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Decline Of The English Murder and Other Essays
In these timeless and witty essays George Orwell explores the English love of reading about a good murder in the papers (and lament the passing of the heyday of the 'perfect' murder involving class, sex and poisoning), as well as unfolding his trenchant views on everything from boys' weeklies and naughty seaside postcards to being arrested in East End.
188 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 1946
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About the author
George Orwell
1,258 books50.5k followersEric 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.
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.
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September 14, 2017
A collection of 8 essays, written between 1932-1946.
George Orwell lashes out at topics as different as Boy´s Weeklies, Girl´s Weeklies, “funny postcards”, Ladies´ Magazines, “junk antiquities” and what he describes as “good bad books”.
Being socialist to the core, and nevertheless bitten by the British bug, he shares his thoughts on the quality of the entertainment offered to the less educated masses.
This also includes the "Decline of the English Murder", a form of entertainment that really went downhill after Jack the Ripper and a few other killings that got attention in the media and was the talk of town for decades.
Ordinary domestic homicides are simply put booooring to the public.
While it is of some importance to uphold a certain level of public moral, a little dreaming won´t hurt anyone. However, the absence of real world problems in the popular magazines does bother him; way too much “poor girl meets poor, but hardworking and honest, boy” and too much “boys will be boys anecdotes” in the Boy´s Weeklies. All, seemingly, aimed at keeping the working class in its proper place.
With a few exceptions, there are no climbing the social ladder, and the figures find themselves at peace in their environment, sex does not exist, drinking and smoking are bad manners, there are no unions and strikes never take place.
Orwell is not attempting any social revolt, he merely argues that while “society” allows all the crappy magazines to be published, you should put more reality into the stories.
The first and the last essays in the collection are far more interesting.
As a field study, Orwell does his utmost to get arrested for public drunkenness in order to see a jail from the inside. Regrettably, this experience turns out to be less intimidating than expected, and results only in a reprimand and a serious hangover.
In “A Hop-Picking Diary”, Orwell is on the road with a bunch of tramps, looking for seasonal jobs. After some searching, he ends up at a hop farm in the company of other wayfaring men and spends 3 weeks picking hops at a lousy pay, and constantly hungry as the pay hardly is enough to keep the stomach full.
These two experiences resonate with Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
George Orwell lashes out at topics as different as Boy´s Weeklies, Girl´s Weeklies, “funny postcards”, Ladies´ Magazines, “junk antiquities” and what he describes as “good bad books”.
Being socialist to the core, and nevertheless bitten by the British bug, he shares his thoughts on the quality of the entertainment offered to the less educated masses.
This also includes the "Decline of the English Murder", a form of entertainment that really went downhill after Jack the Ripper and a few other killings that got attention in the media and was the talk of town for decades.
Ordinary domestic homicides are simply put booooring to the public.
While it is of some importance to uphold a certain level of public moral, a little dreaming won´t hurt anyone. However, the absence of real world problems in the popular magazines does bother him; way too much “poor girl meets poor, but hardworking and honest, boy” and too much “boys will be boys anecdotes” in the Boy´s Weeklies. All, seemingly, aimed at keeping the working class in its proper place.
With a few exceptions, there are no climbing the social ladder, and the figures find themselves at peace in their environment, sex does not exist, drinking and smoking are bad manners, there are no unions and strikes never take place.
Orwell is not attempting any social revolt, he merely argues that while “society” allows all the crappy magazines to be published, you should put more reality into the stories.
The first and the last essays in the collection are far more interesting.
As a field study, Orwell does his utmost to get arrested for public drunkenness in order to see a jail from the inside. Regrettably, this experience turns out to be less intimidating than expected, and results only in a reprimand and a serious hangover.
In “A Hop-Picking Diary”, Orwell is on the road with a bunch of tramps, looking for seasonal jobs. After some searching, he ends up at a hop farm in the company of other wayfaring men and spends 3 weeks picking hops at a lousy pay, and constantly hungry as the pay hardly is enough to keep the stomach full.
These two experiences resonate with Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
June 28, 2017
I love George Orwell. He is witty, clear, engaged (in the french sense of engagé). Reading him is always so easy and always such a great pleasure.
Decline of the English Murder is, like Books v. Cigarettes, a collection of articles Orwell wrote to several magazines. They are alike. They are both about Orwell's personal experiences. The difference here is that while Books v. Cigarettes relied more on Orwell's opinions, these rely more on Orwell's first hand experiences, that is, situations he purposely placed himself in. He subjects himself to being arrested so he can see what it's like to be in prison. He lives on the streets for several weeks in order to experience life as a"tramp" who picks up seasonal jobs such as hop picking. I know that there's an ongoing debate about the veracity of Orwell's "first-hand" accounts. But one gets the feeling that some of it, at least, has to be true. An online article written by an expert on Orwell states that the account in prison is quite accurate. I d'guess the same can be said for his article on Hop picking.
The lesson here is that Orwell is a wonderful writer and his articles are as worth reading as his fiction.
Decline of the English Murder is, like Books v. Cigarettes, a collection of articles Orwell wrote to several magazines. They are alike. They are both about Orwell's personal experiences. The difference here is that while Books v. Cigarettes relied more on Orwell's opinions, these rely more on Orwell's first hand experiences, that is, situations he purposely placed himself in. He subjects himself to being arrested so he can see what it's like to be in prison. He lives on the streets for several weeks in order to experience life as a"tramp" who picks up seasonal jobs such as hop picking. I know that there's an ongoing debate about the veracity of Orwell's "first-hand" accounts. But one gets the feeling that some of it, at least, has to be true. An online article written by an expert on Orwell states that the account in prison is quite accurate. I d'guess the same can be said for his article on Hop picking.
