Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative EssaysEssays by the author of 1984 on topics from “remembrances of working in a bookshop [to] recollections of fighting in the Spanish Civil War” (Publishers Weekly). George Orwell was first and foremost an essayist, producing throughout his life an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that reflected—and illuminated—the fraught times in which he lived. “As soon as he began to write something,” comments George Packer in his foreword, “it was as natural for Orwell to propose, generalize, qualify, argue, judge—in short, to think—as it was for Yeats to versify or Dickens to invent.” Facing Unpleasant Facts charts Orwell’s development as a master of the narrative-essay form and unites such classics as “Shooting an Elephant” with lesser-known journalism and passages from his wartime diary. Whether detailing the horrors of Orwell’s boyhood in an English boarding school or bringing to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the Spanish Civil War, these essays weave together the personal and the political in an unmistakable style that is at once plainspoken and brilliantly complex. “Best known for his late-career classics Animal Farm and 1984, George Orwell—who used his given name, Eric Blair, in the earliest pieces of this collection aimed at the aficionado as well as the general reader—was above all a polemicist of the first rank. Organized chronologically, from 1931 through the late 1940s, these in-your-face writings showcase the power of this literary form.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 45
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... believe that it is moving to me, as an incident characteristic of the moral atmosphere of a particular moment in time." And another version follows the scene of bedwetting and punishment that opens his memoir of his schooldays, "Such ...
... believe that it is moving to me, as an incident characteristic of the moral atmosphere of a particular moment in time." And another version follows the scene of bedwetting and punishment that opens his memoir of his schooldays, "Such ...
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... believe they could not face their existence. After breakfast we had to undress again for the medical inspection, which is a precaution against smallpox. It was threequarters of an hour before the doctor arrived, and one had time now to ...
... believe they could not face their existence. After breakfast we had to undress again for the medical inspection, which is a precaution against smallpox. It was threequarters of an hour before the doctor arrived, and one had time now to ...
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... believe, should have been in hospital. This being Sunday, we were to be kept in the spike over the week-end. As soon as the doctor had gone we were herded back to the dining room, and its door shut upon us. It was a lime-washed, stone ...
... believe, should have been in hospital. This being Sunday, we were to be kept in the spike over the week-end. As soon as the doctor had gone we were herded back to the dining room, and its door shut upon us. It was a lime-washed, stone ...
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... believe, owing to the kindness of the sergeant's wife, for I think only bread and marg. is provided for prisoners in the lockup. I was not allowed to shave, and there was only a little cold water to wash in. When the charge sheet was ...
... believe, owing to the kindness of the sergeant's wife, for I think only bread and marg. is provided for prisoners in the lockup. I was not allowed to shave, and there was only a little cold water to wash in. When the charge sheet was ...
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... believe, symptomatic of the dwindling power of the law compared with that of the capitalist. They kept us waiting several hours. It was very uncomfortable in the cell, for there was not room for all of us to sit down on the plank bed ...
... believe, symptomatic of the dwindling power of the law compared with that of the capitalist. They kept us waiting several hours. It was very uncomfortable in the cell, for there was not room for all of us to sit down on the plank bed ...
Contents
Section 25 | |
Section 26 | |
Section 27 | |
Section 28 | |
Section 29 | |
Section 30 | |
Section 31 | |
Section 32 | |
Section 17 | |
Section 18 | |
Section 19 | |
Section 20 | |
Section 21 | |
Section 22 | |
Section 23 | |
Section 24 | |
Section 33 | |
Section 34 | |
Section 35 | |
Section 36 | |
Section 37 | |
Section 38 | |
Section 39 | |
Section 40 | |
Section 41 | |
Section 42 | |
Section 43 | |
Section 44 | |
Section 45 | |
Section 46 | |
Section 47 | |
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Common terms and phrases
actually American appeared army believe better bombs British called child comes course doubt early elephant England English essays exist eyes face fact feeling fight fire five force French German give half hand happened hundred instance interest Italy killed kind later less live London look March matter means memory merely mind morning natural never night notice once one's Orwell Orwell's party past perhaps person political possible prison probably question raids reason remember round ruling Russian Sambo seemed side simply sort sound Spain Spanish stories suppose taken talk tell thing thought took tramps true turned usual week whole writing