literary ponderings.1

down & out

After the holidays one can find oneself in want of an "Affluence Reality Check", reading George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" does the trick nicely. An autobiographical work, published in 1933, this was Orwell's first published book. It recounts his attempts at atonement for the guilt he feels about the conditions under which the disenfranchised and downtrodden peoples of the world exist. Orwell lives and works as one of them. Dressed as a beggar, he takes whatever employment might be available to a poverty-stricken outcast of Europe. In Paris he lives in a slum and works as a dishwasher. In London's East End, he dresses and lives as a pauper, a tramp, a hoboe and a poor working-class laborer.

If by chance you don't have a handfull of quid burning a hole in your tattered pocket, the entire book can be found online @:

Down and Out in Paris and London