Goodbye, Mr. Chips
By James Hilton
4/5
()
About this ebook
Throughout his forty-three-year tenure at Brookfield, “a good public school of the second rate” in eastern England, Arthur Chipping has been Mr. Chips to his students. From his unpolished first years during the Franco-Prussian War through the radical changes of the twentieth century and the outbreak of the First World War, Mr. Chips has shaped many young lives. But Chips has been inspired as well—by the unremarkable and the extraordinary alike, by his colleagues, by a woman who will change him forever, and not least, by his children, “thousands of them, all boys.”
Since it was first published in 1934 to international success, Goodbye, Mr. Chips has never been out of print. It was followed by a collection of stories, To You, Mr. Chips, and provided the basis for two award-winning feature films, a stage musical, a radio play, and two television adaptations. Based on author James Hilton’s experiences as a student at the Leys School, Cambridge, this short novel endures as a revelation of the difference one good teacher can make, and “what the better emotions do toward making people important” (Kirkus Reviews).
James Hilton
James Hilton (1900–1954) was a bestselling English novelist and Academy Award–winning screenwriter. After attending Cambridge University, Hilton worked as a journalist until the success of his novels Lost Horizon (1933) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1934) launched his career as a celebrated author. Hilton’s writing is known for its depiction of English life between the two world wars, its celebration of English character, and its honest portrayal of life in the early twentieth century.
Read more from James Hilton
Lost Horizon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are Not Alone: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Random Harvest: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To You, Mr. Chips: More Stories of Mr. Chips and the True Story Behind the World's Most Beloved Schoolmaster Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So Well Remembered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Horizon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Novels Volume Two: Goodbye, Mr. Chips; To You, Mr. Chips; and Lost Horizon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collected Novels Volume One: So Well Remembered, Random Harvest, and We Are Not Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Goodbye, Mr. Chips Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Random Harvest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Catherine herself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime and Time Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Random Harvest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Goodbye, Mr. Chips
31 ratings27 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The more we age, the more of our experience is behind us rather than ahead. And as we look back, the soothing temptation is to let ourselves be lulled into a comfortable, maybe mushy, sense of worthiness. Veteran school-master Mr Chips is an un-layered, rather flat, recognisably English character, rather like the butler in “Remains of the Day” but without the creeping self-doubt. For over time, his steadiness is seen to prevail. Strivers and innovators are distrusted or at least gently teased. The great upheavals of the age, undermining the Victorian-Edwardian order, are endured without major divergence from the settled methods. Chips’ ponderous manner is matched by Hilton’s sparing prose. And Chips wins us over, as the author dignifies those little foibles and familiar tics we adopt or succumb to as we age. Perhaps too, our own sense of receded ambitions and modest attainment is soothed. The overall effect is uplifting, memorable, even moving.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I chose to read this book because of its recommendation in James Mustich's "1000 Books to Read Before You Die". It was short and gentle and very moving in places. Chips is a likeable character, although not without his failings. The sections about his brief marriage and his remembrance of the death of the former German master in WWI were especially touching.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All time favorite
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Easy to speculate Hilton distills his own outlook on education into Chips, fitting insofar as it is inherently conservative, in the sense of upholding established ideals under threat of changing norms. No mere propaganda vehicle, however: Chips undergoes a transformation of character, becoming a jester within stolid Brookfield, a second-tier public school, in his effort to preserve tradition even while honouring the ideals of excellence and personal compassion (made manifest with his love for Kathie). Chips himself refers to "a sense of proportion".So, a self-conscious nostalgia trip, impressive as English history in miniature panorama. Brings to mind Forrest Gump: does the film adaptation hew closer or further from that peculiar sense of History-with-an-H? Similarly, an elegy to the influence an individual can wield. Sentimental, but at sufficient remove to allow a genuine glimpse into its time & place. An open question as to whether I would have thought the same when reading it on publication. An authenticity accrued over time, incidental to authorial intent.