The American hobos, at the crossroads of writing
What is the link between the homeless of today and the hobos of the end of the 19th century in the United States ? The hobo character, an American cultural icon, came into existence at the turn of the 20th century through the hybridization of different writing genres, at a crossroads between literature, testimonies and sociology. Through an overview of the writing by and on hobos, from Josiah Flynt to Jack Kerouac, including Jack London and Nels Anderson, this article seeks to analyze the way in which the hobo character was idealized, given a mythical status, and then gradually removed from the criticism of capitalism it embodied in its first years as well as from the actual living conditions of street people since the 1970s. The early 20th century “Hobo culture”, featuring places (Hobohemia analyzed by Anderson), practices and specific commitments is replaced by the figure of an individual—male, white, heterosexual—who goes on the road in search of adventure. The sociological and economic determinants of the hobo’s condition are set aside ; the romanticism of the hobo character negates his dissenting nature and at the same time confines today’s homeless people to the status of victims.