Simon Keable-Elliott

Utterly Immoral was published on November 28th 2022 Review by Louise G for NetGalley Fascinating Book Even if you know nothing of the subject's work, this is a fascinating book which spans many fascinating contexts. The author explores in detail all aspects of the subject's life and does not shy away from difficult or challenging topics. Review by Robin P for NetGalley A book for all true book lovers Everyone who loves English literature should already know who Robert Keable was. For those who don't: he was a parish priest, missionary in Africa, chaplain during World War One, an inspiring teacher, and for many years a closet Catholic, but he is best remembered as the author of a saucy novel which caused a big stir in the 1920s. Keable's grandson has written a thoroughly researched book with honesty and compassion and it is much more than just a biography with important reappraisals of Keable's novels and the context in which they were received. The details of life in Africa and Tahiti a century ago are particularly well written and fascinating. A book for all true book lovers Review by Professor Ronald Hyman, Emeritus Fellow and former President of Magdalene College, Cambridge I have read this and found it very good, a welcome and comprehensive account of a Magdalene man, famous in his day. An important book. Review by Alice - verified purchase on Amazon Fascinating! A book for people who love literary history! Utterly Immoral follows the life of Robert Keable, the author of an incredibly controversial book - Simon Called Peter - and the fallout after publication. The life of Keable is incredibly interesting, from his literary works to his work in Besotholand, and gives a real insight into his experiences and the autobiographical nature of his novels. I would highly recommend this book to anybody with a keen interest in literary history! Review by Susan j for NetGalley The story of a short and colourful life Robert Keable, born into an Evangelical family, was fated to follow his father into the Anglican Church. But he was, even as a youngster, someone with a mind of his own and by the time he was in University, he had already dismissed the evangelical bent and was questioning his faith and where he could best use it. He went as a missionary to Africa and was a man ahead of his time in how he viewed the native people. But it was when he convinced and then accompanied them to France during WWI, their treatment and the brutality of war made him question everything. He’d been a writer already but the book he wrote- Simon Called Peter- not only created the final schism from his life as a minister but shocked the reading public. Utterly immoral was what F Scott Fitzgerald called it. And it was something very modern in its themes and storyline. What would have shocked even more was the story was autobiographical. Utterly Immoral is written by his grandson and tells the story of his short but colourful life. It follows his journey all over the world, living common law with his mistresses and marching to his own drummer. He lived two lives, one traditional and public; the other was unconventional but private. He was an unusual man for his time and his story is quite compelling. Four purrs and two paws up. Review by Gail, C for NetGalley I was drawn to read Utterly Immoral as I knew nothing about Robert Keable and I was curious about this unconventional person. Overall, there are some hidden gems of information in this book. Keable's first hand accounts of being in Africa as a young clergyman are refreshingly honest. His struggles with his convictions were real, and proved to be so overwhelming that he changed the course of his life. The war experience is also very interesting, and remarkable that he made such remarks and was not banished into obscurity. He painted soldiers and war life without the brutal fighting. Most of the book is a discussion of his books. The one that sets his career into a staggering direction is the controversial Simon Called Peter. Without having read the book, the book seems to have caused a stir in the literary world and gotten Robert on the road to being a writer, and certainly a well paid one as time went on. The book also discussed his personal life, his wife, the other women and his time in Tahiti where he seemed very happy until his early passing. There is too much information on all the reviews of his books, and the back and forth with his editors on publishing rights, money and where the book would be a movie, a play etc. It got redundant for me, and I wish it concentrated more on his decisions about his children and his wives. Review by Dr Stephen Lock former editor British Medical Centre A Cambridge educated missionary who travels with some of his flock to serve on World War One Western Front, then becomes a notorious author and finally after world-wide travel restores Gauguin house in Tahiti, and settles there. Such might be stuff of a novel, an English counterpart perhaps to The Great Gadsby, but it is the true account of the life of his grandfather by Simon Keable-Elliott. Keable-Elliott, whose father extended his surname, avoids the trap of many family biographers, too many or too boring facts and comments, and his deft prose makes the case why we should be interested in Robert Keable. He shows why his was a household name on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1920s. Though he published 19 books, it was Simon called Peter that evoked his fame, being varyingly reviewed as the best novel of the war or reeking of drink and lust. The book is still available today though Keable, arguably a key figure of he 1920s, is totally forgotten and even absent from the Dictionary of National Biography. Historians of the Great War might find in the novel and this biography a uniquely fresh description of the privations and abuse undergone by the African auxiliaries, whose ordeals Keable tried to champion. Review by Dr George Simmers, Great War Fiction Simon Keable-Elliott is the grandson of the novelist Robert Keable, and is understandably interested in his grandfather’s life and work – and especially in Simon called Peter, the book that caused outrage in Britain when published in 1921. It is the story of an Anglican clergyman who goes to war as a chaplain, but