//Chips almost despite himself a contrarian: talking with a striker in broad view of the boys, bringing political talk down to a human level; his friendship with Max Staefel even through the Great War, exchanging letters; reciting Latin during an air raid.Like 84, Charing Cross Road, Good-bye, Mr Chips lends itself to reading aloud, with brief chapters and vignettes easily parceled out over several evenings before bed.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When one thinks of Goodbye, Mr. Chips I am sure they are transported back to movies like Dead Poet's Society and Mr. Holland's Opus, two movies very similar in nature to Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Mr. Chips, the much loved teacher and sometime acting Head of Brookfield was devoted to his students and loved teaching them with a passion. Even when the boarding school tried to get him to retire they were unsuccessful. How do you rid yourself of pillar of the institution?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An enchanting look at an English schoolmaster, and the memories of his life and times over more than 60 years. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the story of an old British schoolteacher reflecting on his life and career. I love boarding school stories, so I was interested in reading one from a teacher's point of view, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a short but powerful book, though I found it almost painfully sad at times. Mr. Chips is an average, even mediocre, teacher, and it was difficult to be faced with the combination of his mediocrity and personal tragedy. Of course, this also makes it very real. I'm just glad that he could reflect with satisfaction on his achievements in the end, and remember happy times without focusing on what was lost. Anyway, this is not always an easy book to read, but it's certainly worth the time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was amazed how this short story told such an in depth story. I connected with the story right away. It was difficult to put it down. I felt as if I had known Mr. Chips all my life. It was a remarkable story told in a remarkable way. I am thrilled that I finally read this classic.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book tells the story of Mr. Chipping, a retired schoolteacher from the English boarding school of Brookfield. The story is told as a series of flashbacks and remembrances from Mr. Chipping's (affectionately referred to as "Chips") point of view, and covers 6 decades, including his early years as a teacher, his brief but life-changing marriage, more than 3 headmasters, many political movements, wars, and much more.This was a light and charming story, but too short. The time span is so great, and the length of the book so short, that it was hard to get any sense of depth. Additionally, the memoir style of storytelling--dipping into memories and then pulling back--prevented me from truly losing myself in the book. Still, it is a delightful story, and Mr. Chips is a fun and memorable character. I recommend this book if you're in the mood for some light weekend reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's the gentle story of a man who taught in a British private boys' school for many decades. I love the way Chips starts out as a very average sort of person and teacher. It's the experiences of life---the death of his wonderful wife, the tragedies of the war, the days, years spent teaching children---that transform Chips into a thoughtful, clever, and exemplary human being.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A simple story about a young English schoolmaster who becomes an established figure at Brookfield school in the late 1800s. Though the character is certainly appealing, little happens in this novel and no themes are particularly explored. How the book became a "classic" remains a mystery.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovely! Poignant, beautiful. Great novels to read in autumn.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A short but very beloved book. You fall in-love with the Chips character and the wonderful world an English boys prep school. No doubt the inspiration many other stories centered on this kind of idea. A book highly influential to my becoming a teacher.