''The City of Pleasure'' is a 1907 novel by the British writer

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

. Bennett was working on the idea as early as 1903, but it took several years to develop during which time it altered significantly from Bennett's original idea. It was first submitted in 1905. It was serialised in The Sentinel in 1906 and drew a mixed critical response compared to his earlier work ''

The Grand Babylon Hotel ''The Grand Babylon Hotel'' is a novel by Arnold Bennett, published in January 1902, about the mysterious disappearance of a German prince. It originally appeared as a serial in the ''Golden Penny''. The titular Grand Babylon was modelled on th ...

''. Bennett's publishers

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...

bought the

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

, despite misgivings, in order to not lose Bennett to another publishing house. The book sold disappointingly and by 1919, it had shifted only 2,500 copies, well short of the 10,000 needed to cover the

advance payment An advance payment, or simply an advance, is the part of a contractually due sum that is paid or received in advance for goods or services, while the balance included in the invoice will only follow the delivery. The term "advance" may also refer t ...

to Bennett.Hepburn p.39

Film adaptation

In 1927 the novel was adapted into a German

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

The City of a Thousand Delights ''The City of a Thousand Delights'' (German: ''Die Stadt der tausend Freuden'') is a 1927 German silent film, silent drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Paul Richter, Adele Sandrock and Langhorn Burton.Giesen, Rolf. ''Special Effe ...

'' directed by

Carmine Gallone Carmine Gallone (10 September 1885 – 11 March 1973) was an early Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer, who was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist propaganda and historical revisionism. Considered one of Itali ...

and starring

Paul Richter Paul Richter (1 April 1895 – 30 December 1961) was an Austrian film actor. He owed his great popularity in German films of the silent era largely to the directors Joe May and Fritz Lang. Biography Richter made his film debut right before W ...

Adele Sandrock Adele Sandrock (; 19 August 1863 – 30 August 1937) was a German actress. After a successful theatrical career, she became one of the first German movie stars. Early life Sandrock was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the daughter of the German ...

, and Langhorn Burton.

References

Bibliography

* Hepburn, James. ''Arnold Bennett''. Routledge, 2013. * Rappaport, Erika. ''Shopping for Pleasure: Women in the Making of London's West End''. Princeton University Press, 2021.

External links

* 1907 British novels Novels by Arnold Bennett Novels first published in serial form Chatto & Windus books Novels set in London British novels adapted into films {{1900s-novel-stub