From Orwell’s ‘horribly observant’ Mrs Wisbeach to Andrea Levy’s benign Queenie – how writers portray landlords tells us much about about changing society through the ages
Writing during the period of the Harlem renaissance in 1940, Langston Hughes reflects the times:
Landlord, landlord
My roof has sprung a leak.
Don’t you ’member I told you about it
Way last week?
Ten Bucks you say I owe you?
Ten Bucks you say is due?
Well, that’s Ten Bucks more’n I’ll pay you
Till you fix this house up new