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book Report: Old Mr. Chipping, nearing ninety and still telling his hoary old jokes from sixty years ago to the newbies at Brookfields school, spends his last few days on earth wandering among the many well-furnished rooms in his head. We see the events of his entire career as a schoolmaster, his brief, brilliant career as a husband, and his long, glorious sunset as a School Institution. As he passes through the portal made for one (bet Chips'd know the source on that one), he feels...as I hope and pray all who read this will feel on their own long night...it was good, it was good.My Review: I read this book tonight because, for far from the first time in my life to date, I learned that I lost an old, old friend: My mother's best friend, my heart-mother, finally let go of her life barely short of her 92nd birthday on January 4.I know it was only her body wearing down, because dementia had long since taken her essence from the living world. But tonight, forty-two years after I met her and began to love her, I feel she is here. And I promised her I wouldn't cry, she told me it hurt her to see me cry once a lifetime ago, but I can't not. It's for myself, for my heart growing old and curling inwards from surprisingly fresh hurt. I don't miss her, or miss her more than I did yesterday; death is a release when someone is already no longer themselves; but the days ahead number fewer than the days behind, and I can see my own end like a hill far away, instead of the comforting illusion of horizons hiding it. It's not scary. It's just...real.I am now the age she was when I met her. My memories are so real! The Pirate's Den, the junque shoppe on North Lamar, parking under the pecan tree and racing everyone to be the first to see what was new; cold, cold Bull Creek, flat hot rocks, the folds of the Balcones Escarpment and their fossil shells; laughing, crying, talking, always with a silver-bunned, trifocalled, green-eyed artist teaching the only things she knew to teach. I needed them then, I treasure them now, and there is no one else to whom these memories mean one single thing except an old guy reliving his past.She was Mr. Chips, and I listened the way those schoolboys did; now it's my turn...sic semper tyrranis, oh wait that was the assassin but that's good too, sic transit Irenaea mundi...hail and farewell, dear, now you go on home to Mother and Daddy, walk safe!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A joy to read. A real feel good story
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've yet to see the movie, but I read the campy 1969 paperback edition with color stills of Peter OToole and Petula Clark. This tiny book is a wonderful character study of the long career of a British schoolmaster. It spans from the Victorian era into the 1930s and was first published in the Atlantic Monthly. The novella merely mentions incidents, anecdotes and events, leaving the reader very, very curious. I'm sure these were further fleshed-out by the screenplay folks. I'll look for the movie.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5nice simple little tale of a well-loved gentleman whose entire adult life was devoted to a private school where he held a teaching position....an inspirational look at the value of character and how it can trump all else in our lives.....a theme that seems to not get nearly enough attention these days.....i enjoyed.....
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An old hardcover book given to me by a friend. No slipcover on it so I just picked the cover at random.
A sweet sad story. A good reference for the old school tie. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 2002 ITV dramatisation with Martin Clunes is one of my favourite DVDs - it's one of my regular 'ironing' films and I don't think I'll ever tire of it!
I came across a free Kindle download for it so though it was about time I gave the book a go to see how it compares.
Well, compare isn't the right word! The ITV version has the same elements, of course - most of the same characters appear but the ITV version is very embellished - the time frame, for example is very different - some of the events which take place are pretty insignificant in the book but have been made major points of the dramatisation.
Did it stop me enjoying the book? No - it's a charming tale and I enjoyed it - I liked Hilton's style of writing. In this case, I did prefer the TV version - had I read the book first I might have felt differently! I will continue to watch, and love, the DVD - they just need to be treated as slightly different things! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really pleasant story of a schoolmaster and how he affected the lives of his students and eventually found a wife.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This classic work relates the story of Mr. Chipping, a boarding school teacher, who becomes known as "Mr. Chips." He prefers the old ways to the new and exhibits great loyalty to the school and its pupils. In retirement, he lives across the street and still gets to know its students. I always think of this as something for middle grades to read, but after re-reading it, I think adults would appreciate it more.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I think this appeals to a certain class of person who yearns for the "good old days" (i.e., white, Anglo-Saxon, perhaps even Protestant). It is quaint but dated.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is tiny wee!
So tiny wee in fact, that there's so much dispute over what to call it. I'd call it a novella, but there are some that say that it's too long for a novella, and too long for a short story, but too short for a novel. So is it a novelette? I don't know.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a slow novel, like a lot of British of that period are.
I wasn't really invested in the novel, I found it interesting but I was totally ready to shelve it and then it just threw me for a loop and shattered me forever.
