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Title: Essays by George Orwell, John Carey ISBN: 0375415033 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6
Rating: 3
Summary: Great essayist...poorly laid-out edition
Comment: These three stars don't reflect my opinion of Orwell as an essayist. Anyone who has read Orwell's non-fiction knows that he is one of this century's greatest journalists/essayists. The poor rating targets the layout of the volume.
It's an insult to a writer of Orwell's stature to have put together such an extensive volume (1,424 pages!) of his best work so amaturishly. There's no index, no notes section and no specification of which essay you're on at the head of the page. The table of contents is practially useless, as most of the essays are numbered.
Physically, the book is beautiful: a matte cover, with a great portrait of Orwell, cream-wove paper, sewn binding and a sewn in bookmark. But it is in no way user friendly. If you're looking to dive into Orwell's essays and journalism check out the David R. Godine editions.
Rating: 5
Summary: Orwell after 9/11
Comment: George Orwell's essays are as relevant today as when he wrote them, and since 9/11 have gained even more in relevance. Anyone who wants to understand the modern world, needs to read Orwell, more than his fiction especially his essays.
He was a progressive analyst who wrote astutely and forcefully about a host of fundamental social issues, such as the effects of colonialism in colonial and European societies before World War II. As one of the greatest stylists in the English language, he wields an incisive language like a knife that cuts to the truth. Unlike many, especially modern, leftists, he has little use for social theory or dogma. Instead, he writes with almost unparallel clarity about events that are his personal experiences.
Although I have not had the opportunity to look through this particular edition of Orwell's essays, I don't think that it matters. I enthusiastically recommend Orwell in any shape or form.
Rating: 5
Summary: Majestic
Comment: Building on the new 20 volume Complete Orwell (unaccountably still not available in an American edition), Everyman's Library does Orwell proud with this book, certainly the best single-volume collection of Orwell ever. Not only does it contain all of the major essays and many lesser pieces, it presents all 80 of Orwell's wonderful "As I Please" columns written for "Tribune."
Orwell's range and talent are ably displayed here, from his literary essays, his writings on politics, autobiographical writings (including the harrowing "Such, Such Were the Joys" about his youth spent in a third-rate boarding school), his musings on popular culture ("Boy's Weeklies" and "The Art of Donald McGill" are classics of the genre), and his lighter works (Orwell writes, for example, on how to make the perfect cup of [strong] tea and what his version of the perfect public house would be).
Reading this book should also prove a useful antidote for those who have been convinced by the usupation of Orwell by certain right-wing writers that Orwell really was a conservative of some sort. While Orwell deeply loved traditional values and firmly opposed Soviet communism, his hatred of imperialism, capitalism, fascism, the class system and mindless wealth are marked and consistent throughout and we can be assured that he would have written harshly of Margaret Thatcher had he lived long enough to see that era.
John Carey contributes a useful introduction; the book includes a good bibliography and a very helpful timeline of Orwell's life correlated to the literary and historical happenings of the era. Like another reviewer here, I miss an index, and running titles at the tops of the pages; I also dislike the way Orwell's footnotes have been shoved rather arbitrarily to the back of the book. Those are minor quibbles; this is a magnificent volume, the perfect gift for anyone who loves Orwell (especially for American readers who haven't had the chance to buy the Complete Orwell yet) and a timely reminder that liberal values can also be decent, patriotic, and honorable values.
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Title: Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens ISBN: 0465030491 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell ISBN: 0156421178 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1969 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell ISBN: 015626224X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: March, 1972 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters (Everyman's Library, 259) by Michel De Montaigne, Donald M. Frame, Stuart Hampshire, Michel De Montaigne ISBN: 1400040213 Publisher: Everymans Library Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: 1984 by George Orwell, Erich Fromm ISBN: 0451524934 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: May, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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