Down And Out In Paris And London

By George Orwell

Down and Out in Paris and London was written in the late 1920s, following George Orwell’s return to London from Burma. While writing for various journals, Orwell took on the life of a tramp in order to investigate poverty and life on the road in and around London. Drawn by the low cost of living and bohemian lifestyle, Orwell moved to Paris in 1928, living in the same area of the city as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Orwell’s first full-length book, the veracity of Down and Out in Paris and London has been challenged, although many of the events in the book, among them his working in a hotel kitchen, being robbed in his lodgings, and the events at the Russian restaurant, were acknowledged by Orwell as his personal experiences.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781443430852

George Orwell

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He was born in India and educated at Eton. After service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living by writing. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of 1984 (1949), which brought him worldwide fame. 

Reviews for Down And Out In Paris And London

[kylekatz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting and enjoyable read especially if one is poor, but not homeless or starving. It made me feel that it could be a lot worse. Orwell apparently undertook to do a bit of research in poverty, working as a dishwasher in a hotel and restaurant in Paris. Also being periodically out of work and living in filthy bug-filled lodgings and going several days without food.In London he tramped about with tramps taking down bits of their stories and chronicling the deplorable conditions of their lives. He made much of the point that the poor are just people like everyone else. If they are more prone to criminality, they are driven to it by their lot not the other way round.Begging was illegal in London and a tramp had to tramp from town to town each day because one was not allowed to stay in the same shelter more than once a month. Quite a cruel system. The shelters were extremely difficult to sleep in and the food was very inadequate, usually consisting of a little bread with margarine, drippings or cheese and tea. This was clearly set up to keep them on the move and out of everyone's hair, but it provided little opportunity to better yourself or get a job as you were weak with hunger and fatigue and had to spend what little energy you had on the marching from town to town. Usually walking about fifteen miles between shelters.There's also an excellent section on slang, and dialogue in a variety of colorful language, although the part on swear words was frustrating as they wouldn't print certain words, so you can't figure out quite what's being said. I sure would like to see an unexpurgated version if one exists.

[souloftherose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brief and alternately amusing and horrifying account of George Orwell's time almost penniless and almost always hungry in Paris and London in the 1920s**. In Paris he manages to pay for his apartment up front but has no money for food until he manages to get a job working incredibly long hours (by modern standards) as a plongeur (washer up) in a restaurant, In London he has nowhere to live and almost no money so is forced to join the tramps moving on daily from one lodging house or 'spike' (parish provided accommodation for tramps) - but only allowed to stay one night a month at each of the latter - hence the need to tramp from spike to spike. (I hadn't known this but it suddenly explained to me why there used to be tramps and aren't really anymore - homeless people can now be homeless in the same location - hooray for progress!)It's an insider's view of poverty at the time but also in many ways still an outsider's/observer's view. Perhaps because of his class/upbringing or simply from the effect of being the recorder of the experiences but I didn't have the sense Orwell was completely part of this world. However, there is a lot of insight into what it must have been like to live in those circumstances at that time and Orwell has a lot of sympathy for those in that position.One of the highlights of the book for me was a chapter towards the end with some notes on swearing and slang. Due to strict censorship at the time the swear words couldn't be printed, but rather than (as might seem more sensible) removing the entire chapter the publishers just blanked all the swear words which has the (presumably unintended effect) of causing the reader to spend more thought and energy trying to guess the swear words than if they had just printed them. Even recent publications of the book have the swear words blanked because there are no notes to show which swear words Orwell was actually writing about. Interestingly, they were allowed to print the French swear words.**Having read some bits on wikipedia it seems there is some debate regarding the extent to which this is a factual account - some of the events may not have happened in the order given in Down and Out or may not have happened to Orwell himself.

[lydiasbooks · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Tried to ignore it and persevere, but I just couldn't. I know I don't want to judge the behaviour of previous generations because they are influenced by things beyond my understanding; yet there was just too much anti-Semitism in this for me to carry on.

