"Boys' Weeklies" is an

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...

in which he analyses those weekly story-paper publications for boys which were current around 1940. After being published in ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

'' in abridged form, it was published alongside two of his other pieces in ''

Inside the Whale and Other Essays ''Inside the Whale and Other Essays'' is a book of essays written by George Orwell in 1940. It includes the eponymous essay " Inside the Whale". Background ''Inside the Whale'' was published by Victor Gollancz as a book of essays on 11 March 194 ...

'' from Victor Gollancz Ltd. The essay deals primarily with the School Stories published in '' The Magnet'' and '' The Gem'' and also with the 'Tuppenny Bloods' published by D.C. Thomson. He suggested that the style of ''The Magnet'' and ''Gem'' was deliberately formulaic so that it could be copied by a panel of authors whom he erroneously supposed to lie behind the author's names. He also denigrated the works as outdated, snobbish and right-wing, . He characterises the mental world of ''The Magnet'' and ''Gem'' as being "1910 – or 1940, but it is all the same ... there is a cosy fire in the study ... The King is on his throne ... Everything will be the same forever." He then addressed what he regarded as more up-to-date papers, DC Thompson's tuppenny bloods. He notes that the stories were shorter and faster-paced and tend to be dominated by a single figure. He suggests the working classes are depicted in a stereotyped manner in both types of paper and regrets the absence of any Socialist perspective. According to Orwell the weeklies avoid describing any form of working class life and do not mention long-term unemployment or the dole. Orwell wrote that the weeklies serve the function of instilling into the minds of young boys the ideas that "the problems of our time do not exist, that there is nothing wrong with ''

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

'' capitalism, that foreigners are unimportant comics and that the British Empire is a sort of charity-concern which will last forever". In the final paragraph he summarises by writing "All fiction from the novels in the mushroom libraries downwards is censored in the interests of the ruling class. And boy's fiction above all ... is sodden in the worst illusions of 1910. The fact is only unimportant if one believes that what is read in childhood leaves no impression behind. Lord Camrose and his colleagues evidently believe nothing of the kind, and, after all, Lord Camrose ought to know". Charles Hamilton later published a reply to his comments about ''The Magnet'' and ''Gem'', under the ''Magnet'' pen-name of Frank Richards; this reply included his first public acknowledgement of himself as author of both papers and defended the wholesome nature of the stories as being appropriate for his audience .

References

* . * .

External links

Original text of essay
English language Essays by George Orwell 1940 essays British boys' story papers Essays about literature Works originally published in Horizon (magazine) {{lit-essay-stub

See also

References

External links