Get ready for some bone-crushing angst over tea and crumpets, guys. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great read! Very pleasant and the entire story flowed very well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This sweet story follows the life of a devoted school master from the beginning of his career until the end. It’s a very short book, so there’s not too much room for character development. I wish I’d gotten to know a couple of the characters better. I actually saw the 1939 film before reading the book and this is one of the rare cases where I actually liked the movie better. Still I enjoyed this one and I particularly loved Mrs. Chips' role in the story. BOTTOM LINE: A good little book about the impact one man can have on his students. A quick read and definitely worth the time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It’s a funny little book. It’s sort of slow, laid back in the pace. I don’t really know what to think of it. Nothing much happens, and yet an entire world unravels before your eyes. You don’t really get to know most of the characters, yet it feels like you were there yourself, both on the boarding school, Brookfield, and in the house of Mrs. Wickett’s, listening to Mr. Chips telling those charming stories about his life as a teacher.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why can't I go to a proper English boarding school?
Book preview
Goodbye, Mr. Chips - James Hilton
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
James Hilton
CONTENTS
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
PREFACE
GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS WAS written in London during a foggy week of November, 1933. I am chary of using the word inspiration,
which is too often something nonexistent that a writer waits for when he is lazy; but, as a matter of record, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was written more quickly, more easily, and with fewer subsequent alterations than anything I had ever written before, or have ever written since.
It was first published in the Christmas number of the British Weekly, in December 1933; after which, with a certain wild abandon, I had it sent to the Atlantic Monthly—a magazine which I had long held as a secret pinnacle of ambition. The Atlantic printed the story in its issue of April 1934, and about the same time proposed its publication as a book. This publication took place on June 8. Four months later Goodbye, Mr. Chips first appeared as a book in England, from Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. Thus one may summarize that, having been written and first printed in its native land, it was discovered by America, and later came back to England with the success that America had given it. And now, again in America, it appears in this new and sumptuous dress.
If I recount these details with pride, I do so also with modesty, for I know how few are the writers to whom such romances happen, and that, with no matter how much or little merit, a portion of luck must be distilled. But I do take pride in the reception that America has given to my very English book; certainly no author could ever have enjoyed his correspondence more than I have during the past year. One feature has been the discovery of the original Mr. Chips in so many different parts of the world; and I believe those letters from readers have told the whole truth, and that my tribute to a great profession has fitted a great many members of it everywhere.
J.H.
WANSTEAD, LONDON
March 1935
I
WHEN YOU ARE GETTING on in years (but not ill, of course), you get very sleepy at times, and the hours seem to pass like lazy cattle moving across a landscape. It was like that for Chips as the autumn term progressed and the days shortened till it was actually dark enough to light the gas before call-over. For Chips, like some old sea captain, still measured time by the signals of the past; and well he might, for he lived at Mrs. Wickett’s, just across the road from the School. He had been there more than a decade, ever since he finally gave up his mastership; and it was Brookfield far more than Greenwich time that both he and his landlady kept. Mrs. Wickett,
Chips would sing out, in that jerky, high-pitched voice that had still a good deal of sprightliness in it, you might bring me a cup of tea before prep, will you?
When you are getting on in years it is nice to sit by the fire and drink a cup of tea and listen to the school bell sounding dinner, call-over, prep, and lights-out. Chips always wound up the clock after that last bell; then he put the wire guard in front of the fire, turned out the gas, and carried a detective novel to bed. Rarely did he read more than a page of it before sleep came swiftly and peacefully, more like a mystic intensifying of perception than any changeful entrance into another world. For his days and nights were equally full of dreaming.
He was getting on in years (but not ill, of course); indeed, as Doctor Merivale said, there was really nothing the matter with him. My dear fellow, you’re fitter than I am,
Merivale would say, sipping a glass of sherry when he called every fortnight or so. You’re past the age when people get these horrible diseases; you’re one of the few lucky ones who’re going to die a really natural death. That is, of course, if you die at all. You’re such a remarkable old boy that one never knows.
But when Chips had a cold or when east winds roared over the fenlands, Merivale would sometimes take Mrs. Wickett aside in the lobby and whisper: Look after him, you know. His chest … it puts a strain on his heart. Nothing really wrong with him—only anno domini, but that’s the most fatal complaint of all, in the end.
Anno domini … by Jove, yes. Born in 1848, and taken to the Great