Fifty Essays

This outstanding collection brings together Orwell’s longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes Reflections on Gandhi, Decline of the English Murder, Shooting an Elephant and A Hanging.


With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from the moral enormity of Jonathan Swift’s strange genius and a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, a comic yet profound discussion of naughty sea-side picture postcards and a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose style, Orwell’s essays challenge, move and entertain.


Contents:


THE SPIKE (1931)
A HANGING (1931)
BOOKSHOP MEMORIES (1936)
SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT (1936)
DOWN THE MINE (1937) (FROM “THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER”)
NORTH AND SOUTH (1937) (FROM “THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER”)
SPILLING THE SPANISH BEANS (1937)
MARRAKECH (1939)
BOYS’ WEEKLIES AND FRANK RICHARDS’S REPLY (1940)
CHARLES DICKENS (1940)
CHARLES READE (1940)
INSIDE THE WHALE (1940)
THE ART OF DONALD MCGILL (1941)
THE LION AND THE UNICORN: SOCIALISM AND THE ENGLISH GENIUS (1941)
WELLS, HITLER AND THE WORLD STATE (1941)
LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH WAR (1942)
RUDYARD KIPLING (1942)
MARK TWAIN–THE LICENSED JESTER (1943)
POETRY AND THE MICROPHONE (1943)
W B YEATS (1943)
ARTHUR KOESTLER (1944)
BENEFIT OF CLERGY: SOME NOTES ON SALVADOR DALI (1944)
RAFFLES AND MISS BLANDISH (1944)
ANTISEMITISM IN BRITAIN (1945)
FREEDOM OF THE PARK (1945)
FUTURE OF A RUINED GERMANY (1945)
GOOD BAD BOOKS (1945)
IN DEFENCE OF P. G. WODEHOUSE (1945)
NONSENSE POETRY (1945)
NOTES ON NATIONALISM (1945)
REVENGE IS SOUR (1945)
THE SPORTING SPIRIT (1945)
YOU AND THE ATOMIC BOMB (1945)
A GOOD WORD FOR THE VICAR OF BRAY (1946)
A NICE CUP OF TEA (1946)
BOOKS VS. CIGARETTES (1946)
CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK REVIEWER (1946)
DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH MURDER (1946)
HOW THE POOR DIE (1946)
JAMES BURNHAM AND THE MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION (1946)
PLEASURE SPOTS (1946)
POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1946)
POLITICS VS. LITERATURE: AN EXAMINATION OF GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (1946)
RIDING DOWN FROM BANGOR (1946)
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE COMMON TOAD (1946)
THE PREVENTION OF LITERATURE (1946)
WHY I WRITE (1946)
LEAR, TOLSTOY AND THE FOOL (1947)
SUCH, SUCH WERE THE JOYS (1947)
WRITERS AND LEVIATHAN (1948)
REFLECTIONS ON GANDHI (1949)