george orwell book of essays

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The Orwell Foundation is delighted to make available a selection of essays, articles, sketches, reviews and scripts written by Orwell.

This material remains under copyright in some jurisdictions, including the US, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of  the Orwell Estate . All queries regarding rights should be addressed to the Estate’s representatives at A. M. Heath literary agency.

The Orwell Foundation is an independent charity – please consider  making a donation to help us maintain these resources for readers everywhere.

Sketches For Burmese Days

• 1. John Flory – My Epitaph
• 2. Extract, Preliminary to Autobiography
• 3. Extract, the Autobiography of John Flory
• 4. An Incident in Rangoon
• 5. Extract, A Rebuke to the Author, John Flory

Essays and articles

• A Day in the Life of a Tramp ( Le Progrès Civique , 1929)
• A Hanging ( The Adelphi , 1931)
• A Nice Cup of Tea ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• Antisemitism in Britain ( Contemporary Jewish Record , 1945)
• Arthur Koestler (written 1944)
• British Cookery (unpublished, 1946)
• Can Socialists be Happy? (as John Freeman, Tribune , 1943)
• Common Lodging Houses ( New Statesman , 3 September 1932)
• Confessions of a Book Reviewer ( Tribune , 1946)
• “For what am I fighting?” ( New Statesman , 4 January 1941)
• Freedom and Happiness – Review of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ( Tribune , 1946)
• Freedom of the Park ( Tribune , 1945)
• Future of a Ruined Germany ( The Observer , 1945)
• Good Bad Books ( Tribune , 1945)
• In Defence of English Cooking ( Evening Standard , 1945)
• In Front of Your Nose ( Tribune , 1946)
• Just Junk – But Who Could Resist It? ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• My Country Right or Left ( Folios of New Writing , 1940)
• Nonsense Poetry ( Tribune , 1945)
• Notes on Nationalism ( Polemic , October 1945)
• Pleasure Spots ( Tribune , January 1946)
• Poetry and the microphone ( The New Saxon Pamphlet , 1945)
• Politics and the English Language ( Horizon , 1946)
• Politics vs. Literature: An examination of Gulliver’s Travels ( Polemic , 1946)
• Reflections on Gandhi ( Partisan Review , 1949)
• Rudyard Kipling ( Horizon , 1942)
• Second Thoughts on James Burnham ( Polemic , 1946)
• Shooting an Elephant ( New Writing , 1936)
• Some Thoughts on the Common Toad ( Tribune , 1946)
• Spilling the Spanish Beans ( New English Weekly , 29 July and 2 September 1937)
• The Art of Donald McGill ( Horizon , 1941)
• The Moon Under Water ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• The Prevention of Literature ( Polemic , 1946)
• The Proletarian Writer (BBC Home Service and The Listener , 1940)
• The Spike ( Adelphi , 1931)
• The Sporting Spirit ( Tribune , 1945)
• Why I Write ( Gangrel , 1946)
• You and the Atom Bomb ( Tribune , 1945)

Reviews by Orwell

• Anonymous Review of Burmese Interlude by C. V. Warren ( The Listener , 1938)
• Anonymous Review of Trials in Burma by Maurice Collis ( The Listener , 1938)
• Review of The Pub and the People by Mass-Observation ( The Listener , 1943)

Letters and other material

• BBC Archive: George Orwell
• Free will (a one act drama, written 1920)
• George Orwell to Steven Runciman (August 1920)
• George Orwell to Victor Gollancz (9 May 1937)
• George Orwell to Frederic Warburg (22 October 1948, Letters of Note)
• ‘Three parties that mattered’: extract from Homage to Catalonia (1938)
• Voice – a magazine programme , episode 6 (BBC Indian Service, 1942)
• Your Questions Answered: Wigan Pier (BBC Overseas Service)
• The Freedom of the Press: proposed preface to Animal Farm (1945, first published 1972)
• Preface to the Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm  (March 1947)

External links are being provided for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by The Orwell Foundation of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organisation or individual. The Foundation bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

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A collection of essays

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IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station01.cebu on March 14, 2020

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Collected Essays

George orwell.

Available to download for free in PDF, epub, and Kindle (mobi and AZW3) ebook formats. Or read online. Skip straight to downloads.

