The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell - Softcover

Orwell, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567921361 ISBN 13: 9781567921366

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2002

Synopsis

Essays, journalism and essays by the brilliant, indispensable George Orwell from 1945 to 1950. Even many decades after his death, the more we read of Orwell, the more clearly we can think about our world and ourselves.

In the years following the end of the Second World War, Orwell published many of his greatest essays: “You and the Atomic Bomb”, “Politics and the English Language,” “The Prevention of Literature,” and “Why I Write.” All these, and more, are included here―along with correspondence and other pieces that provide fascinating insight into his dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, newspeak, memory hole―all invented by Orwell to describe the workings of a totalitarian state. Orwell wrote his greatest novel while suffering from tuberculous and he died the year after its publication in 1950. This is collection of writing, however, creates the astonishing record of an imperishable mind.

This fourth volume of the Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters by George Orwell will be enjoyed by anyone who believes that words can go a long way toward changing the world.

About this title

About the Authors

George Orwell is widely considered one of the greatest writers of the past century. Although his novels 1984 and Animal Farm are now the most widely-read of his works, Orwell was primarily a nonfiction writer. The occasionally radical political content in his essays, memoirs, and journalistic works brought him some censure during his life, but they now make up one of the most celebrated bodies of work in the English language.

Sonia Brownell Orwell, as a young woman, was responsible for transcribing and editing the copy text for the first edition of the Winchester Malory as assistant to the eminent medievalist at Manchester University, Eugene Vinaver. Brownell first met Orwell when she worked as the assistant to Cyril Connolly, a friend of his from Eton College, at the literary magazine Horizon. The two were married in October 1949, only three months before Orwell’s death from tuberculosis.

Ian Angus, a widely recognized Orwell scholar for decades, helped establish the Orwell Archive at University College, London and, in 1968, worked with Sonia Orwell in editing Orwell's Collected Journalism, Essays and Letters published by Secker & Warburg in England.

From the Back Cover

Considering that much of his life was spent in poverty and ill health, it is something of a miracle that in only forty-six years George Orwell managed to publish ten books and two collections of essays. Here, in four fat volumes, is the best selection of his non-fiction available, a trove of letters, essays, reviews, and journalism that is breathtaking in its scope and eclectic passions. Orwell had something to say about just about everyone and everything. His letters to such luminaries as Julian Symons, Anthony Powell, Arthur Koestler, and Cyril Connolly are poignant and personal. His essays, covering everything from "English Cooking" to "Literature and Totalitarianism," are memorable, and his books reviews (Hitler's Mein Kampf, Mumford's Herman Melville, Miller's Black Spring, Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield, to name just a few) are among the most lucid and intelligent ever written. From 1943 to 1945, he wrote a regular column for the Tribune, a left wing weekly, entitled "As I Please." His observations about life in Britain during the war embraced everything from anti-American sentiment to the history of domestic appliances.

Reviews

Though his life was brief (1903-1950), Orwell was extremely prolific. In addition to penning two of the last century's greatest novels, he wrote reams of essays, journalistic pieces, and letters. Covering a 30-year period, this extensive four-volume set, originally published in 1968, collects the best of his nonfiction. Each volume is divided by year and intermixes his correspondence with news stories and discourses on numerous subjects. There is far more to Orwell than Animal Farm and 1984, and this beautiful collection reveals what a true intellect he was. Though probably more for academics, the books are priced reasonably enough for public library consideration.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1567921361
• ISBN 13: 9781567921366
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 555
• Editor: Orwell Sonia, Angus Ian