starts to lose his faith, partly because the soldiers are not interested in his religious message. He also becomes fascinated by the ‘painted ladies’ who cluster near the soldiers’ bases. Then he meets Julie, a beautiful and very obliging nurse, and he discovers the meaning of life. I read the book a while ago, and thought it highly readable tosh – but it was a huge best-seller (30,000 copies in a year) and undoubtedly spoke to some of the concerns and anxieties of it time. Utterly Immoral: Robert Keable and his Scandalous Novel is the fruit of Simon Keable-Elliott’s researches, and is whole-heartedly recommended to anyone interested in the period, or in representations of the Great War. Robert Keable was born into a strict evangelical household; his father was particularly hostile to Catholicism and to the ritualism that the Oxford Movement had worked to introduce into Anglicanism. At Magdalene College, Cambridge, he had spiritually drifted Rome-wards, but became an Anglican priest, first in Bradford, and then in Zanzibar, where he was an enthusiastic missionary, teacher and scoutmaster. In 1914 he tried to enlist as an Army chaplain. He was rejected, maybe because Bishop Taylor-Smith, the Chaplain-General to HM Forces, was himself from the evangelical wing of the Church, and suspicious of anyone with a hint of ritualism about them. Keable later probably tried to enlist as a soldier, but was rejected on the grounds of physical unfitness. (Quite a few young clergymen did enlist, despite the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decree that being a combatant was incompatible with being a priest.) Keable and his wife went to Basutoland (today known as Lesotho), where he preached enthusiastically in favour of the war effort. Then in 1916 the South African Government announced the formation of the SANLC (the South African Native Labour Corps). When the corps recruited in Basutoland, Keable encouraged his parishioners to join; they would by African standards, be well-paid, at £3 a month, which they could send home to their families. Nearly 1,400 men from Basutoland were enrolled, and chaplains who could speak Basuto were needed, Keable-Elliott’s chapter on the SANLC is the most interesting in the book. He details the poor treatment of the men; they were housed in camps, much like prisoners-of-war, and their diet was so poor that there were outbreaks of scurvy. Keable was unhappy at the treatment of the men he had encouraged to enlist, and this undoubtedly contributed to his disillusionment. The hero of Simon Called Peter is also a chaplain to a labour corps, but an English one, not African. His disillusionment comes from his increasing sense of the irrelevance of Christianity to the men he was supposed to be caring for. Peter in the novel falls for a nurse called Julie; Keable was captivated by one called Jolie. He had been married before the war, but it would seem not to have been a union of much sensuous delight. With Jolie Buck, Keable experienced a transformation which, being the religious-minded man he was, he translated into spiritual terms. Keable-Elliott is very good on the book’s reception, and the outraged reviews that doubtless added to the novel’s sales. He follows Keable through an unsatisfactory period of schoolmastering to a time when he could credibly live on the proceeds of his writing. Keable and Jolie had parted at the end of the war, but were reunited and went eventually to live in Tahiti (in Gaugin’s house). Keable’s devout wife would never grant him a divorce, but Jolie changed her surname to Keable, and they lived together as man and wife, until she died in childbirth. Keable-Elliott is very good on the fuss surrounding the novel, and on its afterlife (in an American stage production, for example) but does not go in for much literary analysis of Keable’s books, though he quotes interestingly from contemporary reviews. At the time, many who were not outraged considered Simon Called Peter a good book. Is it? It was Ezra Pound (I think) who produced the tag: ‘Literature is news that stays news.’ by that reckoning, Simon Called Peter is not literature. It spoke to its time, but its concerns have dated. The novel appeared just after the Great War, in which many young people had left the limiting influences of home and family, and had become aware of sexual freedom, and also of religious ideas beyond those of their local church. Simon Called Peter spoke to their concerns and uncertainties, and suggested a new way of thinking beyond conventional sexual morality. The ideas are not so new or surprising now. D.H. Lawrence did the fiction of sexual liberation much better, and even he has, apart from his best work, dated. So I cannot see the book producing any great resurgence of interest in Robert Keable and his writings but I can see that this is a book that will be of great interest to anyone trying to understand the literary aftermath of the war. It was a different world a century ago, and this is a book that takes us to some little-known corners of it. Review by Emi Y for NetGalley My favorite thing about this thoroughly researched book was its title; I'd never heard of its subject before, author Simon Keable-Elliott's grandfather Robert Keable and his most famous book, Simon Called Peter. Simon Called Peter was about an English military chaplain's struggles with his religion, work, marriage, and maintaining loyalty to any of them. Its reputation due to bits of unprecedented naughtiness earned it plenty of acclaim and attention, but serious reviewers pointed out that readers interested only in the prurient parts were generally disappointed, citing "too much religion and too little passion". And I will admit I too found this book about that book a bit disappointing for their collective basis in religious faith, teachings and indoctrination. Keable's exotic travels (in Basutoland, France, Tahiti), romantic exploits, views on race and marriage, and publishing travails are fascinating, especially considering how short his lifespan and how much he managed to fit in. The Kindle version I read is missing several photos, but I enjoyed seeing the ones that were included. It's none of my business but I'd so love to know how family members dealt with Robert Keable's eccentricities, fame and legacy.