Description

This book is a collection of fifty-one essays and articles written by English author George Orwell. It includes the following works: The Spike; A Hanging; Bookshop Memories; Shooting an Elephant; Down the Mine; North and South; Spilling the Spanish beans; Marrakech; Boys’ Weeklies and Frank Richards’s Reply; Charles Dickens; Charles Reade; Inside the Whale; The Art of Donald Mcgill; The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius; Wells, Hitler and the World State; Looking Back on the Spanish War; Rudyard Kipling; Mark Twain, the Licensed Jester; Poetry and the Microphone; W B Yeats; Arthur Koestler; Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali; Raffles and Miss Blandish; Antisemitism in Britain; Freedom of the Park; Future of a Ruined Germany; Good Bad Books; In Defence of P. G. Wodehouse; Nonsense Poetry; Notes on Nationalism; Revenge is Sour; The Sporting Spirit; You and the Atomic Bomb; A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray; A Nice Cup of Tea; 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; Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool; Such, Such Were the Joys; Writers and Leviathan; and, Reflections on Gandhi.

This book has 229,193 words, and 347 pages in the PDF version.

Production notes: This ebook of Collected Essays was published by Global Grey on the 18th March 2021, and updated on the 13th April 2022. The artwork used for the cover is 'Cliff Dwellers' by George Bellows.

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A Collection Of Essays: (Authorized Orwell Edition): A Mariner Books Classic (Harvest Book) First Edition, Kindle Edition

• ISBN-13 978-0156186001
• Edition First
• Publisher Mariner Books Classics
• Publication date October 21, 1970
• Language English
• File size 1127 KB
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com review.

This essay alone would be worth the cover price, and the dozen other pieces collected here prove that, given the right thinker/writer, today's journalism actually can become tomorrow's literature. "The Art of Donald McGill," ostensibly an appreciation of the jokey, vaguely obscene illustrated postcards beloved of the working classes, uses the lens of popular culture to examine the battle lines and rules of engagement in the war of the sexes, circa 1941. "Politics and the English Language" is a prose working-out of Orwell's perceptions about the slippery relationship of word and thought that becomes a key premise of 1984 . "Looking Back on the Spanish War" is as clear-eyed a veteran's memoir of the nature of war as you're likely to find, and Orwell's long ruminations on the wildly popular "good bad" writers Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling showcase his singular virtues--searing honesty and independent thinking. From English boarding schools to Gandhi's character to an early appreciation of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer , these pieces give an idiosyncratic tour of the first half of the passing century in the company of an articulate and engaged guide. Don't let the idea that Orwell is an "important" writer put you off reading him. He's really too good, and too human, to miss. --Joyce Thompson

About the Author

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He was born in India and educated at Eton. After service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living by writing. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory  Animal Farm  was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of 1984 (1949), which brought him worldwide fame. 

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003K16PO6
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books Classics; First edition (October 21, 1970)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 21, 1970
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1127 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 326 pages
• #37 in Politics Literary Criticism
• #74 in Historical Event Literature Criticism
• #102 in Political Literature Criticism

About the author

George orwell.

George Orwell is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. Among his works are the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian nightmare vision Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell was also a prolific essayist, and it is for these works that he was perhaps best known during his lifetime. They include Why I Write and Politics and the English Language. His writing is at once insightful, poignant and entertaining, and continues to be read widely all over the world.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. The family moved to England in 1907 and in 1917 Orwell entered Eton, where he contributed regularly to the various college magazines. From 1922 to 1927 he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that inspired his first novel, Burmese Days (1934). Several years of poverty followed. He lived in Paris for two years before returning to England, where he worked successively as a private tutor, schoolteacher and bookshop assistant, and contributed reviews and articles to a number of periodicals. Down and Out in Paris and London was published in 1933. In 1936 he was commissioned by Victor Gollancz to visit areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) is a powerful description of the poverty he saw there.

