Review of 'Down and Out in Paris and London' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
George Orwell's first published book: his youth shows, for sure. It's some kind of revelation to him that tramps are people just like everybody else. He at first seems a relatively empathetic and progressive person, but he obviously views women as some other species - definitely not people. It made me so angry, his rhetoric. The astoundingly misogynistic idea that men deserve sex/love/attention from women makes an appearance, (like in that recent mass-murderer's screed). I thought the appalling rape story in the Paris half was to illustrate something in the character who supposedly told it. But it's just more dehumanizing garbage from Orwell himself.
So I do not appreciate this book. But I also know that these disgusting views of women were common in society and literature in the 20th century, even from women authors (looking at you, Agatha Christie).
George Orwell's first published book: his youth shows, for sure. It's some kind of revelation to him that tramps are people just like everybody else. He at first seems a relatively empathetic and progressive person, but he obviously views women as some other species - definitely not people. It made me so angry, his rhetoric. The astoundingly misogynistic idea that men deserve sex/love/attention from women makes an appearance, (like in that recent mass-murderer's screed). I thought the appalling rape story in the Paris half was to illustrate something in the character who supposedly told it. But it's just more dehumanizing garbage from Orwell himself.
So I do not appreciate this book. But I also know that these disgusting views of women were common in society and literature in the 20th century, even from women authors (looking at you, Agatha Christie).