The lesson here is that Orwell is a wonderful writer and his articles are as worth reading as his fiction.
March 5, 2021
Essays—
Clink
Decline of the English Murder
Just Junk — But Who Could Resist it?
Good Bad Books
Boys' Weeklies
Women's Twopenny Papers
The Art of Donald McGill
Hop-Picking Diary
"During the last few years the junk shop has been the only place where you could buy certain carpentering tools – a jack plane for instance – or such useful objects as corkscrews, clock keys, skates, wine glasses, copper saucepans, and spare pram wheels. In some shops you can find keys to fit almost any lock, others specialise in pictures and are therefore useful when you need a frame. Indeed, I have often found that the cheapest way of buying a frame is to buy a picture and then throw away the picture. But the attraction of the junk shop does not lie solely in the bargains you pick up, nor even in the aesthetic value which – at a generous estimate – 5 per cent of its contents may possess. Its appeal is to the jackdaw inside all of us, the instinct that makes a child hoard copper nails, clock springs, and the glass marbles out of lemonade bottles. To get pleasure out of a junk shop you are not obliged to buy anything, nor even to want to buy anything."
August 26, 2018
I was attracted to this collection of essays mainly by the prospect of Orwell turning his hand to analysis of the detective novel, but I have to say that brief essay (and the one on Rudyard Kipling) was weak in this otherwise excellent collection. He didn't have much original to say about the English murder, and I was not interested in his thoughts (or anyone's particularly) on Kipling. But his description of a hanging in Burma, what a plonker Salvador Dali is, a poor ward in Paris, his critique of Dickens, the meaning of the English dirty postcard, the dangers of nationalism and anyone's motives for writing were top rate and still relevant today.
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Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X - and receive my monthly newsletter with book recommendations galore for the Japanophile, crime-fiction-lover in all of us.
June 16, 2014
Of the four Penguin Great Ideas paperbacks published with George Orwell’s essays, Decline of the English Murder is by far the weakest collection.
If you scan the contents page, you’ll notice that a number of the essays here don’t make it into the larger essay collections and there’s a good reason for that: they’re not very good.
The title essay is a smarmy look at what elements Orwell believes would make for the ideal reading matter for newspaper audiences obsessed with crime - sex, death, money - that isn’t particularly interesting or clever.
Other dull subjects include Orwell’s love of junk shops in Just Junk - But Who Could Resist?, and the guilty pleasure of reading trashy books in Good Bad Books. And while he’s right that Uncle Tom’s Cabin (an atrociously written novel that has nevertheless remained in print since it was first published) would outlive George Moore’s work for being more memorable and powerful despite its artlessness, he was wrong that Virginia Woolf would disappear too.
Orwell returns to the subject that made his name, the poor, in two essays, Clink and Hop-Picking Diary, both of them revealing that Orwell’s slumming was done purely for his writing, not because he couldn’t avoid these degrading circumstances.
In Clink he gets himself arrested for no reason and writes about his time in the drunk tank for a couple days, alongside people for whom this wasn’t a respite they could call up mummy and daddy and escape from.
Hop-Picking Diary is essentially a b-side to Down and Out in Paris and London as Orwell joins tramps as they go fruit and hop-picking in the countryside and we get a glimpse into the harsh conditions that were, bizarrely, considered a holiday for the poor of London as well as immigrants and gypsies.
While these essays were dull and contained only a smattering of Orwell’s famed insight, what really irked me were the essays on Boys’ Weeklies and The Art of Donald McGill.
In Boys’ Weeklies, Orwell takes nearly 40 pages(!!) to say that he believes publications for children are intended to maintain the status quo and keep the poor from rising up. He spends the rest of the 30 odd pages tediously pointing out that these publications - like Gem and Magnet - use outdated references in their stories though it’s an ironic observation as these magazines have been out of print for decades, making his own essay’s references outdated as a result.
Women’s Twopenny Papers is an addendum to Boys’ Weeklies that says the same thing applies to women’s magazines.
The Art of Donald McGill is a humourless look at raunchy postcards from Britain’s beaches, written is such a strangely disdainful way that it’s unclear whether he’s for them or not. And why did he feel the need to intellectualise such a trivial subject?! Dumb postcards = a profound study into society? Nope!
A lot of Orwell’s work - fiction and non-fiction - is worth reading, like the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, and a good selection of his essays too, which can be found in the collections Books v. cigarettes, and Some Thoughts on the Common Toad or even the larger books simply titled Essays; Decline of the English Murder contains his most forgettable and least remarkable pieces that aren’t worth reading as they add little to the Orwell canon that hasn’t already been written better elsewhere.
If you scan the contents page, you’ll notice that a number of the essays here don’t make it into the larger essay collections and there’s a good reason for that: they’re not very good.
The title essay is a smarmy look at what elements Orwell believes would make for the ideal reading matter for newspaper audiences obsessed with crime - sex, death, money - that isn’t particularly interesting or clever.
Other dull subjects include Orwell’s love of junk shops in Just Junk - But Who Could Resist?, and the guilty pleasure of reading trashy books in Good Bad Books. And while he’s right that Uncle Tom’s Cabin (an atrociously written novel that has nevertheless remained in print since it was first published) would outlive George Moore’s work for being more memorable and powerful despite its artlessness, he was wrong that Virginia Woolf would disappear too.
Orwell returns to the subject that made his name, the poor, in two essays, Clink and Hop-Picking Diary, both of them revealing that Orwell’s slumming was done purely for his writing, not because he couldn’t avoid these degrading circumstances.
