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Pages from a Scullion's Diary
)EXTRACT FROM DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS)
54 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
George Orwell
1,377 books53.3k followersEric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 28, 2016
Edit: 29/12/16 - Best Penguin 60s / Little Black Classic read of 2016.
This book is a collection of excerpts from the fictionalised autobiography of George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London, published as a Penguin 60.
At this point in reading this series of Penguin 60s, I think this has been the best of them. It could be that the excerpts are excellently selected - they are funny, descriptive, engaging and they feel real. It could be that the fictionalisation has pepped up the content to improve the interest, or that they have been embellished sufficiently to keep that level of amusement incredibly high (ok, for 54 pages, it is not an incredible feat, I concede). However the level of detail, the intricate understanding of the relationships within the hotel industry is so great that it is hard to imagine this isn't heavily based on reality.
In short - these are tales of the narrators life as a scullion, or dishwasher in Paris Hotel. Not just a dishwasher - the lowest of the social order within the hotel system - the entry level employee, only slightly above the unemployed. The narrator shares tales of being unemployed, being promised work, finally finding a job, struggling with the work, developing routine around the work, becoming a part of the 'big machine' that a hotel is, and finally having become successful enough in his routine to have a life outside the job.
For me it was a fantastic read - all those things I said above and more - highly descriptive, sharing the lowest points and the highest points of his time. Engaging, highly amusing and excellently well paced.
Five stars. I will be seeking out the full book, and hoping the excerpts weren't as well selected as I thought they were!
This book is a collection of excerpts from the fictionalised autobiography of George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London, published as a Penguin 60.
At this point in reading this series of Penguin 60s, I think this has been the best of them. It could be that the excerpts are excellently selected - they are funny, descriptive, engaging and they feel real. It could be that the fictionalisation has pepped up the content to improve the interest, or that they have been embellished sufficiently to keep that level of amusement incredibly high (ok, for 54 pages, it is not an incredible feat, I concede). However the level of detail, the intricate understanding of the relationships within the hotel industry is so great that it is hard to imagine this isn't heavily based on reality.
In short - these are tales of the narrators life as a scullion, or dishwasher in Paris Hotel. Not just a dishwasher - the lowest of the social order within the hotel system - the entry level employee, only slightly above the unemployed. The narrator shares tales of being unemployed, being promised work, finally finding a job, struggling with the work, developing routine around the work, becoming a part of the 'big machine' that a hotel is, and finally having become successful enough in his routine to have a life outside the job.
For me it was a fantastic read - all those things I said above and more - highly descriptive, sharing the lowest points and the highest points of his time. Engaging, highly amusing and excellently well paced.
Five stars. I will be seeking out the full book, and hoping the excerpts weren't as well selected as I thought they were!
August 26, 2020
4.5 stars.
This little volume is comprised of excerpts from Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, specifically from his time working as a plongeur (i.e. a scullion/dishwasher) in a Paris hotel when he was 25. This position being at the bottom of the culinary hierarchy, it was an easy enough position for him to get as a placeholder during this impoverished period of his life, but this pamphlet doesn’t dwell so much on Orwell’s own experiences, taking a broader view of the ‘world’ of culinary workers as a sort of subculture of Parisian life.
The work itself is very gruelling — long hours of manual labour for little pay — but it is the rhythm of life he finds and the sense of community with other workers that give the plongeur’s life colour and make the book interesting. He describes his “contentment” with the simplicity of his life, finding “a rhythm between work and sleep” on working days, and at the weekend, getting drunk with his colleagues: “his Paris has shrunk to the hotel, the Métro, a few bistros and his bed”. It seems Paris has a certain hedonistic charm to offer even for the poor underbelly of the city: even the descriptions of seedy apartments and garrets have a distinctive Parisian vibe. It’s also enjoyable to see how he made the most of a bad situation, enduring lots of drudgery but still finding the time to get wasted with his friends. Not bad for an Etonian.
Beyond Orwell’s own experiences and into his observations, I thought it was funny that he considers waiters to be in an ‘aspirational’ sort of role, relating more to the guests than to their fellow workers. He notes that they are rarely socialists — I wonder if this is still the case. Rather disturbingly, he also treats us to how unhygienic these high-end restaurants used to be:
When a steak, for instance, is brought up for the head cook’s inspection, he does not handle it with a fork. He picks it up in his fingers and slaps it down, runs his thumb round the dish and licks it to taste the gravy, runs it round and licks again, then steps back and contemplates the piece of meat like an artist judging a picture, then presses it lovingly into place with his fat, pink fingers, every one of which he has licked a hundred times that morning. When he is satisfied, he takes a cloth and wipes his fingerprints from the dish, and hands it to the waiter. And the waiter, of course, dips his fingers into the gravy—his nasty, greasy fingers which he is for ever running through his brilliantined hair. Whenever one pays more than, say, ten francs for a dish of meat in Paris, one may be certain that it has been fingered in this manner…Roughly speaking, the more one pays for food, the more sweat and spittle one is obliged to eat with it.
