Books with title The Autobiography Of A Slander

"I hasten to protest at the outset that I have no personal knowledge of the incorrigible super-tramp who wrote this amazing book," is how George Bernard Shaw opens his preface. He was introduced to Davies's writing when he received a volume of poems through the post and was later instrumental in bringing his work to the attention of critics and publishers. At the time he wasn't aware that Davies was a tramp living in a London dosshouse. The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp chronicles the years between 1893 and 1899 when Davies left his home-town, Newport, and spent time drifting, begging and taking on seasonal work in America and Canada.

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Supertramp who wrote this amazing book. If he is to be encouraged and approved, then British moralityis 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. I hope these expressions will not excite unreasonable expectations of a thrilling realistic romance, or a scandalous chronicle, to follow. Mr. Davies autobiography is not a bit sensational: it might be the Post Office Directory for the matter of that. A less simple minded supertramp would not have thought it worth writing at all; for it mentions nothing that might not have happened to any of us. As to scandal, I, though a most respectable author, have never written half so proper a book. These pudent pages are unstained with the frightful language, the debased dialect, of the fictitious proletarians of Mr. Rudyard Kipling and other genteel writers.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

William Henry Davies's working tour of the USA brought him into contact with the harsher side of American life and some of its more remarkable characters. Back in Britain, though resident in various doss-houses, he became the darling of the London literary set. Bernard Shaw was stunned by the power of this unvarnished narrative, that still retains its impact and insight. This book is intended for students of literature between the wars; America in the Depression.