In Clink he gets himself arrested for no reason and writes about his time in the drunk tank for a couple days, alongside people for whom this wasn’t a respite they could call up mummy and daddy and escape from.
Hop-Picking Diary is essentially a b-side to Down and Out in Paris and London as Orwell joins tramps as they go fruit and hop-picking in the countryside and we get a glimpse into the harsh conditions that were, bizarrely, considered a holiday for the poor of London as well as immigrants and gypsies.
While these essays were dull and contained only a smattering of Orwell’s famed insight, what really irked me were the essays on Boys’ Weeklies and The Art of Donald McGill.
In Boys’ Weeklies, Orwell takes nearly 40 pages(!!) to say that he believes publications for children are intended to maintain the status quo and keep the poor from rising up. He spends the rest of the 30 odd pages tediously pointing out that these publications - like Gem and Magnet - use outdated references in their stories though it’s an ironic observation as these magazines have been out of print for decades, making his own essay’s references outdated as a result.
Women’s Twopenny Papers is an addendum to Boys’ Weeklies that says the same thing applies to women’s magazines.
The Art of Donald McGill is a humourless look at raunchy postcards from Britain’s beaches, written is such a strangely disdainful way that it’s unclear whether he’s for them or not. And why did he feel the need to intellectualise such a trivial subject?! Dumb postcards = a profound study into society? Nope!
A lot of Orwell’s work - fiction and non-fiction - is worth reading, like the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, and a good selection of his essays too, which can be found in the collections Books v. cigarettes, and Some Thoughts on the Common Toad or even the larger books simply titled Essays; Decline of the English Murder contains his most forgettable and least remarkable pieces that aren’t worth reading as they add little to the Orwell canon that hasn’t already been written better elsewhere.
April 23, 2020
I loved this a lot. I begin to wonder if it may always be the best way to start off reading some essays/ non-fictions works of an author BEFORE diving into his fiction novels. I mean, I appreciate George Orwell (Eric Blair, whatever) so much and I'm convinced that we would have been best buddies. I'm not kidding you, I agree with his core beliefs and his sass is just exactly my cup of tea. The fact that this collection of essays finished off with him listing words he learned whilst hop-picking with a bunch of gypsies and criminals was just perfection and had me giggling because that's so me. I love learning new words and their meaning. George, I love you.
So what did we get in this one...
- Clink: the story about how George ended intentionally in custody for 48 hours; this essay had the best introduction to a story which I have read in a long ass time, it goes as follows:
"This trip was a failure, as the object of it was to get into prison, and I did not, in fact, get more than forty-eight hours in custody; however, I am recording it, as the procedure in the police court etc. was fairly interesting."
- Decline of the English Murder: A short analysis as of why the bloody, by the public much appreciated murders of the Elizabethan Era (you guessed right, Jack the Ripper!) are decreasing in their number and why the English can't seem to get murder right in the 1930s
- Just Junk - But Who Could Resist it?: A timeless tale about junk shops and their appeal. Why we love to find little treasures in a pile of junk and why junk shops will (hopefully) never get out of style.
- Good Bad Books: Orwell doesn't seem to mind trash talking certain authors and I loved him for it. We all know these books that are actually not really good (basic language and plot) but nonetheless they lure us in and have high entertainment value. Surprisingly (at least for me), Orwell counts Doyle's Sherlock stories as one of them. Very amusing.
- Boys' Weeklies: A very interesting analysis on the literature English boys are reading (and being influenced by) in the first half of the 20th century, how these papers are mostly read by the lower classes to keep the wishful ideal of having a posh life someday. Those Weeklies set unrealistic standarts, are rigorously blind to the important subject of sex (homosexuality, masturbation etc.) with which boys that age (12 -17) are dealing with. Orwell also analyses the language in a very interesting manner, exposing tautologies and repetitivenesses. A small excourse into Women's Weeklies and the possibility of a left-wing Weekly for boys as well.
- Women's Twopenny Papers: Orwell's response to a letter he received from a woman (who had read Boys' Weeklies) and claimed that Women's papers are realistic as they portray unemployment etc. Orwell still disagrees and sticks with his original thesis.
- The Art of Donald McGill: An analysis of McGill's postcards and why vulgar sex jokes are no longer suitable for certain newspapers and have to find their niche market in postcards.
- Hop-Picking Diary: From 25.08. - 08.10.1931 Orwell lived down and out in London and wrote down his experiences.
I loved every single essay and appreciated the insight it gave me into Orwell's researches for Down and Out in Paris and London, a novel which I have yet to read (I can't wait!).
My favorite quotes:
George being frustrated about the mindlessness of these Boys' Weeklies: "No suggestion anywhere that there can anything be wrong with the system AS A SYSTEM."
George about why pornographic/ vulgar jokes are possible in radio and not in newspapers:
"In England the gap of what can be said and what can be printed is rather exceptionally wide."
"Leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time."
George about his hop-picking friend Ginger: "Except when in prison, he has broken the law every day for the last five years." - I thought that was just too funny not to mention.
"...and the Tramp got angry when we asked in good faith whether the stuff they gave us to drink was tea or cocoa." [Orwell's footnote: To this day I don't know which it was.] - SASS LEVEL 100
So what did we get in this one...
- Clink: the story about how George ended intentionally in custody for 48 hours; this essay had the best introduction to a story which I have read in a long ass time, it goes as follows:
"This trip was a failure, as the object of it was to get into prison, and I did not, in fact, get more than forty-eight hours in custody; however, I am recording it, as the procedure in the police court etc. was fairly interesting."
