Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying (first published 1936) is a novel by George Orwell. It is set in 1930s London and the surrounding countryside. The protagonist is an aspiring poet whose singular obsession in life is not to sell out.

An aspidistra is a spiny houseplant[?] that at the time was widely considered a symbol of dull middle-class British taste. It is portrayed as indestructible in the novel.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying was filmed in 1997 by Robert Bierman[?] based on a screenplay by Alan Plater[?] and starring Richard E. Grant[?] and Helena Bonham Carter.