a bus trip and ends up at the gates heaven where he sees lots of interactions between what I would describe as saints, those who are damned and those who eventually can be saved. This book is a favorite to many people, but I honestly have liked other things that Lewis wrote much more. I probably need to read it again to give it a real chance, but I wasn’t really impressed. I guess it seemed to me like it was trying to be fantasy-fiction, but wasn’t quite there, so was just kind of preachy instead. George MacDonald, who was one of Lewis’ great inspirations, and whom he even references in this book did a much better job of navigating the fantasy-allegory path in his Lilith. As far as Lewis goes, I liked Till We Have Faces, The Narnia Books and even his autobiography Surprised by Joy much more.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I've read many of Lewis' works and find his religious bent interesting. As a not particularly religious person myself, though having grown up in a very strictly religious home, I still find his work quite interesting, particularly in that it reflects much of what I have also observed about people's behaviors (never mind my religious beliefs.) The Great Divorce does not disappoint in that respect. Often those who think that they are better than, or less sinful, or more morally upright, or whatever thing we use to prop ourselves up in comparison of "Others" are often the ones outsiders look upon as being not very good people.
Although I enjoyed the Screwtape Letters more, The Great Divorce is much along that same vein, not pointing the finger at the obvious sinners (such as myself) but providing a reflection for those who are striving to be righteous and do not see their sins, or minimize them for the sake of their religious pride. Even for those who are not religious, we can see ourselves doing the same if we look deep within. And at a time where people seem so determined to be divided by their moral/ religious/ political causes, this is a good read to remind us to look inward first and to ask ourselves if our behavior is just, or just to prop ourselves up? - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I confess that I've come to love C.S. Lewis. He's got a way of fleshing out Christian teachings that not only touches the heart, but also helps me understand them better. In the Great Divorce, he looks at the nature of our sinfulness by recounting a visit of the outskirts of Heaven by citizens of Hell. In it we can see where our petty (but deadly) foibles will lead us and how God endeavors to save us from ourselves. The ending, I must also confess, is rather weak. But it's still worth checking out.--J.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Great DivorceAuthor: C. S. LewisPublisher: TouchstonePublished In: New YorkDate: 1974Pgs: 125REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSSummary:Heaven and Hell on a bus ride from London’s rainy streets to the core of good and evil. Expectations and realizations and the challenging of philosophical suppositions. Life. Death. Forever.This is Lewis’ response or riposte to William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.Genre:AdventureClassicsCultureFictionReligionSocietyWhy this book:Heaven and Hell in juxtaposition.______________________________________________________________________________Favorite Character:The narrator and his sense of wonder as we experience these realms through his eyesLeast Favorite Character: The Evangelical Apostate who is so sure of his rightness and his wanting to hold onto his influence and rights that he fails to see what is being offered. Reminds me of every televangelist that I’ve ever seen.The Feel:There is a feeling of the other shoe about to drop, possibly on the narrator’s head throughout this story.Favorite Scene:The Big Man/Ghost’s argument with the murderer who used to work for him who had come to collect him and led him to the mountains.Pacing:Well paced.Hmm Moments:Right off the bat, the people wandering the shutdown town at neverending twilight and the bus station with people jumping in and out of the queue is an excellent metaphor for modern religion. The gray city might be limbo, a waiting room between death and heaven and hell. Or it might be hell, going with the idea that hell is other people. It’s Hell. Interesting.The desperate Ghost woman who wants to be put back in charge of her long suffering husband. She wants to guide him and bend him and make him into whatever she wants him to be, just like she did in life. The poor bastard.Why isn’t there a screenplay?Not sure how this would translate to the screen. Could be awesome in a What Dreams May Come sense. With as much internal dialogue as there is, there would be some major stumbling blocks.__________________________________________________________________________Last Page Sound:A dream...really?Author Assessment:This was okay.Knee Jerk Reaction:real classicDisposition of Book:Irving Public LibrarySouth CampusIrving, TXDewey Decimal System: 236.2 LEWWould recommend to:no one______________________________________________________________________________
