Boys' Weeklies
Encyclopedia
"Boys' Weeklies" is an essay
by George Orwell
in which he analyses those weekly story-paper publications for boys which were current around 1940. After being published in Horizon
in abridged form, it was published alongside two of his other pieces in Inside the Whale and Other Essays
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. Thompson.
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 He also denigrated the works as outdated, snobbish and right-wing, .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.
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 .
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
by George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
in which he analyses those weekly story-paper publications for boys which were current around 1940. After being published in Horizon
Horizon (magazine)
Horizon: A Review of Literature and Art was an influential literary magazine published in London, between 1940 and 1949. It was edited by Cyril Connolly who gave a platform to a wide range of distinguished and emerging writers....
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
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:...
from Victor Gollancz Ltd.
The essay deals primarily with the School Stories published in The Magnet
The Magnet
The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written...
and The Gem
The Gem
The Gem was a story paper published in Great Britain by Amalgamated Press in the early 20th century, predominately featuring the activities of boys at the fictional school "St. Jim's". These stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was...
and also with the 'Tuppenny Bloods' published by D.C. Thompson.
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.
Charles Hamilton
Charles Hamilton (writer)
Charles Harold St. John Hamilton , was an English writer, specializing in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also dealt with other genres...
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 .
See also
- Bibliography of George Orwell
- Story PapersStory paper*This article is about British Story papers. For the U.S. version, see Dime novel.A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers...