"Learn to read and write, learn all you can, learn cunning, spare nobody and stop at nothing. ... Do your devilmost ... for the Jago's got you!" Dicky Perrott, growing up in the notoriously criminal enclave of the Jago, listens and learns. Compelled by his family's circumstances to provide for his mother and siblings, he sharpens his skills as a boy thief. Along the way, he navigates the Jago's topsy-turvy ethics, vacillating between the rival messages of his mentors, a devious local fence and a righteous slum priest. Relentless in its bleakness and violence, A Child of the Jago captures the desperate struggle for survival in 1890s East London.

This Broadview Edition provides the literary, socio-historical, and philosophical contexts vital to readers' understanding and appreciation of the novel. Historical appendices include materials on eugenics, hooliganism, women's sweated labor, cultural philanthropy, and the debate over the novel's accuracy.

About the Author

Diana Maltz is Professor of English at Southern Oregon University.

Reviews

"Diana Maltz's new Broadview edition of Arthur Morrison's classic A Child of the Jago is superb in every respect. With a fine, wide-ranging introduction, helpful notes, and useful appendices identifying the many controversies in which Morrison's work enveloped him, this Jago is destined to become the standard text for readers of this important novel. Broadview has done it again." - Dan Bivona, Arizona State University

"Diana Maltz's new edition from Broadview is itself a substantial intervention ... [and] provides extensive scholarly scaffolding. The book opens with a thorough introduction covering biographical and contextual information ... Appendices include the debates prompted by A Child of the Jago around the nature of realist fiction, writings on the world of the slum from contemporary researchers and reformers focusing especially on middle-class attitudes, childhood, women's labor, and philanthropy, and a detailed glossary to assist with the slang that saturates Morrison's writing. This material provides a veritable treasure trove for readers seeking avenues for further study." - Janine Utell, English Literature in Transition

Book Information
ISBN 9781551119854
Author Arthur Morrison
Format Paperback
Page Count 300
Imprint Broadview Press Ltd
Publisher Broadview Press Ltd