Skip to content

Opening book details…

Can I read The Naked Civil Servant (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) on EtoBox?

The Naked Civil Servant (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Quentin Crisp; a preface by Michael Holroyd is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Naked Civil Servant (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) about?

The flamboyant autobiography of the uninhibited and wonderful Quentin Crisp. Quentin Crisp was a true original. With his mauve hair and flamboyant sense of style, by the time of his death he was widely hailed as one of the great British eccentrics. An openly gay man in a less tolerant era (he once declared himself the "Stately Homo of England") he was born on Christmas Day 1908 to "middle-class, middle-brow" parents, and sent to boarding school in Derbyshire ("a cross between a monastery and a prison"). He moved to London in the 1920s, earning money through stints nude modelling, prostitution and book designing. After a radio appearance in 1968 he decided to write his autobiography. Initially it sold only 3,500 copies and the future looked bleak ('If at first you don't succeed,' Crisp once said, 'failure may be your style'). But after it adaptation into a drama for the BBC in 1975, books began to fly off the shelves and Crisp became an overnight celebrity. Three years later he made his off-Broadway debut in 'An Evening with Quentin Crisp' and followed it with his version of Lady Bracknell in 'The Importance of Being Ernest'. Over the years further books followed: 'How to Have a Lif

Who reads The Naked Civil Servant (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)?

It is typically read by readers looking for immersive, entertainment-first reading.

Common subject areas: fiction, literature, genre fiction.

Author
Quentin Crisp; a preface by Michael Holroyd
Publisher
Harper Perennial
Published
1977
Language
EN
ISBN
9780141180533
Category
work of fiction
Subjects
Gender Studies, Literary Fiction, Memoir
Rating
4.06 / 5 (1,480 ratings)
Updated
2026-03-13

Other editions & translations

More by Quentin Crisp; a preface by Michael Holroyd

Browse all works by Quentin Crisp; a preface by Michael Holroyd

Similar books