Robert Keable. Utterly Immoral WW1 chaplain?
17 Apr

Robert Keable. Utterly Immoral WW1 chaplain?

When Robert Keable’s First World War novel Simon Called Peter was published, critics called it ‘offensive’, ‘a libel’ and reeking of ‘drink and lust’. Scott Fitzgerald suggested it was ‘utterly immoral’ and referenced it in The Great Gatsby. The novel became a huge international best-seller, a Broadway play and the sequel made into a Hollywood movie. And it made its author an international celebrity. What critics did not know was that the novel, about a military chaplain and a young woman having an affair during the war, was autobiographical.

About our speaker:

Simon Keable-Elliott is a freelance writer, lecturer and  historian based in South London. He was educated at Sherborne School and Durham University where he studied politics and economics. He worked in Fleet street, as a barman, before managing restaurants in Mayfair, Hampstead and Putney. He owned and ran Keable's, a cafe bar restaurant in West Norwood for 8 years before re-training as a teacher. He spent 25 years as Head of Politics and Director of MUN at a secondary school in croydon. Simon is Robert Keable's grandson and Utterly Immoral is his first book.

Royal Naval Association (Southend) , 73-79 East St, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6LQ
17 Apr 2023 20:00