"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."
Britain's most eminent author, or, if you're Will Self, mediocrity, Orwell's fiction often gets most of the praise, but it's his insightful social commentary which is the best place to start anyone interested in him as a writer. Whilst 'Animal Farm' and '1984' are better known and more highly regarded, it's in the books of social commentary and biography that his humanity is based.
Down and Out is the chronicle of Orwell's time destitute in the capitals of France and England, a time spent doing mind-numbing jobs or back breaking labour for very little pay, or living on the streets as a tramp.
Whilst much of it is interesting, especially during his time in Paris working in the kitchens and back rooms of the hotels and restaurants, it's once he gets to London and hits the real bottom of the socio-economic ladder that this becomes more than just a dry recourse of events. His heartfelt telling of the plight of those ignored by scoiety, cheated by the system and left to rely on demeaning charity handouts is as timely now, in an age where the social safety net is fraying and homelessness on the rise, as it was then. His insight, and the humanising of callously overlooked human beings, is a vital part of recognizing that there's an issue. Most tellingly, he debunks many of the myths that still cling to poverty; of abuse of the system, and of personal responsibility for their own misfortune, myths that paint victims as perpetrators and seek to maintain an abusive status quo.
Really good reading.
Also Try:
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
George Orwell, Animal Farm
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Down and Out is the chronicle of Orwell's time destitute in the capitals of France and England, a time spent doing mind-numbing jobs or back breaking labour for very little pay, or living on the streets as a tramp.
Whilst much of it is interesting, especially during his time in Paris working in the kitchens and back rooms of the hotels and restaurants, it's once he gets to London and hits the real bottom of the socio-economic ladder that this becomes more than just a dry recourse of events. His heartfelt telling of the plight of those ignored by scoiety, cheated by the system and left to rely on demeaning charity handouts is as timely now, in an age where the social safety net is fraying and homelessness on the rise, as it was then. His insight, and the humanising of callously overlooked human beings, is a vital part of recognizing that there's an issue. Most tellingly, he debunks many of the myths that still cling to poverty; of abuse of the system, and of personal responsibility for their own misfortune, myths that paint victims as perpetrators and seek to maintain an abusive status quo.
Really good reading.
Also Try:
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
George Orwell, Animal Farm
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
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