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 20
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... George Packer • [>] The Spike •[>] Clink • [>] A Hanging• [>] Shooting an Elephant • [>] Bookshop Memories • [>] Marrakech • [>] My Country Right or Left • [>] War-time Diary • [>] England Your England • [>] Dear CONTENTS ...
... George Packer • [>] The Spike •[>] Clink • [>] A Hanging• [>] Shooting an Elephant • [>] Bookshop Memories • [>] Marrakech • [>] My Country Right or Left • [>] War-time Diary • [>] England Your England • [>] Dear CONTENTS ...
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... Spike," and before "The Spike" there were months spent incognito as a dishwasher and tramp. In "Why I Write" Orwell reports that he wanted to be a writer from "perhaps the age of five or six," but it was only in the hard, selfinflicted ...
... Spike," and before "The Spike" there were months spent incognito as a dishwasher and tramp. In "Why I Write" Orwell reports that he wanted to be a writer from "perhaps the age of five or six," but it was only in the hard, selfinflicted ...
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... Spike" was published under Orwell's real name, Eric A. Blair, and "Clink," an account of an attempt to get thrown in jail, was never published at all. These are pieces from his down-and-out period in the late twenties and early thirties ...
... Spike" was published under Orwell's real name, Eric A. Blair, and "Clink," an account of an attempt to get thrown in jail, was never published at all. These are pieces from his down-and-out period in the late twenties and early thirties ...
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... Spike," without explanation or context, in precise but unreflective description. Who is telling this story? Why is he one of "a party of men walking together" through a prison courtyard in Burma during the rainy season? What does he ...
... Spike," without explanation or context, in precise but unreflective description. Who is telling this story? Why is he one of "a party of men walking together" through a prison courtyard in Burma during the rainy season? What does he ...
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... Spike," the dead flies collecting on the tops of bookshop volumes, the dying elephant's blood flowing like "red velvet," the puddle in the prisoner's path. They are usually images of cruelty, squalor, or injustice (dirt and bad smells ...
... Spike," the dead flies collecting on the tops of bookshop volumes, the dying elephant's blood flowing like "red velvet," the puddle in the prisoner's path. They are usually images of cruelty, squalor, or injustice (dirt and bad smells ...
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