- Decline of the English Murder: A short analysis as of why the bloody, by the public much appreciated murders of the Elizabethan Era (you guessed right, Jack the Ripper!) are decreasing in their number and why the English can't seem to get murder right in the 1930s
- Just Junk - But Who Could Resist it?: A timeless tale about junk shops and their appeal. Why we love to find little treasures in a pile of junk and why junk shops will (hopefully) never get out of style.
- Good Bad Books: Orwell doesn't seem to mind trash talking certain authors and I loved him for it. We all know these books that are actually not really good (basic language and plot) but nonetheless they lure us in and have high entertainment value. Surprisingly (at least for me), Orwell counts Doyle's Sherlock stories as one of them. Very amusing.
- Boys' Weeklies: A very interesting analysis on the literature English boys are reading (and being influenced by) in the first half of the 20th century, how these papers are mostly read by the lower classes to keep the wishful ideal of having a posh life someday. Those Weeklies set unrealistic standarts, are rigorously blind to the important subject of sex (homosexuality, masturbation etc.) with which boys that age (12 -17) are dealing with. Orwell also analyses the language in a very interesting manner, exposing tautologies and repetitivenesses. A small excourse into Women's Weeklies and the possibility of a left-wing Weekly for boys as well.
- Women's Twopenny Papers: Orwell's response to a letter he received from a woman (who had read Boys' Weeklies) and claimed that Women's papers are realistic as they portray unemployment etc. Orwell still disagrees and sticks with his original thesis.
- The Art of Donald McGill: An analysis of McGill's postcards and why vulgar sex jokes are no longer suitable for certain newspapers and have to find their niche market in postcards.
- Hop-Picking Diary: From 25.08. - 08.10.1931 Orwell lived down and out in London and wrote down his experiences.
I loved every single essay and appreciated the insight it gave me into Orwell's researches for Down and Out in Paris and London, a novel which I have yet to read (I can't wait!).
My favorite quotes:
George being frustrated about the mindlessness of these Boys' Weeklies: "No suggestion anywhere that there can anything be wrong with the system AS A SYSTEM."
George about why pornographic/ vulgar jokes are possible in radio and not in newspapers:
"In England the gap of what can be said and what can be printed is rather exceptionally wide."
"Leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time."
George about his hop-picking friend Ginger: "Except when in prison, he has broken the law every day for the last five years." - I thought that was just too funny not to mention.
"...and the Tramp got angry when we asked in good faith whether the stuff they gave us to drink was tea or cocoa." [Orwell's footnote: To this day I don't know which it was.] - SASS LEVEL 100
June 11, 2025
I found a penguin paperback copy of Decline of the English Murder in a second-hand book sale and could not resist the title. The previous collections of Orwell's essays I've read (Why I Write and Books v. Cigarettes) were brilliant, so I didn't even read the blurb, making the essay topics a pleasant surprise. They were initially published between 1931 and 1947, most during the Second World War. We begin with some short, bleak observational pieces on social topics. Orwell's stay at a terrible Parisian hospital in 1929 is chronicled under the title 'How the poor die', with details worthy of Zola. From there we proceed into the main body of the collection, which is literary criticism. Because Orwell was an astute and witty political commentator, this is just as interesting for what it says about when he was writing as the literature discussed. On Kipling, published in 1942:
I particularly enjoyed Orwell's analysis of how social change could be illustrated by contrasting newer and older 'glamorised crime' novels. Given the ongoing (and to me tedious) preponderance of such fiction, I really hope someone has taken up Orwell's mantle and is dissecting what they can tell us about the ongoing evolution of social mores. Here, the points of comparison are Raffles (whose absurd shenanigans I enjoyed) and No Orchids for Miss Blandish (which I haven't read). The former stories are Edwardian in timing and sensibility, firmly prior to the First World War. The latter was published in 1939 and is apparently vastly more brutal and cynical, as well as shifting the focal protagonist:
This essay concludes with the somewhat provocative point that, 'one is driven to feel that snobbishness, like hypocrisy, is a check upon behaviour whose value from a social point of view has been underrated'. I can imagine why this point carried weight in 1944, while being much less convinced of it in 2025. In the past 80 years, snobbishness and hypocrisy have become so much more tightly entangled with wealth accumulation that they no longer act as much of a check on behaviour. I think the British monarchy could serve as an interesting case study for this.
The longest essay in the collection is 61 pages on the work of Charles Dickens, a novelist I've always been somewhat ambivalent about. I prefer nineteenth century French literature to English for the most part; in my view Dickens is nothing like as high quality as Zola, Balzac, and Hugo novels of the same era. Orwell's analysis is illuminating as to his strengths and weaknesses:
This extended essay covers a great deal more ground, including Dickens' personal horror of poverty (having experienced it), ideas about an ideal lifestyle, and why we should care about his writing. His novels have indeed remained famous and much-loved for more than eighty years since Orwell's essay was published, so the commentary remains compelling and thought-provoking.
