Down and out of Paris  and London

                           skrevet af George Orwell 

"He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike him)"

Efter at have læst "The Animalfarm" , var jeg ikke udpræget tændt på at læse mere Orwell, men jeg må indrømme, at "Down and out of Paris and London" har ændret min mening. 

Den handler om en engelsk mand i Paris, der bliver fattigere og fattigere for hver dag der går. Han prøver at overleve ved at sælge alt, hvad han har og tage jobs på diverse restauranter, hvor han skal arbejde op mod 17 timer om dagen. Hele hierarkisystemet i de franske køkkener bliver forklaret og er utrolig interessant at følge med i. Det viser sig også, at uanset om du har betalt 50 eller 800 kroner for dit måltid, er hygeineniveauet det samme. Der er en vis afstand til hovedpersonen i den forstand, at man kun hører om hans tanker. Som læser har man meget lidt kendskab til hans ydre, hans personlige historie eller hvordan han er havnet i Paris. Vi er i hans nutid og i hans tankeverden, hvilket i den grad har sin charme, men som også tvinger læseren til at være hjælpeløs, vi kan ikke tænke frem eller foregribe noget - vi er helt i hans vold.

Det er spændende at følge med i rejsen mod fattigdommen, og man får en stigende følelse af at noget i ham trives i miljøet.

En følelse af at han nærmest finder nydelse i lidelsen og ydmygelserne - alligevel får det ham ikke ned med nakken. 

Mens vores hovedperson bevæger sig rundt i skyggeverdenen i Paris og London, møder han en masse mennesker, der bekræfter hans idé om, at alle mennesker mere eller mindre er ens. Det eneste der adskiller dem er niveauet af rigdom.

"The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher in a new suit"

Alt i alt synes jeg, det var en rigtig god bog. Det er på en måde befriende, at alle karakterende er mere eller mindre  anonyme, og, at det forhold læseren danner til hovedpersonen, er gennem dennes tanker, idéer og sult. Man ser Paris og London nedenfra og ud. 

"If you set yourself to it, you can live the same life, rich or poor. You can keep on with your books and your ideas. You just got to say to yourself, "I'm a free man in here" - he tapped his forehead - "and you're all right"

Down and out of Paris and London 

English version 

"He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike him)"

I was not about to read another George Orwell book after reading ’The Animal farm’, but I must admit, “Down and out of Paris and London” certainly changed my mind.

The book is about an Englishman in Paris, who becomes poorer and poorer every day. He manages to survive by selling everything he owns and taking jobs in different restaurants, where he must work maybe 17 hours a day. The hierarchy in French kitchens is explained and is quite interesting. Apparently, it does not matter whether you paid 10 or 100 dollars for your meal, the poor hygiene level is the same.

There is a distance to the main character in the sense that you only know what he is thinking. The reader knows very little about the way he looks, his personal story, or how he ended up in Paris. We, the readers, are only in his present and world of thoughts, which really has its charms, but also forces the reader to be helpless. We cannot think ahead or foreshadow anything – we are completely in his power.

It is exciting to follow his journey towards poverty, and you get an increasing feeling that a part of him thrives in the new environment.

That he almost takes pleasure in the suffering and humiliations – nothing gets him down.

Our main character meets a lot of different people, who confirms his idea, that the only thing that separates people from each other is the level of wealth while he moves around in the shadow world of Paris and London.

"The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher in a new suit"

All in all, I found the book great. It is somehow liberating that all the characters are anonymous and, that the relationship the reader forms to the main character is through his thoughts, ideas, and hunger. You meet Paris and London down and out.

"If you set yourself to it, you can live the same life, rich or poor. You can keep on with your books and your ideas. You just got to say to yourself, "I'm a free man in here" - he tapped his forehead - "and you're all right"