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fable about what it means to get to heaven. Done very well with the imagery of a "solid" heaven. Lewis did a good job of describing Hell not as a demon-filled inferno; rather as a dreary town where no one gets along and no one is happy. Kind of reminded me of the novel "Hell". Especially meaningful were the scenes where the phantoms would not shed their earthly vanities for the chance of heaven. I also liked Lewis' interaction with George MacDonald - his self-proclaimed inspiration. Jack never disappoints.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of the little known but POWERFUL wonderful books by CS Lewis. He has a way of making you really think about your life and what you're letting control you. It's a MUST read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I find myself constantly referring to this book
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lewis is so intruiging. Sometimes I'm not sure where his theology comes from, but his perspective is crutial for me. I love it.I need to reread this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this novella, C.S. Lewis investigates the eternal choice between Heaven and Hell, joy and despair. He structures the story as a dream: the soul of a man takes a journey, stopping at a place where there is a lot of empty space, where houses can be literally dreamed out of the ground and as people get into arguments they move farther and farther away from each other. Souls can choose to stay in this increasing wasteland or travel away from it. As the journey continues, the soul is met by George MacDonald, who becomes his teacher and explains more of what is going on.I generally love C.S. Lewis. He has an interesting mind, and an interesting way of explaining things. I have loved the Chronicles of Narnia since I was a kid; I loved his more grown-up story Till We Have Faces when I read it for the first time two years ago. Just about any time I have a chance to buy one of his books, I do, so when I came across this in the bargain books several years ago, I snatched it. The Great Divorce, though short and easy to read, was a heady trip. I liked, but did not love it; I'm not sure I understood half of it. I had a similar reaction to this story in its entirety that I did to the end of Perelandra - the points he were making became so philosophical and over my head that I lost track of the argument and what I even thought about it. Still, it passed an afternoon pleasantly.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lewis' depiction of heaven and hell represent spiritual stages within a person's life. Written as an antithesis to Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," Lewis argues that good and evil must be separated. Reality dictates this separation. All are not bound for heaven mainly because many have rejected good. Although physically depicted in the book, truth and goodness are often painful. "The Great Divorce" isn't Lewis' understanding of the literal heaven and hell; rather, it is presented as a dream.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"No, there is no escape. There is no heaven eith a little bit of hell in it-- no plan to retain this or that of the devil in our hearts or our pockets. Out Satan must go, every hair and feather." --George MacDonald [1824-1905]This slim volume may not be that starling today, when many believe in Universal salvation, but I imagine it provoke many theological discussions when first published in 1946.I especially enjoyed the end, when Lewis reference Julian of Norwich; 'hungry ghosts' and bodhisattvas of Buddhism; and free will. The vignettes prior to the theological exposition were fun and thought-provoking, though the faint feminist streak in me was disappointed that the men were, in the main, arguing from logic, which the women were petty and desperate in their desire to attach themselves in such a needy manner to others. But this was written in 1946.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm not a great fan of allegory...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Few can stir the imagination as C. S. Lewis. Here he is at his best drawing for us images of heaven and hell to ponder upon. The point he makes is a sobering one: The people in hell really do not want to go to heaven. They somehow believe God is trying to rob them of something. They want to control there own lives. And God says: 'Thy will be done'.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5One of the few Lewis books I can honestly say I did not like.
The rather obscure and and confused conclusions of the book make for a rather unrewarding read.
Most troubling however, were the implied beliefs in purgatory and universalism on the part of the author.
Such apparenly drastic deviation from scripural teaching and doctrine on the part of such a respected and influential Christian author could be shocking, to say the least.
