Orwell and Jack Common

Ian Haywood

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198860693.013.38

Orwell and Jack Common

Ian Haywood

School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

This chapter takes a fresh look at the professional relationship between Orwell and his friend Jack Common, a working-class writer from the north-east of England. The chapter focuses on the world of 1930s literary journalism to show how both writers interrogated the links between writing, social mobility, class conflict, and masculinity. Close readings of Common’s essays for The Adelphi magazine shed new light on Orwell’s attempts to renounce his upper-class, imperialist origins and to identify with the ‘common’ person. The Road to Wigan Pier and Keep the Aspidistra Flying are reinterpreted as quests for cultural classlessness and meaningful literary labour.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Oxford Handbook of George Orwell
Pages	545-559
Number of pages	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198860693.013.38
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 20 Feb 2025

Publication series

Name	The Oxford Handbook of George Orwell
Publisher	Oxford University Press (OUP)

Access to Document

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198860693.013.38

Cite this

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