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George Orwell
Major English novelist. Key themes: totalitarianism and English working classes. Writings include: The Road to Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty Four. Volume covers the period 1933-1969.
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192 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 1975
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About the author
Jeffrey Meyers
111 books26 followersJeffrey Meyers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has recently been given an Award in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thirty of his books have been translated into fourteen languages and seven alphabets, and published on six continents. He lives in Berkeley, California.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 28, 2024
[Thames and Hudson] (1984). SB. Reprint. 192 Pages. Purchased from We Buy Books.
The author’s clumsy prose wouldn’t have met with Orwell’s approval. On pp. 70-71, for example, he rambles through a convoluted, 87 word sentence containing six commas and two semi colons.
He’s also prone to making strange, questionable observations…
“It is worth noticing… that three of his novels begin with a reference to time…” - It really isn’t, is it?
He goes on to draw a parallel between the opening of Franz Kafka’s “A Metamorphosis” (1915) - in which Gregor Samsa “…found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect…” - and that of “A Clergyman’s Daughter” (1935) - God save us.
“…their tameness, an attractive quality in wild animals, is…” - Eh?!
“Orwell did not have great powers of imagination and could write only about things he had actually observed…” - Wow… a rum indictment of the visionary genius who created “1984” (1949).
“All Orwell’s books are autobiographical…” - “Animal Farm” (1945)?
The Bibliography of Orwell’s Works is rather lacking in detail.
The list of Criticism is interesting.
Notes should be presented inline, not relegated to an annex.
The Index is muddled and gappy.
Meyers charges “The World of George Orwell” (1972) with a “…lack [of] originality and intellectual substance.” - the same could be said of this “Reader’s Guide”.
Looking forward, he pompously opines that his own “Orwell: The Critical Heritage” (1975), “should make… [an] important contribution… to Orwell scholarship.”
The author’s clumsy prose wouldn’t have met with Orwell’s approval. On pp. 70-71, for example, he rambles through a convoluted, 87 word sentence containing six commas and two semi colons.
He’s also prone to making strange, questionable observations…
“It is worth noticing… that three of his novels begin with a reference to time…” - It really isn’t, is it?
He goes on to draw a parallel between the opening of Franz Kafka’s “A Metamorphosis” (1915) - in which Gregor Samsa “…found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect…” - and that of “A Clergyman’s Daughter” (1935) - God save us.
“…their tameness, an attractive quality in wild animals, is…” - Eh?!
“Orwell did not have great powers of imagination and could write only about things he had actually observed…” - Wow… a rum indictment of the visionary genius who created “1984” (1949).
“All Orwell’s books are autobiographical…” - “Animal Farm” (1945)?
The Bibliography of Orwell’s Works is rather lacking in detail.
The list of Criticism is interesting.
Notes should be presented inline, not relegated to an annex.
The Index is muddled and gappy.
Meyers charges “The World of George Orwell” (1972) with a “…lack [of] originality and intellectual substance.” - the same could be said of this “Reader’s Guide”.
Looking forward, he pompously opines that his own “Orwell: The Critical Heritage” (1975), “should make… [an] important contribution… to Orwell scholarship.”
Displaying 1 of 1 review