The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is an autobiography first published in 1908 by the Welsh poet and writer W. H. Davies. A large part of the book's subject matter describes the way of life of the tramp in United Kingdom, Canada and the United States in the final decade of the 19th century. When G. B. Shaw first read the Autobiography in manuscript, he was stunned by the raw power of its unvarnished narrative. It was his enthusiasm, expressed in the Preface, that ensured the initial success of a book now regarded as a classic. Table of Contents Preface Childhood Youth Manhood Brum A Tramp's Summer Vacation A Night's Ride Law in America A Prisoner His Own Judge Berry Picking The Cattleman's Office A Strange Cattleman Thieves The Canal The House-boat A Lynching The Camp Home Off Again A Voice in the Dark Hospitality London The Ark Gridling On the Downright The Farmhouse Rain and Poverty False Hopes On Tramp Again A Day's Companion The Fortune Some Ways of Making a Living At Last Success A House to Let W. H. Davies (1871–1940) was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or hobo, in the United Kingdom and United States, but became one of the most popular poets of his time. The principal themes in his work are the marvels of nature, observations about life's hardships, his own tramping adventures and the various characters he met. This carefully crafted ebook: «The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp – With a preface by Bernard Shaw (The life of William Henry Davies)» is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is an autobiography first published in 1908 by the Welsh poet and writer W. H. Davies.
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W. H. Davies. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUPER-TRAMP
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUPER-TRAMP
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Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Childhood
Chapter 2. Youth
Chapter 3. Manhood
Chapter 4. Brum
Chapter 5. A Tramp’s Summer Vacation
Chapter 6. A Night’s Ride
Chapter 7. Law in America
Chapter 8. A Prisoner His Own Judge
Chapter 9. Berry Picking
Chapter 10. The Cattleman’s Office
Chapter 11. A Strange Cattleman
Chapter 12. Thieves
Chapter 13. The Canal
Chapter 14. The House-boat
Chapter 15. A Lynching
Chapter 16. The Camp
Chapter 17. Home
Chapter 18. Off Again
Chapter 19. A Voice in the Dark
Chapter 20. Hospitality
Chapter 21. London
Chapter 22. The Ark
Chapter 23. Gridling
Chapter 24. On the Downright
Chapter 25. The Farmhouse
Chapter 26. Rain and Poverty
Chapter 27. False Hopes
Chapter 28. On Tramp Again
Chapter 29. A Day’s Companion
Chapter 30. The Fortune
Chapter 31. Some Ways of Making a Living
Chapter 32. At Last
Chapter 33. Success
Chapter 34. A House to Let
Отрывок из книги
W. H. DaviesBernard Shaw
I HASTEN to protest at the outset that I have no personal knowledge of the incorrigible Supertramp who wrote this amazing book. If he is to be encouraged and approved, then British morality is a mockery, British respectability an imposture, and British industry a vice. Perhaps they are: I have always kept an open mind on the subject; but still one may ask some better ground for pitching them out of window than the caprice of a tramp.
.....
All I have to say by way of recommendation of the book is that I have read it through from beginning to end, and would have read more of it had there been any more to read. It is a placid narrative, unexciting in matter and unvarnished in manner, of the commonplaces of a tramp’s life. It is of a very curious quality. Were not the author an approved poet of remarkable sensibility and delicacy I should put down the extraordinary quietness of his narrative to a monstrous callousness. Even as it is, I ask myself with some indignation whether a man should lose a limb with no more to-do than a lobster loses a claw or a lizard his tail, as if he could grow a new one at his next halting place! If such a thing happened to me, I should begin the chapter describing it with “I now come to the event which altered the whole course of my life, and blighted, etc., etc.” In Mr. Davies’ pages the thing happens as unexpectedly as it did in real life, and with an effect on the reader as appalling as if he were an actual spectator. Fortunately it only happened once: half a dozen such shocks would make any book unbearable by a sensitive soul.
I do not know whether I should describe our supertramp as a lucky man or an unlucky one. In making him a poet, Fortune gave him her supremest gift; but such high gifts are hardly personal assets: they are often terrible destinies and crushing burdens. Also, he chanced upon an independent income: enough to give him reasonable courage, and not enough to bring him under the hoof of suburban convention, lure him into a premature marriage, or deliver him into the hands of the doctors. Still, not quite enough to keep his teeth in proper repair and his feet dry in all weathers.