After Dickens, the essay topics shift more directly into politics. The highlight of the whole book for me, thanks to its depressingly immediate relevance to the present day, is 'Notes on Nationalism'. This was first published in 1945, a time when the subject was perhaps more important than before or since. In 24 pages Orwell cannot delve deeply into why nationalism became such a destructive global force. Instead he outlines a detailed definition and typology of specifically English nationalism, illustrated by a variety of contemporary examples. His typology is a fascinating snapshot of the time, demonstrating how political ideologies have transformed in the decades since. The definition, however, remains strikingly relevant:
I appreciated Orwell's qualification that the term is flawed but the best available, as he folds within it 'such movements and tendencies as Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, anti-Semitism, Trotskyism, and Pacifism'. He lists the main characteristics of nationalist thought as obsession, instability, and indifference to reality. These are certainly much in evidence in right-wing British nationalist politics, where 'woke' is some kind of evil talisman, there is constant defection to and from Nigel Farage's latest vanity project Reform, and factual information (for example on how brexit has damaged the economy) is simply ignored. These observations are more true than ever in an age where a huge amount of politics takes place via social media:
I was particularly chilled by this paragraph near the end of the essay, considering the atrocious actions of the second Trump administration so far:
Orwell was writing in 1945, facing the end of the most destructive war in world history. He argues that nationalistic tendencies reside in most of us and that we need to struggle against them by recognising our own biases, emotional responses, and gaps in knowledge, in a form of 'moral effort'. As he puts it, 'the emotional urges which are inescapable, and are perhaps even necessary to political action, should be able to exist side by side with an acceptance of reality.' It seems to me that the speed, brevity, and algorithmic influence on political discourse in the 21st century has added to the difficulty of this. Yet it's more necessary than ever to recognise the destructiveness of nationalism, in Britain and across the world. Even if you have no inclination to read the rest of this excellent collection, I highly recommend 'Notes on Nationalism' which you can find here.
Much of Kipling's phraseology is taken from the Bible, and no doubt in the second stanza he had in mind the text from Psalm cxxvii: 'Except the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'. It is not a text that makes much impression on the post-Hitler mind. No one, in our time, believes in any sanction greater than military power; no one believes that it is possible to overcome except by greater force. There is no 'Law', there is only power. I am not saying that this is a true belief, merely that it is the belief that all modern men do actually hold. Those who pretend otherwise are either intellectual cowards, or power-worshippers under a thin disguise, or have simply not caught up with the age they are living in. Kipling's outlook is pre-fascist. He still believes that pride comes before a fall and that the gods punish hubris. He does not foresee the tank, the bombing plane, the radio and the secret police, or their psychological results.
I particularly enjoyed Orwell's analysis of how social change could be illustrated by contrasting newer and older 'glamorised crime' novels. Given the ongoing (and to me tedious) preponderance of such fiction, I really hope someone has taken up Orwell's mantle and is dissecting what they can tell us about the ongoing evolution of social mores. Here, the points of comparison are Raffles (whose absurd shenanigans I enjoyed) and No Orchids for Miss Blandish (which I haven't read). The former stories are Edwardian in timing and sensibility, firmly prior to the First World War. The latter was published in 1939 and is apparently vastly more brutal and cynical, as well as shifting the focal protagonist:
The Raffles stories, written from the angle of criminal, are much less anti-social than many modern stories written from the angle of the detective. The main impression that they leave behind is of boyishness. They belong to a time when people had standards, though they happened to be foolish standards. Their key phrase is 'not done'. The line that they draw between good and evil is as senseless as a Polynesian taboo, but at least, like the taboo, it has the advantage that everyone accepts it.
[...]
Several people, after reading No Orchids, have remarked to me, "It's pure Fascism". This is a correct description, although the book has not the smallest connexion with politics and very little with social or economic problems. It has merely the same relation to Fascism as, say Trollope's novels have to nineteenth-century capitalism. It is a daydream appropriate to a totalitarian age. In his imagined world of gangsters Chase is presenting, as it were, a distilled version of the modern political scene, in which such things as mass bombings of civilians, the use of hostages, torture to obtain confessions, secret prisons, [and] execution without trial [...] are normal and morally neutral, even admirable when they are done in a large and bold way. The average man is not directly interested in politics, and when he reads, he wants the current struggles of the world to be translated into a simple story about individuals. He can take an interest in Slim and Fenner as could not in the G.P.U. and the Gestapo. People worship power in the form in which they are able to understand it.
This essay concludes with the somewhat provocative point that, 'one is driven to feel that snobbishness, like hypocrisy, is a check upon behaviour whose value from a social point of view has been underrated'. I can imagine why this point carried weight in 1944, while being much less convinced of it in 2025. In the past 80 years, snobbishness and hypocrisy have become so much more tightly entangled with wealth accumulation that they no longer act as much of a check on behaviour. I think the British monarchy could serve as an interesting case study for this.
The longest essay in the collection is 61 pages on the work of Charles Dickens, a novelist I've always been somewhat ambivalent about. I prefer nineteenth century French literature to English for the most part; in my view Dickens is nothing like as high quality as Zola, Balzac, and Hugo novels of the same era. Orwell's analysis is illuminating as to his strengths and weaknesses:
The truth is that Dickens' criticism of society is almost exclusively moral. Hence the utter lack of any constructive suggestion anywhere in his work. He attacks the law, parliamentary government, the education system, and so forth, without ever clearly suggesting what he would put in their places. Of course it is not necessarily the business of a novelist, or a satirist, to make constructive suggestions, but the point is that Dickens' attitude is at bottom not even destructive. There is no clear sign that he wants the existing order to be overthrown, or that he believes that it would make very much difference if it were overthrown. For in reality his target is not so much society as 'human nature'. It would be difficult to point anywhere in his books to a passage suggesting that the economic system is wrong as a system. Nowhere, for instance, does he make any attack on private enterprise or private property. [...]
It is said that Macaulay refused to review Hard Times because he disapproved of its 'sullen Socialism'. Obviously Macaulay is here using the word 'Socialism' in the same sense in which, twenty years ago, a vegetarian meal or a Cubist picture used to be referred to as 'Bolshevism'. There is not a line in the book that can be properly called Socialistic; indeed, its tendency is if anything pro-capitalist, because its whole moral is that capitalists ought to be kind, not that workers ought to be rebellious.
