‘It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at 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…’
I’ve been down and out in loads of places. Doncaster. Winnipeg. The bathroom of a McDonalds. My mistake is that I never wrote a book about it. George Orwell however did have the foresight to write about his poverty stricken ordeals in Paris and London in the snappily titled Down and Out in Paris and London.
You may be asking yourself how a hugely successful writer is able to speak of poverty with any kind of authority. Well, Down and Out… was Orwell’s first novel and he swears that everything he describes really happened, albeit not in the same order as it takes place the novel. So, working 17 hour shifts in a Parisian restaurant. Wandering with tramps through London. Going days with nothing to eat. It all actually happened you guys! Wowzers.
Orwell is convincing and warm in his portrayal of poverty but there are times when his description of the squalor and hardship he faces feels a little too gleeful. There is no doubting that the British author certainly experienced poverty but there is also a nagging feeling that he could’ve escaped his precarious financial situation if things became too desperate.
That being said, Orwell’s debut novel is beautifully written and often laugh out loud funny. His political agenda certainly comes from a place a self-righteous common sense and it is difficult to argue with Orwell’s appraisal on the social status of tramps or the working conditions in Paris.
It is too easy to dismiss Down and Out in Paris in London in favour of 1984 and Animal Farm or even Orwell’s other non-fiction writings such as Road to Wigan Pier or Homage to Catalonia but the experiences described in his first novel clearly heavily influenced everything that would come afterwards. Orwell attempted to give a voice to those people who find themselves crushed under the wheels of European Capitalism. He also wrote a very entertaining book. You can love Down and Out in Paris and London for both or for either, but you should love it.