[technodiabla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is Orwell's first major work, a non-fiction journal account of his own travels among the tramps in Paris and London during the Great Depression. Though I found the tales amusing, this reads like an early work-- not as tight as his later accounts, like Road to Wigan Pier, which is in my Top 10 of all time. Still, his analysis is spot on, but there's little of it; most of this book is travel vignettes. Recommended if you're in interested in Orwell's canon. Otherwise, not his best if you're only going to read one.

[judtheobscure · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting semi-anthropological account of life at the lowest rungs of society in Paris and London by a young Orwell. One senses a sensitive wilfulness in choosing such a life as well as the intense tiredness that scraping by as a dishwasher in a filthy Paris kitchen leaves one. Some of the writing is a bit clunky, particularly the introductions to chapters where he reflects back on the lot of a dishwasher, or a tramp, but already you can see the clear-eyed observation going on behind his eyes. A quick read for me. I read it after reading Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and I rather preferred the novel to the non-fiction because it was better structured and had a strain of black humor going through it.

[overthemoon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first FS collectable and I am very impressed with the quality. What's more, it has a ribbon marker.

[cynthiard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This memoir, the first book published by George Orwell, is a fascinating look at the different manners in which the British and French society dealt with poverty in the late 1920s.

[g3north · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a great book

[lord_boris-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An investigation into the what and the why of the poor based on Orwell's own experiences in Paris and London during the 1920s / early 30s. How much is memoir and how much is fiction is hard to tell, but I expect a lot of the detail is based on fact. The first section deals with Paris. Here Orwell (or the narrator who we presume is Orwell) describes the lives of the destitute. He meets a Russian called Boris that leads him into a job as a plongeur, the lowest rung on the hotel kitchen staff ladder. This entails very long hours of hard work in dirty and hot conditions. A host of characters and anecdotes pass by until Orwell gets a job in London, except he has to wait a month for it to begin, during which time he lives on the road with a tramp called Paddy. This was much different to Paris. Tramps, because of the law, could not spend more than one night a month in the same 'spike' hence they wandered (still wander?) the countryside moving from one hostel to another. As in Paris we learn something of what it is like to be hungry and treated with little respect.

Following each half of the book Orwell gives a chapter over to some more considered thoughts on the lives of plongeurs and tramps. He likens the life of a plongeur to a slave, but a slave doing work that is not even necessary but down to fear of the mob. Tramps he finds are often victims of vagrancy laws that keep them moving and when the are not moving they are effectively held in cells. This to no real end other than to appease the perception that they are all thieves and blackguards.


"Then the question arises, Why are beggars despised?- for they are despised universally. I believe it is for the simple reason that they fail to earn a decent living. In practice nobody cares whether work is useful or useless, productive or parasitic; the sole thing demanded is that it shall be profitable. In all the modern talk about energy, efficiency, social service and the rest of it, what meaning is there except 'Get money, get it legally, and get a lot of it'? money has become the grand test of virtue. "

"It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level."

[p_s_patrick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As the title suggests, this book is about Orwell's time as a down-and-out in Paris and London. As most people are not used to this mode of existence, it was educational. It was also very easy to read and entertaining due to Orwell's skill at writing and eye for amusing anecdotes.During his time in Paris he went through various jobs and forms of accomodation, having to pawn his clothes and go without food for days between finding employment. His existence in London was somewhat rougher, and his insight into the life of the tramps around him is revealing. Having been educated at Eton, and having worked as a journalist, he was able to appreciate the contrast between lives at each end of the social spectrum. I would recommend this to any reader.

[bkinetic_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bleak account Orwell's life during a time when he was mainly without work and money. In one section, he writes about how little people with a good job know of the details of daily life among the severely impoverished. This kind of literature should be required reading for anyone assuming political office. Although Orwell found his way out of poverty, his case was unusual, making for a rare glimpse into this unfortunate world.

[bensdad00 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Autobiographical stories about the authors time living as a poor dishwasher in Paris and as a homeless tramp around London.
While a modern reader will find it un-relatable in the specific, the general observations about the nature and futility of poverty are both interesting and still applicable.

