Inside The Whale and Other Essays - First Edition

First edition, first impression, published by Victor Gollancz in 1940. A total of 1000 copies were printed for the first edition. No dust jacket. Original black cloth, covers marked, wear at the spine ends and corners, a small consolidating repair at the tail of the spine, secure binding, with a rolled spine, pages toned, a few faint spots to the prelims, plus a scuffed or feathered area to the free endpaper where a previous owners ink stamp has been erased. Good condition. Previous Peter Harrington bookseller slip with the book. Contains the essays Charles Dickens, Boys' Weeklies' and Inside The Whale. The title essay takes a look at literature in the 1930s political environment. Orwell initially reviews Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, praising the author's prose and ability to write about the everyday man, but notes that the book has a passive acceptance of the world as it is, at a time of growing totalitarianism. The title "Inside the Whale" comes from the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, and Orwell uses the term "getting inside the whale" to describe Miller's work. He later compares this with the work of prominent English poets of the time, who Orwell describes as "boy scouts", all with a similarly privileged, public school and university backgrounds, and who were sympathetic towards Soviet Communism in their writings. Ultimately Orwell examines how a writer can maintain intellectual honesty during a time of global catastrophe.…