The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

David wrote:


"Jack Hilton is a new name to me, but enthused by the content of this article, I’ll be in the queue for any re-publications of his books.

https://inews.co.uk/news/george-orwel..."

Now with his own thread

Here's hoping some of his stuff sees the light of day again

Great article too

Jack Hilton was a British novelist, essayist, and travel writer. His work often depicted working-class people and environments, especially those of northern England. Born into a working-class family, Hilton worked as a plasterer and was an active member of the plasterer’s union and the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement. After attending classes with the Workers Educational Association, he published his first book, the autobiographical Caliban Shrieks, in 1935. Hilton then attended Ruskin College, and eventually published a number of both fiction and nonfiction texts. He was acquainted with fellow working-class author Jack Common, socialist literary editor John Middleton Murray, and George Orwell. (Wikipedia)

More info about....



Caliban Shrieks (1935)

This is the autobiography of an unemployed Lancashire working-man now aged thirty-five. In portraying his own life and his reflections upon it he has described a case which is more broadly typical than those who only know the unemployed as statistics will easily realise. Mr. Hilton, of course, is exceptional in that he has broken through the formidable barriers between experience and the recording of that experience on paper (and they are formidable indeed to those whose schooldays end at fourteen). But all over Great Britain, in the devastated industrial regions, there are men of the same brave and generous temper, who express it in the like rich and vigorous speech. Men who know that it is Man's mismanagement and not Nature's law that has thrust the role of Caliban upon them. They are disillusioned, but seldom cynical, industry cannot use them. But society needs them. And they know - better than most - what the real needs of Society are. They are worth listening to.

Born and bred in the Midlands, Mr. Hilton seemed destined to be a cotton operative for life. But the war and its aftermath have made him what he describes in the book. You will find men like him in any industrial town, except that he cultivated his love of language and literature (and especially Shakespeare) with an unsophisticated relish which is equally rare among the masses as among the expensively educated few. (inside front cover)

I was just about to refer to the Wikipedia entry which lists his output, both fiction and non-fiction.

David wrote:


"I was just about to refer to the Wikipedia entry which lists his output, both fiction and non-fiction."

Yes indeed

Books

Caliban Shrieks (1935)
Champion (1937)
English Ways: A Walk from the Pennines to Epsom Downs in 1939 (1940)
Laugh at Polonius; or Yet, There is Woman (1942)
English Ribbon (1950)

Essays

“What Life Means to Me: The Credo of a Proletarian” (in five parts, The Adelphi 1937-8)
“The Plasterer’s Life” (in Seven Shifts, edited by Jack Common, 1938)
“Hibernation” (The Adelphi, May 1938)
“Queer Men, Dear Women” (The Adelphi, July 1938)
“Poplar and Whitechapel” (The Adelphi, Feb. 1939)

More on Jack here...


https://proletics.wordpress.com/tag/c...



Jack and Mary Hilton, who is pushing the handcart they used to carry their belongings when they tramped around the country. Jack wrote English Ways and English Ribbon whilst they travelled around with itinerant labourers and tramps.

Extremely interesting!

Now, if the considerable literary might and influence of the Goodreads PHAS can be mobilised behind a campaign to have Jack’s work re-published…

If anyone can get JH back in print, we can