This extended essay covers a great deal more ground, including Dickens' personal horror of poverty (having experienced it), ideas about an ideal lifestyle, and why we should care about his writing. His novels have indeed remained famous and much-loved for more than eighty years since Orwell's essay was published, so the commentary remains compelling and thought-provoking.
After Dickens, the essay topics shift more directly into politics. The highlight of the whole book for me, thanks to its depressingly immediate relevance to the present day, is 'Notes on Nationalism'. This was first published in 1945, a time when the subject was perhaps more important than before or since. In 24 pages Orwell cannot delve deeply into why nationalism became such a destructive global force. Instead he outlines a detailed definition and typology of specifically English nationalism, illustrated by a variety of contemporary examples. His typology is a fascinating snapshot of the time, demonstrating how political ideologies have transformed in the decades since. The definition, however, remains strikingly relevant:
By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled 'good' or 'bad'. But secondly - and this is much more important - I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no duty other than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. [...] Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.
I appreciated Orwell's qualification that the term is flawed but the best available, as he folds within it 'such movements and tendencies as Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, anti-Semitism, Trotskyism, and Pacifism'. He lists the main characteristics of nationalist thought as obsession, instability, and indifference to reality. These are certainly much in evidence in right-wing British nationalist politics, where 'woke' is some kind of evil talisman, there is constant defection to and from Nigel Farage's latest vanity project Reform, and factual information (for example on how brexit has damaged the economy) is simply ignored. These observations are more true than ever in an age where a huge amount of politics takes place via social media:
Indifference to objective truth is encouraged by the sealing-off of one part of the world from another, which makes it harder and harder to discover what is actually happening. [...] Probably the truth is discoverable, but the facts will be so dishonestly set forth in almost any newspaper that the ordinary reader can be forgiven for either swallowing lies or for failing to form an opinion. The general uncertainty as to what is really happening makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs. Since nothing is ever quite proved or disproved, the most unmistakable fact can be imprudently denied. Moreover, although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge, the nationalist is often somewhat disinterested in what happens in the real world. What he wants is to feel that his own unit is getting the better of some other unit, and he can more easily do this by scoring off an adversary than by examining the facts to see whether they support him. All nationalist controversy is at the debating-society level. It is almost entirely inconclusive, since each contestant invariably believes himself to have won the victory. Some nationalists are not far from schizophrenia, living quite happily among dreams of power and conquest which have no connexion to the physical world.
I was particularly chilled by this paragraph near the end of the essay, considering the atrocious actions of the second Trump administration so far:
The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy, and power-worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when 'our' side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows it is exactly the same crime that one has condoned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified - still one cannot feel that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.
Orwell was writing in 1945, facing the end of the most destructive war in world history. He argues that nationalistic tendencies reside in most of us and that we need to struggle against them by recognising our own biases, emotional responses, and gaps in knowledge, in a form of 'moral effort'. As he puts it, 'the emotional urges which are inescapable, and are perhaps even necessary to political action, should be able to exist side by side with an acceptance of reality.' It seems to me that the speed, brevity, and algorithmic influence on political discourse in the 21st century has added to the difficulty of this. Yet it's more necessary than ever to recognise the destructiveness of nationalism, in Britain and across the world. Even if you have no inclination to read the rest of this excellent collection, I highly recommend 'Notes on Nationalism' which you can find here.
September 4, 2025
Orwell kon over elke willekeurige baksteen wel een scherp essay schrijven.
Laatste essay “Why I Write” is prachtig, ik pink een traantje weg
Laatste essay “Why I Write” is prachtig, ik pink een traantje weg
December 20, 2020
Orwell’s true genius is in the essay form. When reading his popular novels there are intimations of his formidable imagination, but I always felt there was something contrived in his fiction, a quality of overt parable or analogy that weakened a certain magic within the prose. Down and Out In Paris and London is a good example of a work that transcends the political metaphor and operates successfully along stylistic lines of flight—and it is, after all, a fictionalized memoir of his own experiences in those cities. His writing feels most vibrant when the forms of fiction have been stripped away, and Orwell is one to put his body and soul on the line for the sake of illuminating the essence of whatever he is writing about.
This slim Penguin volume “Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays,” contains eight pieces ranging from meditations on pornography to literary criticism. The gem of the collection is “Benefit of Clergy,” wherein he explores the “aberrations” and grotesque “horrors” that comprised the life and art of Salvador Dali, a self proclaimed necrophiliac and a chronic troublemaker. His essay “A Hanging” is perhaps the most visceral work on the subject of capital punishment ever written. It’s a piece with no philosophizing or moral judgement. Another stand out was “The Art of Donald McGill,” a piece that provides the reader with Orwell’s cultural speculation on the function of pornographic postcards, a rapidly growing industry in 1940’s England. In a manner that reads similar to the style of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, he dissects the elements of humor and caricature within these postcards, quite comically claiming that “the corner of the human heart that they speak for might easily manifest itself in worst forms, and I for one should be sorry to see them vanish”. You really do feel like you’re reading a man ahead of his time when you read his non-fiction. His voice is provocative and succinct. There are revelations in almost every essay—kernels of insight that make you jump up and realize you had thought so all along, but didn’t possess quite the right words to articulate it.
