My Early Life

My early years: World Adventure in the service ( in the original: My Early Life: A Roving Commission) is the title of a 1930 work published memoirs of the British statesman Sir Winston Churchill, which is an autobiography of his youth.

The events and vicissitudes described in My Early Years extend over a period of almost thirty-four years, starting with the birth of the future statesman in Blenheim Palace, the castle of his grandfather, the 7th Duke of Marlborough, 1874, to the marriage of this time already for the trade Minister of the British kingdom advanced young politician Churchill Clementine Hozier in 1908, which is also dedicated to the book ( " in 1908 I got married and went to live in clover ").

The publication of the work as a book in October 1930 Thornton Butterworth in London - with an initial print run of 5750 copies, which due to the high demand by the end of the year three more runs in the amount of once in 2500 and twice in 1500 copies were nachgeschoben - went between the 30. August and 20 September, a " serialized " advance publication of the book, section by section, in the daily The News Chronicle.

Development context and effect of the work

Churchill wrote My early years mostly in 1930, a year after the fall of the second government Baldwin, who he had heard as Chancellor of the Exchequer, down. As motives for Churchill's decision to publish his childhood memories, usually two motifs are: Firstly, the need to create Churchill after the loss of his official duties, a replacement employment to his - to fill leisure - as amt loose opposition politicians become relatively large. And the second point of the constraint of always living the high life politician, improve his deputies covers by other sources of income, after he had come into the world economic crisis in financial difficulties. In addition, the vanity of the undisputed confident Churchill may have been another reason to deal with one's own person and to give this a book.

Churchill's book - the author gave to the countless well-known figures such as Stanley Baldwin, Austen Chamberlain, Ramsay MacDonald and the former German emperor, Wilhelm II - was met with criticism on a very positive response and has been translated especially after 1945 in many languages.

Were praised by most reviewers in addition to the exciting story in itself, especially as regards the language mastery of Churchill's text, which reflects the gradual end intellectual development of his young ego statement by being just as gradually mature: While Churchill his childish ego in the first chapter on a very naive to bemühende about understanding the world, just childish, lets talk type, the maturation of adolescents and young adults is shown that, by the retrospective Churchill makes use of a more grown-up language in the description of this Lebensabchnitte, the older described the young man is. This was the conclusion about the Times in her review of the book: "Mr. Churchill's reviewer would require to be almost as skilled a writer as he is himself [ ... ] in order to give to adequate notion of the charm and briskness of this book ", while The Daily Sketch ruled: " If you want to understand how Mr. Winston Churchill is his versatile, you can not do incalculable self better than read his brilliant autobiographical sketch. "

Churchill's former cabinet chief Baldwin praised the book by his former finance minister: " It is a remarkable work that I have read with pleasure. I constantly thought: My goodness - or something like that - that's good. " And Churchill's biographer Knut Hagberg said with a glance at the world adventure in the service of his review of Churchill 's literary work: " Perhaps there is in the entire world literature no more glamorous portrayal of a young man and his way to the stars and the thrill of adventure. " and Churchill's biographer William Manchester adds in his book the Last Lion, adding that My early years whether Churchill's literary oeuvre worthy of the Swedish Nobel prize committee in the discussion, for the Nobel Prize in Literature Anyway, when was "charming" characterized, award the prize in the decision, Churchill, have, however, played no role.

Adaptations

Churchill's memoirs served the British director Richard Attenborough as a template for the film Young Winston in 1972.

Expenditure

• My early years. World Adventures in service. Munich 1965.