'A Child of the Jago'-Arthur Morrison

[Suzi]

Hi all-

Have just finished this wonderful piece written and published by Arthur Morrison in 1896.

Quoted from the Introduction :

'In 1891 he published his first collection of short stories 'The Shadows Around Us',but it was his article 'A Street' published in Macmillan's Magazine in that year which was his first success.The article,which dealt with the East End was notable for it's concise style and total lack of sentimentality;it's reception encouraged Morrison in 1893,to write a series of fourteen short stories which appeared first in the National Observer and was published as a book in late 1894 under the title Tales of Mean Streets.It created a considerable stir,and went into several printings.
In 1895 Morrison turned his attention to the Old Nichol,reputedly the worst slum in east London.For a year and a half he researched this district,which straddled Bethnal Green and Shoreditch and which was in the process of being cleared.The result of his research was 'A Child of the Jago'.It was published in November 1896 and it's artistic power recieved immediate,near universal praise.
There were of course those with cavils. H.D. Traill in the Fortnightly review for January 1897,commented that morrison's picture of the Jago was not a realistic one.This article roused a considerable response from clergymen and social workers familiar with the Old Nichol.It also prompted Morrison to write a spirited defense of his work included as a Preface to the Third Edition'

Quoted that from the Introduction purely for facts here but I can honestly say that I haven't been quite so affected by 'a read' for some time and would wholeheartedly recommend it- forget the sentimentality of Dickens and although the 'vernacular' can be a tad tough at times- take a walk past 'The Posties' into the Jago.
No punches pulled here and as I said no sentimentality just sheer gut wrenching sadness at times...not without a lightness of touch which is going to make me re-read it and seek out his previous and later works.

As the Introduction concludes:
'Arthur Morrison's East End fiction is stark and powerful;it has fallen into undeserved obscurity.It is to be hoped that this unique voice will once again be heard'

I couldn't have put it better myself- so I didn't !!

Available from Amazon
ISBN 0-89733-392-6

Suzi x

Sorry-Just realised I stupidly posted this under NON Fiction- Oops but read it and maybe I was right!

[Roy Corduroy]

..not without a lightness of touch

Hi Suzi, you are right. On your recommendation I read Jago. Expecting something sort of cumbersome but it wasn't. It's very good.

Thank you,

Roy

[Suzi]

Excellent! Glad you enjoyed Roy!! (As if I'd suggest something remotely cumbersome!! )


Suzi x

[Carrotty Nell]

I recently read Child of the Jago too. It is a superbly researched piece of work. Vivid characters like Kiddo Cook and Cocko Hanwell are clearly based on real individuals whom the author had interviewed.

Morrison does not have the story-telling genius of Dickens but as an indictment on what life in the rookeries was like this is one of the most valuable chronicles available to researchers. I myself have used it as background research for a story I am myself writing (set during the Whitechapel murders) and I learned more from the vivid pages of Morrison than from the dry pages of Booth's reports.

[Katja]

Hi Suzi,
I quite agree with you, this book is a must for everybody interested in what life was really like in the slums in those days. What really gripped me was the pure nastiness the pople were driven to, it all semed so inevitable. This is something that you will not find in many other books on the subject.

Still, one has to take into account that Morrison was a journalist trying to sell as many copies as possible, even if he had to stretch the truth a bit. It is true, he spent a lot of time in the Old Nichol, and he did not succumb to the sort of sentimentality that many of the late Victorian philanthropists would have loved. I think in this he very effectively caught the spirit of the time. As was said about some other novelist, the story is "...more true than real...", meaning that it catches the situation without caring too much about dry facts.

To return to "Non-Fiction", I cannot think of anything better on the Old Nichol than Sarah Wise´s "The Blackest Streets", which has a very good chapter on Morrison, too.
Katja

[Roy Corduroy]

stretch the truth a bit.

I cannot think of anything better on the Old Nichol than Sarah Wise´s "The Blackest Streets", which has a very good chapter on Morrison, too.

Agreed, I just read Wise and in fact she was not kind to Morrison, as contemporary opinion showed he stretched the truth more than a bit.

Still, Jago is an exciting read. Just that its faction.

Roy