A list of the essays in this collection:
Decline of the English Murder
A Hanging
Benefit of Clergy
How the Poor Die
Rudyard Kipling
Raffles and Miss Blandish
Charles Dickens
The Art of Donald McGill
Notes on Nationalism
Why I Write
This slim Penguin volume “Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays,” contains eight pieces ranging from meditations on pornography to literary criticism. The gem of the collection is “Benefit of Clergy,” wherein he explores the “aberrations” and grotesque “horrors” that comprised the life and art of Salvador Dali, a self proclaimed necrophiliac and a chronic troublemaker. His essay “A Hanging” is perhaps the most visceral work on the subject of capital punishment ever written. It’s a piece with no philosophizing or moral judgement. Another stand out was “The Art of Donald McGill,” a piece that provides the reader with Orwell’s cultural speculation on the function of pornographic postcards, a rapidly growing industry in 1940’s England. In a manner that reads similar to the style of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, he dissects the elements of humor and caricature within these postcards, quite comically claiming that “the corner of the human heart that they speak for might easily manifest itself in worst forms, and I for one should be sorry to see them vanish”. You really do feel like you’re reading a man ahead of his time when you read his non-fiction. His voice is provocative and succinct. There are revelations in almost every essay—kernels of insight that make you jump up and realize you had thought so all along, but didn’t possess quite the right words to articulate it.
A list of the essays in this collection:
Decline of the English Murder
A Hanging
Benefit of Clergy
How the Poor Die
Rudyard Kipling
Raffles and Miss Blandish
Charles Dickens
The Art of Donald McGill
Notes on Nationalism
Why I Write
June 4, 2010
Posted on my book blog.
Background: Anything with George Orwell as an author is something that interests me, specially if it comes in the form of a charming little Penguin book. Seriously, if for nothing else, these books are worth checking out by their cover designs alone!
Review: This book, like Books v. Cigarettes, is a collection of short essays written by Orwell. While the other one focused more on reading habits and childhood, this one deals mostly with popular English cultures, with the addition of a couple of amusing essays documenting Orwell's insider investigations.
The essay on popular fascination with crime stories in newspapers (which gives the book its title) was a great read, and so were the investigations (seriously - the author tried really hard to get arrested so he could see what it was like to be in prison, and it's funny how he complains that he couldn't stay in prison for longer than two days!). But the essays on weeklies, as well as the one on illustrated postcards, while interesting, seemed far too long and drawn-out, in my opinion.
All in all, a nice read if you like Orwell, though I would recommend you start by reading Books v. Cigarettes.
What's Next: Penguin's anniversary edition of 1984 is waiting for me on my to-read pile.
Background: Anything with George Orwell as an author is something that interests me, specially if it comes in the form of a charming little Penguin book. Seriously, if for nothing else, these books are worth checking out by their cover designs alone!
Review: This book, like Books v. Cigarettes, is a collection of short essays written by Orwell. While the other one focused more on reading habits and childhood, this one deals mostly with popular English cultures, with the addition of a couple of amusing essays documenting Orwell's insider investigations.
The essay on popular fascination with crime stories in newspapers (which gives the book its title) was a great read, and so were the investigations (seriously - the author tried really hard to get arrested so he could see what it was like to be in prison, and it's funny how he complains that he couldn't stay in prison for longer than two days!). But the essays on weeklies, as well as the one on illustrated postcards, while interesting, seemed far too long and drawn-out, in my opinion.
All in all, a nice read if you like Orwell, though I would recommend you start by reading Books v. Cigarettes.
What's Next: Penguin's anniversary edition of 1984 is waiting for me on my to-read pile.
December 7, 2020
A grab bag of essays written between 1931 and 1947, with no particular uniformity of theme. Topics include Salvador Dali, capital punishment in Burma, saucy picture postcards and Charles Dickens. Orwell writing on almost anything is worth reading, but flick to the back for the big-hitters: ‘Notes on Nationalism’ and ‘Why I Write’.
Here’s a long quote from the former, written in 2020 about how new media has intensified the belief in conspiracy theories; hang on, no, I mean ‘newspapers’ and ‘1945’ (he uses the word nationalism here in a very broad sense, meaning a strong identification with any idea or group, not necessarily a nation):
“What were the rights and wrongs of the Warsaw Rising of 1944? Was it true about the German gas ovens in Poland? Who was really to blame for the Bengal famine? Probably the truth is discoverable, but the facts will be so dishonestly set forth in any newspaper that the ordinary reader can be forgiven either for swallowing lies or for failing to form an opinion. The general uncertainty as to what is really happening makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs. Since nothing can be quite proved or disproved, the most unmistakable fact can be impudently denied. The nationalist is often somewhat uninterested in what happens in the real world. What he wants is to *feel* that his own unit is getting the better of some other unit, and he can more easily do this by scoring off an adversary than bu examining the facts to see whether they support him.”
Same as it ever was.
Here’s a long quote from the former, written in 2020 about how new media has intensified the belief in conspiracy theories; hang on, no, I mean ‘newspapers’ and ‘1945’ (he uses the word nationalism here in a very broad sense, meaning a strong identification with any idea or group, not necessarily a nation):
“What were the rights and wrongs of the Warsaw Rising of 1944? Was it true about the German gas ovens in Poland? Who was really to blame for the Bengal famine? Probably the truth is discoverable, but the facts will be so dishonestly set forth in any newspaper that the ordinary reader can be forgiven either for swallowing lies or for failing to form an opinion. The general uncertainty as to what is really happening makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs. Since nothing can be quite proved or disproved, the most unmistakable fact can be impudently denied. The nationalist is often somewhat uninterested in what happens in the real world. What he wants is to *feel* that his own unit is getting the better of some other unit, and he can more easily do this by scoring off an adversary than bu examining the facts to see whether they support him.”