[ericfitz08 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book struck me on a number of levels. As a travel diary, which is how I preferred to read it, it was more relatable than many I have read. I'll not pretend to be in circumstances nearly as dire as those portrayed, but I'm closer to that than I am the books of other successful writers. Hemingway's Paris was populated with Picasso, Fitzgerald, Stein; Kerouac's road trips were spent visiting Ginsburg and Burroughs; Orwell spent his days with anonymous tramps and the working poor; persons of no notable fame: Boris, Paddy Jacques, Bozo, et al. Though much of it is only apparent in retrospect, their worlds seem bound for greatness, where Orwell's world is full of uncertainty.

As social commentary, it is revealing and not moralizing. His portrayal of poverty in France and England seeks to humanize, not victimize, and to bring about some honest reflection to real problems. Unfortunately, for the many improvements that have come, the image of the poor among a large and significant part of the population as inveterate scoundrels, bent on defrauding the good, honest people for free money, remains. There are short chapters laying things out in direct terms-that we only find solutions when we start seeing the poor as people and look for solutions rather than punishments-but most of the book is really just a journey in the part of the world in which most of us hope to never reside.

[petterw_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating account of life as a genuine poor person in Paris and London in the 1930s. Orwell is a master storyteller, and his matter-of-factly recording of events bring the lives of the down-and-out very close. It is particularily intriguing that this is not long ago, and it takes place in two cities I know well, one of them (London) very well. It puts my own experience with the cities in perspective, while at the same time raise a number of other issues in mye head, about begging, poverty, purpose of work and purpose of life, human dignity, issues that are contemporary. The essay also helps explain how George Orwell, as a "gentleman", could depict characters both in Animal Farm and 1984 the way he did.

[csweder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting and quick read. This is the first book by Orwell I have read other than his dystopian hits [book: 1984] and [book: Animal Farm].

The back of the book claims this to be fiction AND semi-autobiographical. In any case, it's an interesting look into the lives of the homeless in both Paris and London. (If you couldn't tell from the title.)

The narrator, whose name I either cannot remember, or was not given, finds himself without a job. He has to pawn his stuff, sleep on the streets, and go days without washing or eating.

Obviously the book was written so people would think more highly about those we often try to ignore. In that respect, he succeeded. He shows very clearly the ridiculous laws of the time which seem to actually reinforce the 'tramp' way of life.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These are the highly autobiographical adventures of a man living hand to mouth in Paris and London in the 1920s and 30s. His experiences working for a Paris hotel were equal parts hilarious and horrifying, while his life as a tramp in London was mostly sad. I enjoyed this more than I expected to, to be honest, and it gave me quite a lot to think about in terms of the life of the poor. Sure, I imagine the details of the daily lives of homeless people have changed in the last 80 years, but I appreciate any book that gives me a new way of looking at the world. That said, it did not instill in me any desire to visit either city.

[jimnicol-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Orwell's first, or so I read...it's autobiographical fiction about his guttersnipe days in the title-mentioned cities. As a former restaurant worker myself, I really enjoyed his description of working as a "plongeur" (Diver in French, dishwasher in the vernacular) in the filthy, bowels-of-the-earth kitchen of a French restaurant. Throughout, he shows you that what Dickens was talking about was still real in early twentieth century Europe.

[unclebob53703 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating look at the author's transitory experience as a poor person in two countries, very pointed social commentary, and a very absorbing story as well.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Orwell sees it all, and and we see through his impoverished eyes. We wash his dishes and tramp around in his clothing [with lots of holes]. We meet the people in his world and wish we could help them all...

[kcshankd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If the author didn't become Orwell, this book would be forgotten.

[rimbo90 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I preferred the Paris parts to the London parts but a thoroughly good read. I would certainly recommend.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read excerpts of this novel many years ago and have always wanted to read the whole thing. Orwell's heavily autobiographical novel is brilliantly revealing of the degradations, humiliations, and oppressiveness of poverty. There is plenty of witty, humorous moments and some great character studies, too, in this compassionate, brutally honest work.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

