The Watchers and the Watched

by Sid Chaplin

Published in a new series of Flambard Modern Classics. In the late 1940s and 1950s Chaplin pioneered a new kind of regional fiction dedicated to working-class experience. His finest achievements are usually considered to be his two Newcastle novels from the early 1960s. This is one of them.

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Chaplin
Sid Chaplin was a remarkable man, a miner who became a popular writer, and someone who was dedicated to his roots in the North East. Born in Shildon in 1916, he left school at 14, spent a year working in a bakery, and then went down the pit. He was lucky that his grandfather's cupboards contained lots of good books, by authors like Conan Doyle, P.G. Wodehouse, W.W. Jacobs, and H.G. Wells. "I never had any instruction in grammar," Sid said, "but my reading made me a writer." He wanted to be a union or political leader when he was in his teens, and went to Fircroft College to study economics. "I wrote an essay which the tutor liked, and he said my economics were bad but my writing was entertaining. He suggested I take up writing, so I transferred to an English literature course."

He worked in the pit by day and wrote at night, and his break came in 1946 with a publisher accepting a collection of stories under the title of The Leaping Lad. Sid later joined the magazine "Coal" and came out of the pit. For a time the fact that he was producing journalism by day and trying to write fiction by night affected his ability to produce the novels and stories he wanted; but eventually he began to get more of his books published.

Sid never left his native area, and loved to walk out for miles around his Newcastle home and, as he had always done, listen to tales of his native land. KF

Reviews

[Side Real Press]

This book is almost entirely outside my usual reading and only picked up as I had inadvertently met Chaplin's son who told me about his dad and his work. It is also set in Newcastle and there are not many novels I am aware set in the Toon.

As the blurb indicates it's a novel about working-class life and opens with our main protagonist Timothy ('Tiger') Mason having his final drinks with his pals before getting married the next day. The novel charts his transition from a newly married man to fatherhood and how his relationships with various people, his friends, family, in-laws, landlords etc alter over time.

I might have made this a bit 'worthy' sounding but somewhat o my surprise, I found myself enjoying it because it was not 'high drama' but a down-to-earth reality. For example, there is a slumlord who does not get the comeuppance that one might expect and a character with what one might now term mental health issues who is 'dealt with' within the (conflicted) community. Tiger himself is no clear-cut 'hero' and has his own failings which the author does not (to his credit) entirely smooth out and reconcile.

I don't feel I need to read any further Chaplin myself but I imagine that if you care for the 'kitchen sink' dramas by the likes of John Braine (who cites Chaplin as an influence) and the films of directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh you might well like this book. An interesting diversion from my norm.

[Michael Jarvie]

Let's begin with the title, which is a direct quotation from something that the playwright Eugene Ionesco is reported to have said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper. In my mind it doesn't quite capture what the novel is about. Yes, there is indeed a voyeur figure in the book - "Tot" - who features in one of the subplots, but "The Watchers and the Watched" suggests a different kind of work to the one that Chaplin wrote.

Stylistically Chaplin embraces free indirect style and incorporates North East dialectal features, e.g. the word "penker" instead of "marble". Essentially, the novel is built around a condensed and dramatically intense period in the life of a young working-class man as he takes on more adult responsibilies, such as getting married, renting property for the first time, and eventually becoming a father. It also deals with loss, namely the death of the protagonist's father.

The protagonist Tim ("Tiger") Mason works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne as a blacksmith, but he's no Wieland the smith. Despite being a headstrong figure, he's lacking in sophistication, and at times is almost childlike in terms of being a slave to his instinctual drives. He's portrayed as a typical man of his era - riding and repairing his beloved motorcycle, and with a liking for typically masculine pursuits such as going to pubs, watching cowboy films at the pictures and chasing women. For a time he takes up leek growing, but it's a hobby that eventually falls by the wayside because his heart isn't in it.

Perhaps the most unsatisfactory elements of the novel are its various subplots, which fail to cohere. For instance, there's the prolonged storyline involving Tot, who is essentially the local peeping Tom and incorrigible sex pest. Then there's "Two Step" the former boxer and political activist, whose nemesis is the unlikable figure of Finch, the exploitative landlord, who is quite prepared to use violence to enforce his will. Finally, there's a race riot sequence, which all feels rather worthy, but doesn't really advance the plot. Moreover, whenever the dialogue mentions black or Asian characters it is frequently peppered with racial slurs which would be unacceptable today.

In conclusion, although Sid Chaplin is worth reading, he's no Alan Sillitoe or David Storey.