Hopefully food safety laws have seen to this since.
The dismissiveness of cooks towards ‘lesser’ staff (i.e. anyone who doesn’t actually make the food) is certainly something I found relatable, having witnessed it myself in my brief stint as a waitress at a not-so-fancy establishment seven years ago, as was the stressful pile-up of tasks during the busiest periods, but I think anyone who’s worked a service job will be familiar with the intensity of ‘peak times’, which are of course always made worse in restaurants by the fact that every order must be individually prepared.
The little anecdotes from other ‘characters’ are very funny and allow us to see the same Parisian environment from a French perspective, and from those deeper into it than Orwell (for whom this was just a temporary situation). . Not really related to the rest of the narrative but amusing nevertheless.
It ends quite abruptly, but it’s only an excerpt after all. I will certainly still check out the whole book at some point.
This little volume is comprised of excerpts from Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, specifically from his time working as a plongeur (i.e. a scullion/dishwasher) in a Paris hotel when he was 25. This position being at the bottom of the culinary hierarchy, it was an easy enough position for him to get as a placeholder during this impoverished period of his life, but this pamphlet doesn’t dwell so much on Orwell’s own experiences, taking a broader view of the ‘world’ of culinary workers as a sort of subculture of Parisian life.
The work itself is very gruelling — long hours of manual labour for little pay — but it is the rhythm of life he finds and the sense of community with other workers that give the plongeur’s life colour and make the book interesting. He describes his “contentment” with the simplicity of his life, finding “a rhythm between work and sleep” on working days, and at the weekend, getting drunk with his colleagues: “his Paris has shrunk to the hotel, the Métro, a few bistros and his bed”. It seems Paris has a certain hedonistic charm to offer even for the poor underbelly of the city: even the descriptions of seedy apartments and garrets have a distinctive Parisian vibe. It’s also enjoyable to see how he made the most of a bad situation, enduring lots of drudgery but still finding the time to get wasted with his friends. Not bad for an Etonian.
Beyond Orwell’s own experiences and into his observations, I thought it was funny that he considers waiters to be in an ‘aspirational’ sort of role, relating more to the guests than to their fellow workers. He notes that they are rarely socialists — I wonder if this is still the case. Rather disturbingly, he also treats us to how unhygienic these high-end restaurants used to be:
When a steak, for instance, is brought up for the head cook’s inspection, he does not handle it with a fork. He picks it up in his fingers and slaps it down, runs his thumb round the dish and licks it to taste the gravy, runs it round and licks again, then steps back and contemplates the piece of meat like an artist judging a picture, then presses it lovingly into place with his fat, pink fingers, every one of which he has licked a hundred times that morning. When he is satisfied, he takes a cloth and wipes his fingerprints from the dish, and hands it to the waiter. And the waiter, of course, dips his fingers into the gravy—his nasty, greasy fingers which he is for ever running through his brilliantined hair. Whenever one pays more than, say, ten francs for a dish of meat in Paris, one may be certain that it has been fingered in this manner…Roughly speaking, the more one pays for food, the more sweat and spittle one is obliged to eat with it.
Hopefully food safety laws have seen to this since.
The dismissiveness of cooks towards ‘lesser’ staff (i.e. anyone who doesn’t actually make the food) is certainly something I found relatable, having witnessed it myself in my brief stint as a waitress at a not-so-fancy establishment seven years ago, as was the stressful pile-up of tasks during the busiest periods, but I think anyone who’s worked a service job will be familiar with the intensity of ‘peak times’, which are of course always made worse in restaurants by the fact that every order must be individually prepared.
The little anecdotes from other ‘characters’ are very funny and allow us to see the same Parisian environment from a French perspective, and from those deeper into it than Orwell (for whom this was just a temporary situation). . Not really related to the rest of the narrative but amusing nevertheless.
It ends quite abruptly, but it’s only an excerpt after all. I will certainly still check out the whole book at some point.
May 7, 2026
The original Kitchen Confidential. I’m sure Tony read this.
May 5, 2019
A re-read from the late nineties when I was starting out in kitchens. A fascinating miniature of ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’, a 25 year old Orwell captures and preserves life as a Parisian ‘plongeur’. A ‘valuable social document’ and a ‘vivid picture of an apparently mad world’.
From the book:
‘There was—it is hard to express it—a sort of heavy contentment, the contentment a well-fed beast might feel, in a life which had become so simple. For nothing could be simpler than the life of a plongeur. He lives in a rhythm between work and sleep, without time to think, hardly conscious of the exterior world; his Paris has shrunk to the hotel, the Métro, a few bistros and his bed. If he goes afield, it is only a few streets away, on a trip with some servant-girl who sits on his knee swallowing oysters and beer. On his free day he lies in bed till noon, puts on a clean shirt, throws dice for drinks, and after lunch goes back to bed again. Nothing is quite real to him but the boulot, drinks and sleep; and of these sleep is the most important.’
