World Famous Comics: Down and Out in Paris and London
Down and Out in Paris and London
By: George Orwell Publisher: Harvest Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Harvest Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 228 Publication Date: March 15, 1972
This unusual fictional account, in good part autobiographical, narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-out of two great cities. In the tales of both cities we learn some sobering Orwellian truths about poverty and society.
Amazon.com Review: What was a nice Eton boy like Eric Blair doing in scummy slums instead of being upwardly mobile at Oxford or Cambridge? Living Down and Out in Paris and London, repudiating respectable imperialist society, and reinventing himself as George Orwell. His 1933 debut book (ostensibly a novel, but overwhelmingly autobiographical) was rejected by that elitist publisher T.S. Eliot, perhaps because its close-up portrait of lowlife was too pungent for comfort.
In Paris, Orwell lived in verminous rooms and washed dishes at the overpriced "Hotel X," in a remarkably filthy, 110-degree kitchen. He met "eccentric people--people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent." Though Orwell's tone is that of an outraged reformer, it's surprising how entertaining many of his adventures are: gnawing poverty only enlivens the imagination, and the wild characters he met often swindled each other and themselves. The wackiest tale involves a miser who ate cats, wore newspapers for underwear, invested 6,000 francs in cocaine, and hid it in a face-powder tin when the cops raided. They had to free him, because the apparently controlled substance turned out to be face powder instead of cocaine.
In London, Orwell studied begging with a crippled expert named Bozo, a great storyteller and philosopher. Orwell devotes a chapter to the fine points of London guttersnipe slang. Years later, he would put his lexical bent to work by inventing Newspeak, and draw on his down-and-out experience to evoke the plight of the Proles in 1984. Though marred by hints of unexamined anti-Semitism, Orwell's debut remains, as The Nation put it, "the most lucid portrait of poverty in the English language." --Tim Appelo
Reliable The book's in good condition. It came in pretty quickly, a week and a day. Price was good, not too expensive.
A Classic This novel is filled with fantastic stories and insightful and refreshing social commentary. Important and entertaining.
Orwellian Genius. Very rich, passionate writing. The other reviewers have said it all about this classic.
Many of his observations hit home today, a forward thinker. Animal Farm, another one to put on your list if you haven't read it yet.Animal Farm
To Write Well, One Must Live & Experience It in all its Reality. Orwell began as an idealist and remained one until his untimely death at the age of 48 from tuberculosis. In most of the photographs I can find of the great writer, he always has a smoke in his mouth, typing away, while a white haze of thoughts, ideas, nicotine and tar surround him, like a dangerous muse.
Eric Blair or Orwell was of the writing school of thought that in order to write with authenticity, the writer must have experienced the emotion, relationship or event in some way. Many writers at the time were of the same persuasion; Hemmingway is the first that comes to mind...Jack London too, particularly his early work.
In Down and Out in Paris and London, the young writer sets out, a middle class Englishman, to find and work any manual labour job that he could find to eventually land one in Paris as a 'dogs body' -diswasher, cleaner, et al. He is paid very little and (most importantly) fed for his gruelling 14 hour shifts.
Though this was a great opportunity, as a writer, searching out material, this was the place to be...the characters' in the book are priceless.
One of the more memorable descriptions:
"In the kitchen the dirt was worse. It is not a figure of speech, it is a mere statement of fact to say that a French cook will spit in the soup - that is if he is not going to drink it himself."
This not to say this happends now in the twenty-first century, but this is only an observation from the author at the time - some eighty years ago.
This is early work from Orwell - an apprentice, so to speak, learning his trade.
Interestingly, next to Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm: Centennial Edition Down and Out is one of his best endevours.
In this book or as most say, Diary, the reader will recognize Orwell's gift for characterization.
Worth a look at.
This work is a piece of sociological brilliance, and a timeless classic! The book itself describes the daily lives of people in two different nations/societies that were impoverished in his era. The way that they struggled to just receive the bare minimum as far as food and shelter are eye opening. To anyone entertaining ideas about accepting libertarianism please read this to understand how we as a society really do need to look out for one another. The parts that he includes showing the social hierarchy in poor groups is entirely necessary and in itself amazingly descriptive. Do read this because you will most definately not be disappointed.
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