George Orwell's first published book, Down and Out in Paris and London, is a hybrid of fiction, memoir, and social commentary. In the late 1920s-early 1930s, during a particularly unsettled period of his life, the unnamed narrator (Orwell) finds himself unemployed and starving in Paris. He and his Russian immigrant friend Boris find jobs at a high-end restaurant as plongeurs, dishwashers and low-level kitchen assistants, or, as Orwell puts it, "slave's slaves". He describes the unsanitary conditions of Parisian restaurant kitchens in graphic, unappetizing detail. In the second part of the book, the narrator moves to London, where he finds himself living hand-to-mouth once again. In England he and his tramp friend Paddy make the rounds of "spikes" (homeless shelters), churches, and Salvation Army meetings to collect inadequate rations of tea and toast with margarine. The last chapters of the book are taken up with Orwell's ideas regarding British society's treatment of "tramps". Malnutrition, forced idleness, and "sexual starvation" (homeless men don't attract women) make the tramp lifestyle hard to escape. Orwell suggests that the tramp's lot in life could be greatly improved if "each workhouse could run a small farm", that would provide residents with nutritious food and a sense of purpose (p. 206).The library from which I borrowed this book had it shelved as fiction, because, apparently Orwell was never quite as "down and out" as the tale he constructed implied. Boris and Paddy are most likely composite characters who represent the types of people Orwell met on his travels. But this book is not exactly fiction, either. There is little narrative continuity or plot, and a lot of editorializing. If I were a cataloger, I would find a place for it near other works on the effects of poverty.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting review of what it is like to be at the very bottom of society, living from hand t mouth and scratching a living. Probably of interest as a period piece rather than a riveting read. I can't imagine I'll red it again.

[stuart10er_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Orwell, destitute and out of work, finds a job as a Plongeur in Paris. Very hard 18 hour work days in the back of a restaurant. He leaves for London and lives as a tramp for a month eating only 2 slices of bread and tea and an occasional full meal if he allows himself to be arrested as a vagrant for one night. A brutal picture of life at the bottom of the social strata in the late 1920s.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A magnificent piece of reportage, following the author's own trials and tribulations in the deadbeat world.

[crazymamie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"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, 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."This is the first book in my quest to read the works of George Orwell this year. Well, my first book of his this year - I have previously read Animal Farm and Burmese Days. I do have a system in place for reading these books - I am doing it in chronological order and reading his corresponding diary entries alongside of the work. I am also reading Why Orwell Matters, which is a series of essays written by Christopher Hitchens about why what Orwell had to say is still relevant today. I did not realize that after giving up his post with the British Imperial Police, Orwell lived in poverty while he worked on his writing. He published some essays during this time, but his next major work after Burmese Days was this non-fiction account of his time spent in first Paris and then London. This book is a very enjoyable read, and I was surprised at how quickly the pages flew by. The Paris portion of the book is the more enjoyable, and reads more like a novel. The London portion is less about the quirks and antics, and more about the observations that Orwell made about poverty and society. Both parts are fascinating and very interesting.First published in 1933, this is an inside look at what living from day to day truly means. Highly recommended."It is altogether curious, your first contact with poverty - it is the thing you have feared all your life, the thing you knew would happen to you sooner or later; and it is all so utterly and prosaically different. You thought it would be quite simple; it is extraordinarily complicated. You thought it would be terrible; it is merely squalid and boring. It is the peculiar lowness of poverty that you discover first; the shifts that it puts you to, the complicated meanness, the crust-wiping."

[steadfastreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Orwell's 'memoirs' of being destitute in Paris an London. It's fantastic and gives one a different perspective on both poverty and the differences of been extraordinarily poor in each city... in the 50's anyway. But I think that the commentary made on the homeless is timeless. Not a hard read and definitely worth it.

[malrubius · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Audio CD. Pretty frigging incredible to have a description of the characters, culture, and setting of impoverished Paris and London written by a true master of language, narrative, and dialogue. And Patrick Tull kills, as anyone who has heard him knows.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was terribly repetitive, but maybe that was part of the point. When a person is down and out, perhaps the only option is more of the same until something happens to make matters worse, or, rarely, make things better. The foregone conclusion of this book was that the main character would make out fine (an educated Englishman apparently has more options) so it was difficult to really empathize when things went wrong. I do think I could have gotten what I needed from the book by reading the first few chapters and the last one, without missing anything substantial.