Before Animal Farm and 1984 Orwell worked in a secondhand bookshop in Hampstead and drew on the experience for his novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
Before he became one of the most important writers of the 20th century, George Orwell spent a formative period in Hampstead, working in a bookshop and absorbing the experiences that would shape his writing. This is the story of George Orwell's Hampstead years, the bookshop, the novels, and the village that helped form a great writer.
- George Orwell lived in Hampstead in the mid-1930s
- He worked part-time in a Hampstead bookshop
- The experience inspired his essay "Bookshop Memories" and his novel "Keep the Aspidistra Flying"
- His Hampstead years were formative in his development as a writer
- Part of Hampstead's extraordinary literary heritage
- A fascinating chapter in the life of a great writer
Orwell in Hampstead
George Orwell, the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, and one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the 20th century, spent a formative period in Hampstead in the mid-1930s, before he achieved fame. At this stage in his life, Orwell (born Eric Blair) was a struggling writer, working to establish himself and gathering the experiences that would inform his work. His time in Hampstead, and particularly his work in a local bookshop, gave him material and insight that he would put directly into his writing.
Orwell's Hampstead years are a fascinating chapter in the life of a great writer, a glimpse of Orwell before he was "Orwell," finding his voice and his material in the bookshops and streets of the village. They are also part of Hampstead's extraordinary literary heritage, which includes Keats, D.H. Lawrence, and so many others.
The Bookshop Years
The most significant aspect of Orwell's time in Hampstead was his work in a bookshop. To support himself while he wrote, Orwell took a part-time job in a Hampstead bookshop, an experience that gave him not only an income but a wealth of observation about books, customers, and the bookselling trade. Working among books, serving the reading public, and observing the often eccentric world of the second-hand bookshop, Orwell gathered material that he would use directly in his writing.
For a writer of Orwell's acute observational powers and social conscience, the bookshop was a rich source, a vantage point from which to observe people, society, and the world of books. The experience left a clear mark on his work.
Dr. Helen Farrow, who studies 20th-century literature, finds Orwell's Hampstead period revealing. "It's wonderful to think of Orwell, before the fame, before Nineteen Eighty-Four, working in a Hampstead bookshop, observing everything, gathering material," she said. "You can see it directly in 'Bookshop Memories' and in Keep the Aspidistra Flying. The bookshop, the customers, the slightly shabby literary world, it's all there, drawn from life. Hampstead gave Orwell that material at a crucial point in his development. It's a reminder that great writers are formed by ordinary experiences, closely observed. And it's a lovely addition to Hampstead's literary story, Orwell among the books, becoming the writer he would be."
"Bookshop Memories" and "Keep the Aspidistra Flying"
Orwell's bookshop experience fed directly into his writing:
"Bookshop Memories"
Orwell's essay "Bookshop Memories" draws directly on his time working in the Hampstead bookshop, offering a wry, observant, and characteristically honest account of the realities of bookselling, the customers, the trade, and the gap between the romantic idea of working among books and the often mundane or absurd reality. It is a classic Orwell essay: clear-eyed, witty, and grounded in real experience.
"Keep the Aspidistra Flying"
Orwell's novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying features a protagonist, Gordon Comstock, who works in a bookshop, a clear reflection of Orwell's own experience. The novel explores themes of poverty, the struggle of the would-be writer, and the pressures of money and conventional life, all informed by Orwell's own circumstances during his Hampstead years. The bookshop setting, drawn from life, gives the novel authenticity and vivid detail.
Together, these works show how directly Orwell's Hampstead experience shaped his writing, turning a part-time job into literature.
A Formative Period
Orwell's Hampstead years came at a crucial point in his development as a writer. Still struggling to establish himself, gathering experience and material, and honing the clear, honest, observant style that would become his hallmark, Orwell was in the process of becoming the writer the world would come to know. His time in Hampstead, the bookshop, the writing, the observation of life, was part of this formation.
It is fascinating to think of the future author of Nineteen Eighty-Four serving customers in a Hampstead bookshop, absorbing the experiences and developing the powers that would later produce some of the most important writing of the century.
Orwell and Literary Hampstead
Orwell's Hampstead connection is part of the village's remarkable literary heritage, the extraordinary roll-call of writers who have lived and worked in the village over the centuries. From Keats, who wrote his odes here, to D.H. Lawrence in the Vale of Health, to Orwell among the bookshops, Hampstead has drawn and shaped great writers for generations. Orwell's bookshop years are a distinctive and characterful part of this legacy, the great essayist and novelist finding his material in the everyday life of the village.
Practical Information
- The story: Orwell's mid-1930s Hampstead years, working in a bookshop
- The works: "Bookshop Memories" (essay) and "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" (novel)
- Significance: A formative period in the development of a great writer
- Part of: Hampstead's rich literary heritage
- Best for: Orwell enthusiasts, literature lovers, those interested in Hampstead's writers
- Getting there: Hampstead (Northern line)
George Orwell's Hampstead years are a fascinating chapter in the life of one of the 20th century's most important writers, the future author of Nineteen Eighty-Four working in a Hampstead bookshop, gathering the experiences and observations that would feed directly into "Bookshop Memories" and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. It is a glimpse of Orwell before fame, finding his material and his voice in the village, and a distinctive part of Hampstead's extraordinary literary heritage. For anyone who loves Orwell, or who is drawn to the story of how great writers are formed, it is a chapter worth knowing, Orwell among the books, in the village that helped shape him.