Due to this, 'The Great Divorce' is not a book I would recommend. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In this slim allegorical tale, Mr. Lewis illustrates the idea that "no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of God" in a very concrete way. Over and over we see "ghosts" who are bid to enter heaven but will not if it requires them letting go their earthly attachments. I especially liked the introductory passage by the author and how he conceives of this idea. Lots to think about.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A great book. I flew through this book in about three days and could've gone through it more quickly had I the extra time. The Great Divorce was written as man who found himself in this town and then went up to this other country. It ended up that the town he started in was Hell and the country he was in later was Heaven. It was very neat to see the conversations that went on of how people who were in Hell would choose to remain there simply because of their lack of desire to sacrifice everything of themselves and rely soley on God. A neat book that I would recommend to others to read
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this book again every few years. Even the Preface is a treasure, reorienting my thinking about God and Heaven.Is Hell a real place or a state of mind? Is Heaven a real place? Will we like what we find in Heaven? What if there is no further intellectual pursuit because we finally meet the real and complete Truth? What is we have no further service to provide and in fact we are not needed there at all? Is Mother-love truly the most honorable of all emotions? Is it wrong to evoke pity in others?This is a great book with some very challenging images. When I get into a grumbling mood, I have to stop to see if I am becoming one big grumble. Reading this book always makes me pause and rethink what I mean when I love someone. How much of that is a craving to be loved? I have to admit many of my relationships (or lack of relationships) are colored by my fear and concern that I be loved rather than an honest love of the other person. And what would I hesitate to give up for joy? How can I hold those things, needs, and fears loosely, ready to let them be torn away, killed, and replaced by something so much better?Highly recommended
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I tried to get into this literary classic and just couldn't quite understand it. It came highly recommended to me by a friend of mine because he knew I had just read and enjoyed Rob Bell's, "Love Wins". Apparently Lewis and Bell think similarly on issues relating to Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife. But, there was just too much use of allegory and symbolism in "The Great Divorce" that I couldn't bring myself to finish it simply for a lack of understanding on my part. If I can't understand a book then I don't see the sense in continuing to read it. And, so I reluctantly stopped reading this one about halfway through. If you have no problem understanding allegory, then I recommend this book. But, if you are like me and find it difficult to understand allegory, then save yourself the time and read Love Wins instead.
Book preview
The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
1
I seemed to be standing in a busy queue by the side of a long, mean street. Evening was just closing in and it was raining. I had been wandering for hours in similar mean streets, always in the rain and always in evening twilight. Time seemed to have paused on that dismal moment when only a few shops have lit up and it is not yet dark enough for their windows to look cheering. And just as the evening never advanced to night, so my walking had never brought me to the better parts of the town. However far I went I found only dingy lodging houses, small tobacconists, hoardings from which posters hung in rags, windowless warehouses, goods stations without trains, and bookshops of the sort that sell The Works of Aristotle. I never met anyone. But for the little crowd at the bus stop, the whole town seemed to be empty. I think that was why I attached myself to the queue.
I had a stroke of luck right away, for just as I took my stand a little waspish woman who would have been ahead of me snapped out at a man who seemed to be with her, ‘Very well, then. I won’t go at all. So there,’ and left the queue. ‘Pray don’t imagine,’ said the man, in a very dignified voice, ‘that I care about going in the least. I have only been trying to please you, for peace sake. My own feelings are of course a matter of no importance, I quite understand that’—and suiting the action to the word he also walked away. ‘Come,’ thought I, ‘that’s two places gained.’ I was now next to a very short man with a scowl who glanced at me with an expression of extreme disfavour and observed, rather unnecessarily loudly, to the man beyond him, ‘This sort of thing really makes one think twice about going at all.’ ‘What sort of thing?’ growled the other, a big beefy person. ‘Well,’ said the Short Man, ‘this is hardly the sort of society I’m used to as a matter of fact.’ ‘Huh!’ said the Big Man: and then added with a glance at me, ‘Don’t you stand any sauce from him, Mister. You’re not afraid of him, are you?’ Then, seeing I made no move, he rounded suddenly on the Short Man and said, ‘Not good enough for you, aren’t we? Like your lip.’ Next moment he had fetched the Short Man one on the side of the face that sent him sprawling into the gutter. ‘Let him lay, let him lay,’ said the Big Man to no one in particular. ‘I’m a plain man that’s what I am and I got to have my rights same as anyone else, see?’ As the Short Man showed no disposition to rejoin the queue and soon began limping away, I closed up, rather cautiously, behind the Big Man and congratulated myself on having gained yet another step. A moment later two young people in front of him also left us arm in arm. They were both so trousered, slender, giggly and falsetto that I could be sure of the sex of neither, but it was clear that each for the moment preferred the other to the chance of a place in the bus. ‘We shall never all get in,’ said a female voice with a whine in it from some four places ahead of me. ‘Change places with you for five bob, lady,’ said someone else. I heard the clink of money and then a scream in the female voice, mixed with roars of laughter from the rest of the crowd. The cheated woman leaped out of her place to fly at the man who had bilked her, but the others immediately closed up and flung her out…So what with one thing and another the queue had reduced itself to manageable proportions long before the bus appeared.
