A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - 33 Newport Street (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

From the working class --- From a working-class district of Leeds, a 
city with an industrial past in the northeast of England, to the 
academic world: such is the journey of Richard Hoggart, sociologist and 
author of around thirty essays, including The Uses of Literacy 
(published in French as La Culture du pauvre, 1957) and now 33 Newport 
Street, published by Hors d'atteinte - the autobiography of an 
intellectual from England's working classes. --- The author weaves 
childhood memories with analytical tools to portray life in a 
working-class neighborhood in the 1920s and the story of his family. 
There is no miserabilism, no condescension toward a world from which he 
comes and for which he maintains respect and affection, especially 
toward the women -his grandmother, his aunt- who supported him in his 
social ascent. Too often, people from popular backgrounds disguise their 
origins. Other observers from more privileged milieus try to understand 
that working-class life where every penny counts, but they cannot give 
flesh to their narrative. Albert Camus or Louis Guilloux explain this 
very well in their works and correspondence.

Accuracy of description and feeling
Richard Hoggart skillfully combines sociological autobiography and 
literary narrative: 33 Newport Street "reads like a novel - captivating 
and full of emotion," notes his editor, Marie Hermann. The precision of 
descriptions, facts, and feelings is tangible to those who know these 
worlds. His mother counts and manages the budget, forced to deny any 
extra to her children. "If they want to survive and not sink, the poor 
must -an additional, ironic and perverse burden- manage their money as 
accountants would."

Some members of his family work in the factory and forego social 
advancement. Each detail helps one understand the life of these 
neighborhoods and the difficulty for children to imagine a future. The 
sociologist Bernard Lahire aptly points out the "class contempt that 
ordinarily strikes those labeled 'tight', 'stingy' or anxious, when in 
fact they never had the luxury not to be. Those who, as the saying goes, 
'can afford it', go through small ordeals without worry[...]; none of 
this threatens their financial balance or the survival of their loved 
ones. They thus appear detached from material contingencies, but only 
because, for them, everything is easily replaceable." Beyond these class 
relations, there is also the opposition between "them/us" within the 
social space, from one street to another, almost from one floor to the 
next. Through examples and memories, Richard Hoggart analyzes 
still-relevant issues such as inheritance, cultural handicaps, and 
inequalities in school. He knows how to move from the concrete to 
theoretical analysis. His family: Uncle Walter and his alcoholism, the 
sadness of the grandmother, Aunt Ethel's anger - life takes place in a 
closed circle, few invitations. Pleasures are homemade, simple, and 
bring happiness.

No miserabilism
No miserabilism throughout the pages. Just observations. Children's gaze 
is harsh toward those who cannot afford outings, who must wear 
low-quality clothing, looked at as scholarship kids.

Social life is analyzed in touches: school, teachers, clubs, love lives, 
the place of Jews. A sharp remark about the police: "Whenever the police 
behaved dishonorably, people just said: 'Cops don't shit roses.' That 
was the typical popular phrase."

The extensive analysis of schooling, inequalities, teacher motivation 
(or lack thereof), pedagogy, the critique of history teaching, and the 
path of a teenager to university recalls the works of Pierre Bourdieu 
and Jean-Claude Passeron.

From this book emanates an intense and legitimate pride in coming from 
that working-class world, claiming it, and highlighting the personal and 
family resources that allowed Richard Hoggart to transmit, through his 
culture and teaching, the values of the working class.

Richard Hoggart
33 Newport Street
Autobiography of an Intellectual from the English Working Class
Ed. Hors d'atteinte, 2025

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8577
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