A Patriot After All: 1940-1941

by George Orwell, Peter Hobley Davison (Editor), Ian Angus

For the twenty-month period of this volume, there are reproduced 123 book, 38 theatre, and 43 film reviews. Inside the Whale, Orwell's first collection of essays, and The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius are reprinted here. Later in that year he gave a series of broadcasts on literary criticism, the texts of which are reproduced. Throughout this period Orwell kept a wartime diary, printed chronologically with his reviews, essays, and letters, and it is here that Orwell makes the first reference to his wish to live on a Hebridean island. It was in 1941 that Orwell began his series of 'London Letters' for Partisan Review. The volume also includes Orwell's lecture notes for instructing members of his Home Guard platoon.

Genres: Essays

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Reviews

[Badger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is on-going. Almost a work of reference.

[Mary Ronan Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

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My review is on my blog:

http://maryslibrary.typepad.com/my_we...

[Vasil Kolev · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing here is clearly affected by the war, and there seems to be the recurring theme of the socialist revolution in Britain.