At the end of 1936 Orwell went to Spain to fight for the Republicans and was wounded. Homage to Catalonia is his account of the civil war. He was admitted to a sanatorium in 1938 and from then on was never fully fit. He spent six months in Morocco and there wrote Coming Up for Air. During the Second World War he served in the Home Guard and worked for the BBC Eastern Service from 1941 to 1943. As literary editor of the Tribune he contributed a regular page of political and literary commentary, and he also wrote for the Observer and later for the Manchester Evening News. His unique political allegory, Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame.

It was around this time that Orwell's unique political allegory Animal Farm (1945) was published. The novel is recognised as a classic of modern political satire and is simultaneously an engaging story and convincing allegory. It was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which finally brought him world-wide fame. Nineteen Eighty-Four's ominous depiction of a repressive, totalitarian regime shocked contemporary readers, but ensures that the book remains perhaps the preeminent dystopian novel of modern literature.

Orwell's fiercely moral writing has consistently struck a chord with each passing generation. The intense honesty and insight of his essays and non-fiction made Orwell one of the foremost social commentators of his age. Added to this, his ability to construct elaborately imaginative fictional worlds, which he imbued with this acute sense of morality, has undoubtedly assured his contemporary and future relevance.

George Orwell died in London in January 1950.

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Customers say.

Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. They appreciate the interesting comments and perspectives, describing it as thought-provoking and introspective. However, some customers report missing content and issues with the table of contents. Opinions vary on the writing quality, with some finding it well-written and inspiring, while others find typos and an unreadable table of contents.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable to read. They describe it as a classic of English literature and a joy to read. Some readers find it longer than expected, but overall, they appreciate the clear writing style and find it an excellent copy.

"...The thinking laid out in this book is that good ; that clear; that unique...." Read more

"...comics for boys, or explaining his own compulsion to write, Orwell is always engaging and writes in clear, crisp prose that most essayists can only..." Read more

"...but the clarity and incisiveness of Orwell's writing makes him worth reading whether he's discussing the trouble with leftist politics or the..." Read more

"...It kept my attention though it was much longer than I had anticipated. I did struggle through it at times and breezed through it at others...." Read more

Customers find the book insightful and well-written. They appreciate Orwell's thought-provoking analysis and insights into his thinking. The essays offer a deeper perspective into his life and thoughts from a modern perspective. Overall, customers describe the collection as inspiring and timeless.

"...in which Orwell lived and simultaneuosly displayed an absolutely timeless thought process ...." Read more

"...It is insightful on Dickens the man and his politics, and how they relate to his work...." Read more

"...His writings and this collection of essays are very introspective of the eccentricities of human nature; his satire is cutting to the bone in it's..." Read more

"...Orwell's thought provoking and penetrating analysis captures so much about Dickens and his work in such a compact and lucid style that even his..." Read more

Customers have mixed reviews about the writing quality. Some find it inspiring and well-written in a clear Orwell style. However, others report issues like typos, poor selection of essays, and inconsistent table of contents and essay titles between the print and ebook editions.

"...Aside from that, these are clearly the writings of a balanced thinker , someone who could mentally stand apart from the times he lived in and the..." Read more

"...These essays are the best in the genre , and definitely among Orwell's best essays...." Read more

"...Some of the essays were quite dull , however, But I enjoyed the ones on writing and how written English often moves toward obscurity...." Read more

"...This collection contains several classic essays -- "Shooting an Elephant", "Politics and the English Language", "Such, Such were the Joys"..." Read more

Customers are unhappy with the missing content in the book. They mention that over half of the content is missing, 33 pages are missing, and the Kindle edition has no table of contents. They also say that the book does not contain Bookshop Memories, a powerful piece about Orwell.

"...But it also is striking to me that this book does not contain Bookshop Memories , a very powerful piece about Orwell's experiences as a young..." Read more

"...forward to reading the most in this collection is missing over half of it's contents ." Read more

"The Kindle edition has no table of contents , and the essay titles do not match the essays of the print edition." Read more

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5.0 out of 5 stars The insights of a truly first-rate mind

5.0 out of 5 stars Orwell Was a Great Essayist, Too

4.0 out of 5 stars good stuff, mostly, top reviews from other countries, 5.0 out of 5 stars small but beautiful book, 1.0 out of 5 stars smalest book with tiny print., 4.0 out of 5 stars collection of his more famous essays..

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book

5.0 out of 5 stars いい本, report an issue.

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