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_...
Anthony Bourdain, who encouraged would-be chefs to read ‘Down and Out’, wrote the forward to the 2017 reprint:
‘Orwell was there long, long before me, “ripping the lid off” fine dining and depicting, in unsparing terms, the filth, the language, the subculture, the complete disconnect between what was seen in the dining room and what happened behind the kitchen doors…Down and Out in Paris and London changed my life.’
From the book:
‘There was—it is hard to express it—a sort of heavy contentment, the contentment a well-fed beast might feel, in a life which had become so simple. For nothing could be simpler than the life of a plongeur. He lives in a rhythm between work and sleep, without time to think, hardly conscious of the exterior world; his Paris has shrunk to the hotel, the Métro, a few bistros and his bed. If he goes afield, it is only a few streets away, on a trip with some servant-girl who sits on his knee swallowing oysters and beer. On his free day he lies in bed till noon, puts on a clean shirt, throws dice for drinks, and after lunch goes back to bed again. Nothing is quite real to him but the boulot, drinks and sleep; and of these sleep is the most important.’
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_...
Anthony Bourdain, who encouraged would-be chefs to read ‘Down and Out’, wrote the forward to the 2017 reprint:
‘Orwell was there long, long before me, “ripping the lid off” fine dining and depicting, in unsparing terms, the filth, the language, the subculture, the complete disconnect between what was seen in the dining room and what happened behind the kitchen doors…Down and Out in Paris and London changed my life.’
February 4, 2021
This is an excerpt from "Down and out in Paris and London". Its a really interesting account for George Orwell's time as a hobo working as a dishwasher for a fancy hotel. I enjoyed reading it, makes me want to buy the full book next.
July 10, 2022
"We were working people and where was the sense of wasting sleep over murder ?"
A seamless little reading about working men life in Paris . The dirt, hunger and poverty.
A seamless little reading about working men life in Paris . The dirt, hunger and poverty.
February 28, 2026
“Appearance - appearance is everything, mon ami. Give me a new suit and I will borrow a thousand francs by dinner time.”
October 4, 2014
This exerpt from Orwell's memoirs depicts the life of a scullion with large amounts of detail, weaved into an entertaining narrative of poverty, hope and very hard work. He tells of his own experiences as well as those of co-workers and fellow barflies. I know too little of Orwell's non-fiction writing (I remember the essay 'Shooting an elephant' from school days, and his essay about tea) - this snippet piques my interest.
Orwell is bekend vir sy distopiese romans 1984 en ANIMAL FARM, maar sy vaardighede as verteller skitter ook in hierdie gedetailleerde narratief oor sy dae as skottelgoedwasser in 'n Paryse hotel. Die uiters harde werk sorg dat hy nie honger ly nie. Tussendeur teken hy kollegas en kroegbroeders se ervarings op. Dit bly lig en vermaaklik, al skets dit 'n harde werklikheid. Ek sal graag meer hiervan wil lees.
Orwell is bekend vir sy distopiese romans 1984 en ANIMAL FARM, maar sy vaardighede as verteller skitter ook in hierdie gedetailleerde narratief oor sy dae as skottelgoedwasser in 'n Paryse hotel. Die uiters harde werk sorg dat hy nie honger ly nie. Tussendeur teken hy kollegas en kroegbroeders se ervarings op. Dit bly lig en vermaaklik, al skets dit 'n harde werklikheid. Ek sal graag meer hiervan wil lees.
April 18, 2009
Much better than the book it is taken from. in the complete book the paris section is much better than the london section and even in the paris section it benefits from being cut down to its best part. Possibly in this version, one of the funniest books i have read.
March 26, 2024
what i thought would be fairly bland was so full of life, i live laugh loved this book forreal
thank u hospice shop i will be getting more tiny books from u in the future, and i will certainly be reading the book this was extracted from 🫶
thank u hospice shop i will be getting more tiny books from u in the future, and i will certainly be reading the book this was extracted from 🫶
December 26, 2023
Good read - I’ve had this since 1995 and the full ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ for a few years. This was a good taster to make me read more.
So different to the Banine book I am also reading
So different to the Banine book I am also reading
January 29, 2009
A highly appetising extract from 'Down and Out in Paris and London': I will definitely be on the look-out for the full text after reading this.
July 2, 2009
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (1999)
December 31, 2012
Great stuff!
June 2, 2016
Awesome autor's personal diary extract about struglles of him and other ordinary people living in the late 1920s in a post WWI Paris.
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August 9, 2016I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14093017
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14093017
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews