Why Orwell Matters

Hitchens, Christopher

ISBN 10: 0465030491 / ISBN 13: 9780465030491

Published by Basic Books, New York, 2002

Near Fine in a Near Fine jacket, unclipped ($24.00), toned at the spine, lightly rubbed at the top edge, soiled at the back panel. Quarter grey paper with lighter grey paper on the boards. Square and firmly bound, remainder mark on the bottom edge, clean internally. Hitchens's work that praises Orwell while discussing his life, work, and relevance to early 21st century readers. Seller Inventory # 9317

Synopsis:

Hitchens on Orwell:This is not a biography, but I sometimes feel as if George Orwell requires extricating from a pile of saccharine tablets and moist hankies; an object of sickly veneration and sentimental overpraise, employed to stultify schoolchildren with his insufferable rightness and purity. This kind of tribute is often of the Rochefoucauldian type; suggestive of the payoff made by vice to virtue, and also of the tricks played by an uneasy conscience.What [Orwell] illustrates, by his commitment to language as the partner of truth, is that "views" do not really count; that it matters not what you think, but how you think, and that politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring, as do the few irreducible individuals who maintain allegiance to them.Others on Hitchens:"I have been asked whether I wish to nominate a successor, an inheritor, a dauphin or delphino. I have decided to name Christopher Hitchens."-Gore Vidal"Christopher Hitchens's writing has sweep and flair. He is accurate where others are merely dutiful, unpredictable where the tendency is to go for the cliché. In short, brilliant."-Edward W. Said"May his targets cower." -Susan Sontag

About the Author: Christopher Hitchens is a popular columnist for Vanity Fair and The Nation. His books include Letters to a Young Contrarian, The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere, No One Left to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family, The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice, and For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Why Orwell Matters
Publisher: Basic Books, New York
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First Edition.