It was a wonderful vehicle, blazing with golden light, heraldically coloured. The Driver himself seemed full of light and he used only one hand to drive with. The other he waved before his face as if to fan away the greasy steam of the rain. A growl went up from the queue as he came in sight. ‘Looks as if he had a good time of it, eh?…Bloody pleased with himself, I bet…My dear, why can’t he behave naturally?—Thinks himself too good to look at us…Who does he imagine he is?…All that gilding and purple, I call it a wicked waste. Why don’t they spend some of the money on their house property down here?—God! I’d like to give him one in the ear-’ole.’ I could see nothing in the countenance of the Driver to justify all this, unless it were that he had a look of authority and seemed intent on carrying out his job.
My fellow passengers fought like hens to get on board the bus though there was plenty of room for us all. I was the last to get in. The bus was only half full and I selected a seat at the back, well away from the others. But a tousle-haired youth at once came and sat down beside me. As he did so we moved off.
‘I thought you wouldn’t mind my tacking on to you,’ he said, ‘for I’ve noticed that you feel just as I do about the present company. Why on earth they insist on coming I can’t imagine. They won’t like it at all when we get there, and they’d really be much more comfortable at home. It’s different for you and me.’
‘Do they like this place?’ I asked.
‘As much as they’d like anything,’ he answered. ‘They’ve got cinemas and fish and chip shops and advertisements and all the sorts of things they want. The appalling lack of any intellectual life doesn’t worry them. I realised as soon as I got here that there’d been some mistake. I ought to have taken the first bus but I’ve fooled about trying to wake people up here. I found a few fellows I’d known before and tried to form a little circle, but they all seem to have sunk to the level of their surroundings. Even before we came here I’d had some doubts about a man like Cyril Blellow. I always thought he was working in a false idiom. But he was at least intelligent: one could get some criticism worth hearing from him, even if he was a failure on the creative side. But now he seems to have nothing left but his self-conceit. The last time I tried to read him some of my own stuff…but wait a minute, I’d just like you to look at it.’
Realising with a shudder that what he was producing from his pocket was a thick wad of type-written paper, I muttered something about not having my spectacles and exclaimed, ‘Hullo! We’ve left the ground.’
It was true. Several hundred feet below us, already half hidden in the rain and mist, the wet roofs of the town appeared, spreading without a break as far as the eye could reach.
2
I was not left very long at the mercy of the Tousle-Headed Poet, because another passenger interrupted our conversation: but before that happened I had learned a good deal about him. He appeared to be a singularly ill-used man. His parents had never appreciated him and none of the five schools at which he had been educated seemed to have made any provision for a talent and temperament such as his. To make matters worse he had been exactly the sort of boy in whose case the examination system works out with the maximum unfairness and absurdity. It was not until he reached the university that he began to recognise that all these injustices did not come by chance but were the inevitable results of our economic system. Capitalism did not merely enslave the workers, it also vitiated taste and vulgarised intellect: hence our educational system and hence the lack of ‘Recognition’ for new genius. This discovery had made him a Communist. But when the war came along and he saw Russia in alliance with the capitalist governments, he had found himself once more isolated and had to become a conscientious objector. The indignities he suffered at this stage of his career had, he confessed, embittered him. He decided he could serve the cause best by going to America: but then America came into the war too. It was at this point that he suddenly saw Sweden as the home of a really new and radical art, but the various oppressors had given him no facilities for going to Sweden. There were money troubles. His father, who had never progressed beyond the most atrocious mental complacency and smugness of the Victorian epoch, was giving him a ludicrously inadequate allowance. And he had been very badly treated by a girl too. He had thought her a really civilised and adult personality, and then she had unexpectedly revealed that she was a mass of bourgeois prejudices and monogamic instincts. Jealousy, possessiveness, was a quality he particularly disliked. She had even shown herself, at