Orwell

Orwell’s 1946 essay The “Decline of the English Murder” contrasts the emotionally charged “classic” murders of 1850–1925 with postwar crimes shaped by Americanisation and war. Centred on the 1944 Cleft Chin case, it laments lost moral depth. Yet Orwell oversimplifies historical change, overlooking earlier social upheavals, evolving police methods, and new psychological interpretations of crime found in interwar fiction, especially Christie’s. His analysis remains vivid but ultimately descriptive rather than explanatory.