''Adrift In Soho'' is a novel by

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

. It was first published in England in 1961 by

Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Chris ...

. The novel describes the English

beat generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

. The novel was republished to great acclaim by New London Editions in 2011, when

Cathi Unsworth Cathi Unsworth is an English writer and journalist. After working for ''Melody Maker'' and ''Bizarre'', she began writing novels, with ''The Not Knowing'' in 2005 and ''The Singer'' in 2007, on Serpent's Tail. She also edited its ''London Noir' ...

wrote 'Adrift in Soho is currently in production by Burning Films and with such rich source material, perhaps Wilson will now receive some contemporary reassessment for his continuing fascination with the human condition and the wit, warmth and insight that he brings to his accounts of those he has shared his unusual journeys with.'

Plot

The story opens in the late summer of 1955. Nineteen-year-old Harry Preston, having been granted an early discharge from

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

with the RAF, moves to London from a small English provincial town to find life and adventure. Fancying himself as a writer, he drifts towards the central district of

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

, and soon enough he is included in the destitute but creative environment of the new Beat Generation. Harry meets an out of work actor, James Street. Street introduces Harry to the bohemian way of life and the novel recounts their misadventures. Harry travels upwards through this new world of wannabe artists, poets and writers, that have set up camp in the bohemian and not so posh 50s Soho and

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

, he begins to slowly understand his role in this world.

Film Adaptation

Adrift in Soho - The Movie was written and directed by Pablo Behrens, and produced by Pablo Behrens and Owen Drake; starring Owen Drake, Caitlin Harris, Chris Wellington and Emily Seale-Jones. The film was released theatrically on 14 November 2018 at the Prince Charles Cinema in London and then had a re-run at the same cinema in November 2019. The film version varies from the original novel in that it introduces two Free Cinema documentary film makers that tell the story from the point of view of the camera lens. This point is enhanced by the use of Dziga Vertov’s ‘camera eye’ montage twice in the film. The use of the film makers is based on Colin Wilson’s experiences in London when he was for a time in contact with film makers belonging to the movement. Wilson had an appearance in one of their short documentaries called "Food For a Blush" in which he was featured in a sleeping bag in a London park. The result is an unusual version of a film-within-a-film. In this case the movie is also within a novel because the co-protagonists in the book like Marty, The Artist, Ironfoot Jack, Raoul Montauban and others only exist when they are interviewed by the film makers.

External links

*
Adrift in Soho website

References

* http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/going-underground/ * http://www.londonfictions.com/colin-wilson-adrift-in-soho.html Colin Stanley's article on 'Adrift in Soho' on the London Fictions website 1961 British novels British novels adapted into films Novels by Colin Wilson Fiction set in 1955 Novels about actors Novels about writers Novels set in London British bildungsromans British philosophical novels Victor Gollancz Ltd books {{1960s-bildungsroman-stub