Ljudi sa ponora
A documentary-drama in which London, living among the poor of London's East End in 1902, bears poignant witness to the misery, hunger, and humiliation of the lowest strata of English society in Edwardian England.
This is one of London's most powerful and realistic works, written in 1902–1903. This time, London descended into the "abyss" – the slums of London's East End (Whitechapel and its surroundings) at the time of the coronation of King Edward VII.
Disguised as a poor sailor, London lived for several weeks as a homeless man and worker: he slept in lodgings, worked in workshops, ate in soup kitchens and encountered hunger, alcoholism, tuberculosis, child labor and utter despair on a daily basis. The book is a mixture of personal report, sociological analysis and fierce social criticism.
London compares the life of the English poor with the conditions in which the "lower races" live in the colonies and shows how the richest country in the world was at the same time creating the greatest human abyss. The work is full of moving stories of ordinary people, powerful descriptions and bitterness towards a capitalist society that allows such humiliation.
This 1930 edition by Biniza is one of the first Croatian editions and is today considered an antiquarian rarity. The translation was very influential in Yugoslav socially engaged circles in the 1930s.
One copy is available
- The cover is missing
