The Voices of the Poor? Dialogue in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor

Abstract

Claims that what appear to be monologues in Mayhew’s work are really illusions; instead, London Labour and the London Poor is a heavily edited record of verbal interactions between a middle-class interviewer and the poor of London. Posits that the text is dialogic, reflecting the utterances of the poor being shaped by Mayhew’s own biases and preconceptions. Attempts to distinguish Mayhew’s voice from the voices of his subjects by reading a number of clues that allow for reconstruction of his voice: clues about the way he sets up an interview, attempts to put his subjects at ease, the types of questions he asks, and the types of answers he wished to hear. Concludes that while Mayhew had a strongly-held sympathy for his subjects, he continually confronted his interviewees with his belief in their moral and intellectual inferiority, both as individuals and as a support group.