Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933, Penguin, IBSN 0-141-18736-0, is an account of George Orwell’s experiences of near-abject poverty, drudge work and begging on the streets and slums of Europe’s foremost class segregated cities. What began as a mere ‘object-lesson in poverty’ became in time, by unfortunate circumstance, a standard of living from which Orwell could not easily remove himself.
Each chapter reads as a study into the characters, events, residences and professions Orwell encountered throughout his experiences. Interspersed within such studies are self-reflective passages and asides which lend a broader scope to the narrative structure beyond pure objective description. It is Orwell’s personal interjection of opinions, impressions and, significantly, emotions which makes Down and Out… so unique for its period.
A Predecessor to New Journalism
Orwell’s book is less than a biography, because we learn nothing of Orwell, of his character or personality, outside of what directly and presently affects him. The book is not a novel because it is fact and has not been manipulated, outside perhaps of come minor editing, to suit some greater creative impulse. Rather, Orwell’s chronicle verges on journalism, a new, elongated breed of journalism in which the journalist features left, right and centre.
Orwell’s subjective commentary scattered throughout the piece gives the reader a set of eyes with which to view the scene. This is what all journalism was in essence but which, for the most part, refused to admit to – a set of eyes. In such a way, it is understandable that Down and Out in Paris and London has often been cited as one the predecessors to what has become known during the latter half of the twentieth century as “new journalism”. This school of journalism is notable for the authors undisguised involvement , both physically and emotionally, in the peice.
Orwell’s study of poverty is thus a younger, more specialized, English brother to Mark Twain’s Roughing It, 1872, Penguin Classics, IBSN 0-14-039010-3, and an older brother to such psychologically driven works as Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, 1966, Penguin Classics, IBSN 0-14-118257-1. These examples are both landmark works by authors who readily admit that to glance inside the mind of another living, breathing human being and then report such a thing back to society you must admit, for better or worse, that it is your mind, your eyes, that are making the observations.
Empathy for the Homogenized Poor
An example of Orwell’s conscientious observation is detailed in the following passage:
‘And there is another feeling that is a great consolation in poverty. I believe everyone who has been hard up has experienced it. It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, of knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs – and, well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a lot of anxiety.’
Through this melding of observation and insight, Orwell has avoided empty sentiment or sympathy, landing with a real, open, empathy. In Orwell’s context, where poverty in major cities was so widespread as to be monotonous, where one sallow face passed on the street could become representative for millions of similar, indeterminate others, such humanity must have reinvigorated stale perceptions, as, no doubt, it will continue to do so today.
George Orwell has written seven novels, including the acclaimed Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949).
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