Fifty Essays

by George Orwell

Overview

This excellent collection brings together Orwell's longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell's essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain. The articles collected in George Orwell's Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of the XX century - a man who elevated political writing to an art.

Essays included:

• THE SPIKE
• A HANGING (1931)
• BOOKSHOP MEMORIES (1936)
• SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT (1936)
• DOWN THE MINE (1937) (FROM "THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER")
• NORTH AND SOUTH (FROM "THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER") (1937)
• SPILLING THE SPANISH BEANS (1937)
• MARRAKECH (1939)
• BOYS' WEEKLIES AND FRANK RICHARDS'S REPLY (1940)
• CHARLES DICKENS (1940)
• CHARLES READE (1940)
• INSIDE THE WHALE (1940)
• THE ART OF DONALD MCGILL (1941)
• THE LION AND THE UNICORN: SOCIALISM AND THE ENGLISH GENIUS (1941)
• WELLS, HITLER AND THE WORLD STATE (1941)
• LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH WAR (1942)
• RUDYARD KIPLING (1942)
• MARK TWAIN-THE LICENSED JESTER (1943)
• POETRY AND THE MICROPHONE (1943)
• W B YEATS (1943)
• ARTHUR KOESTLER (1944)
• BENEFIT OF CLERGY: SOME NOTES ON SALVADOR DALI (1944)
• RAFFLES AND MISS BLANDISH (1944)
• ANTISEMITISM IN BRITAIN (1945)
• FREEDOM OF THE PARK (1945)
• FUTURE OF A RUINED GERMANY (1945)
• IN DEFENCE OF P. G. WODEHOUSE (1945)
• NONSENSE POETRY
• NOTES ON NATIONALISM (1945)
• REVENGE IS SOUR (1945)
• THE SPORTING SPIRIT
• YOU AND THE ATOMIC BOMB (1945)
• A GOOD WORD FOR THE VICAR OF BRAY
• A NICE CUP OF TEA (1946)
• BOOKS VS. CIGARETTES
• CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK REVIEWER
• DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH MURDER
• HOW THE POOR DIE
• JAMES BURNHAM AND THE MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION
• PLEASURE SPOTS
• POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• POLITICS VS. LITERATURE: AN EXAMINATION OF GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
• RIDING DOWN FROM BANGOR
• SOME THOUGHTS ON THE COMMON TOAD
• THE PREVENTION OF LITERATURE
• WHY I WRITE (1946)
• LEAR, TOLSTOY AND THE FOOL
• SUCH, SUCH WERE THE JOYS (1947)
• WRITERS AND LEVIATHAN (1948)
• REFLECTIONS ON GANDHI

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789390354665
Publisher:	Tingle Books
Publication date:	08/13/2020
Pages:	548
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.22(d)

About the Author

Who Was George Orwell?
George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist and critic most famous for his novels 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949). George Orwell was a novelist, essayist and critic best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism.

Family & Early Life:
Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell spent his first days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited. (His younger sister, Avril, was born in 1908. Orwell didn't really know his father until he retired from the service in 1912. And even after that, the pair never formed a strong bond. He found his father to be dull and conservative.

George Orwell's Most Famous Books:
Sometimes called the conscience of a generation, Orwell is best known for two novels: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both books, published toward the end of Orwell's life, have been turned into films and enjoyed tremendous popularity over the years.
'Animal Farm' (1945)
Animal Farm was an anti-Soviet satire in a pastoral setting featuring two pigs as its main protagonists. These pigs were said to represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The novel brought Orwell great acclaim and financial rewards.
'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949)
Orwell's masterwork, Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984 in later editions), was published in the late stages of his battle with tuberculosis and soon before his death. This bleak vision of the world divided into three oppressive nations stirred up controversy among reviewers, who found this fictional future too despairing. In the novel, Orwell gave readers a glimpse into what would happen if the government controlled every detail of a person's life, down to their own private thoughts.

Table of Contents

• Fifty Essays
• George Orwell
• THE SPIKE
• A HANGING (1931)
• BOOKSHOP MEMORIES (1936)
• SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT (1936)
• DOWN THE MINE (1937) (FROM "THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER")
• NORTH AND SOUTH (FROM "THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER") (1937)
• SPILLING THE SPANISH BEANS (1937)
• MARRAKECH (1939)
• BOYS' WEEKLIES AND FRANK RICHARDS'S REPLY (1940)
• CHARLES DICKENS (1940)
• CHARLES READE (1940)
• INSIDE THE WHALE (1940)
• THE ART OF DONALD MCGILL (1941)
• THE LION AND THE UNICORN: SOCIALISM AND THE ENGLISH GENIUS (1941)
• WELLS, HITLER AND THE WORLD STATE (1941)
• LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH WAR (1942)
• RUDYARD KIPLING (1942)
• MARK TWAIN-THE LICENSED JESTER (1943)
• POETRY AND THE MICROPHONE (1943)
• W B YEATS (1943)
• ARTHUR KOESTLER (1944)
• BENEFIT OF CLERGY: SOME NOTES ON SALVADOR DALI (1944)
• RAFFLES AND MISS BLANDISH (1944)
• ANTISEMITISM IN BRITAIN (1945)
• FREEDOM OF THE PARK (1945)
• FUTURE OF A RUINED GERMANY (1945)
• GOOD BAD BOOKS
• IN DEFENCE OF P. G. WODEHOUSE (1945)
• NONSENSE POETRY
• NOTES ON NATIONALISM (1945)
• REVENGE IS SOUR (1945)
• THE SPORTING SPIRIT
• YOU AND THE ATOMIC BOMB (1945)
• A GOOD WORD FOR THE VICAR OF BRAY
• A NICE CUP OF TEA (1946)
• BOOKS VS. CIGARETTES
• CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK REVIEWER
• DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH MURDER
• HOW THE POOR DIE
• JAMES BURNHAM AND THE MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION
• PLEASURE SPOTS
• POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• POLITICS VS. LITERATURE: AN EXAMINATION OF GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
• RIDING DOWN FROM BANGOR
• SOME THOUGHTS ON THE COMMON TOAD
• THE PREVENTION OF LITERATURE
• WHY I WRITE (1946)
• LEAR, TOLSTOY AND THE FOOL
• SUCH, SUCH WERE THE JOYS (1947)
• WRITERS AND LEVIATHAN (1948)
• REFLECTIONS ON GANDHI

Editorial Reviews

"The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable"...In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning."

"There are books that one reads over and over again, books that become part of the furniture of one's mind and alter one's whole attitude to life, books that one dips into but never reads through, books that one reads at a single sitting and forgets a week later:"

― George Orwell, A Collection of Essays

From the Publisher