Same as it ever was.
September 16, 2013
It was okay. I'm assuming these 8 short works were written as newspaper articles or suchlike, as some of the pieces were very brief. I really enjoyed half of them, which were about prison, murder, sleeping rough and good bad books. I wasn't so keen on the articles about boys' weeklies, women's papers and novelty postcards. Overall a short and somewhat enjoyable read- you can't go too far wrong with Orwell.
March 17, 2025
Orwell's magical writing on everything from bawdy seaside postcards, to Dickens to the politics of totalitarianism in the recent aftermath of the WW2 war to an essay in which he sets out why he writes on politics. A wonderful compendium for the Orwell fans.
October 26, 2024
Essays: Decline of the English Murder, A Hanging, Benefit of Clergy, How the Poor Die, Rudyard Kipling, Raffles and Miss Blandish, Charles Dickens, The Art of Donald McGill, Notes on Nationalism, Why I Write
As is expected, I enjoyed and was able to connect with some essays over the other ones. I particularly enjoyed Notes on Nationalism and Why I Write, and having read the inner thoughts of the author makes me want to go back and re-read 1984 to understand it better through his eyes.
This paragraph stood out to me in Notes on Nationalism:
“The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy, and power-worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when “our” side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified- still one cannot FEEL that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.”
As is expected, I enjoyed and was able to connect with some essays over the other ones. I particularly enjoyed Notes on Nationalism and Why I Write, and having read the inner thoughts of the author makes me want to go back and re-read 1984 to understand it better through his eyes.
This paragraph stood out to me in Notes on Nationalism:
“The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy, and power-worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when “our” side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified- still one cannot FEEL that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.”
June 2, 2023
If Orwell was alive today, he would have wanted to add an essay on the true crime phenomenon and Colleen Hoover. I just think he would have been astonished by both in equal parts.
March 21, 2021
Reading Orwell's essays, one is tempted to say that the art of writing such texts no longer exists today. I'm only giving this 4 stars because some essays are not as good as the others, but Orwell absolutely shines in parts of this book.
February 27, 2012
This was a very nice book to dip in to and with which to while away the commute, but nothing more than that. Maybe if I was in hospital recovering from an operation I might like to read it. I should add that when I was younger I read ALL of George Orwell's novels and thought he was AMAZING. Huge literary crush etc. andnoIdidn'thavemanyfriendsaththisage. So as I am sure you will be aware from salivatingly following my books reviews, last year I re-read an Orwell novel for the first time in 15 years, and was disappointed. This collection of his articles confirmed this feeling that, although having some brilliant ideas, Orwell was in fact not quite so boundlessly intelligent as I had once assumed; and in addition his fascination with social class, and the way in which he responds to his fascination, in some ways impedes his writing.
What is good in this Penguin selection is the range of writing included, and the different sides to Orwell that this displays. Some is a bit bland (his views on junk shops), some interesting (his views on seaside postcards and that they are an outlet for the Don Quixote/Sancho Panza combination residing in us all - interesting as well that he should choose to intellectually deconstruct such a 'light' thing), a couple simply descriptions of events he has put himself through, such as a night in prison with the proles, or hop-picking for a season with the proles, and also a couple of articles which simply, in my opinion, show a sort of thick-headedness, and an obsession with class which clouds any real perspicacious observation of his subject.
Orwell's essay on "Boys' Weeklies" I found most interesting, engaging and infuriating of this collection. As Orwell wrote these for the most part in the 1940s, I had the added pleasure of a glimpse back in to history, and enjoyed the description of these boys' magazines and even the smell of the newsagents in which they were sold. I took great pleasure, as I assume Orwell and the countless boys who read these magazines did, in their slang: "Go and eat coke!", "What the thump!" and "You frabjous ass!". I was also interested for the most part in Orwell's probing analysis, although I found it mis-directed. For example, he kept banging his drum about the fact that these magazines never changed, that they conjured up a romanticised but fair depiction of public schools, and that this was inaccurate. I wondered about Orwell's grip on reality when I read "As for class-friction, trade unionism, strikes, slumps, unemployment, Fascism and civil war - not a mention." Well come on George, you had already established that this is a magazine aimed at middle-class and working class boys and young teens: why would these characters who are getting in to scrapes and falling off ladders have reason to refer to economic slumps? More importantly, and here is where I believe Orwell entirely missed the fundamental point of these magazines, they are about escapism. If you are poor, your father is out of work and depressed, you can see the well-dressed boys going to their better school further up the road, if you catch glimpses in the paper about war invasions and death, if you have an inkling that after school your life will not be easy: you turn to these maqazines to live for an hour in a reassuring and fair world. Orwell proposed these papers should propound Communist ideals rather than Capitalist, but to be realistic, one would need money to set up a printing press, so obviously capitalists have a large head-start here, and in addition, Briatin was a capitalist society. Schoolboys reading any kind of "Trotsky's Funnnies" would not have recognised this world, and may well not have found it fun. Similarly Orwell questioned the invasion of the the boys' magazine world with single characters, inhumanly strong and who could fix things with a simple sock to the jaw of the baddie. Again, Orwell took a sidetrack down some winding country-path and manage to avoid the simple and I believe correct view that the average 11 year old boy in 1940 was largely powerless. At school, with his parents, in Church, perhaps even with his peers, and certainly financially and physically, he was weak. The idea of being able to get what you want - which was of course the right thing and just - in such an uncompromising and awe-inspiring way - must have felt like manna to these boys.
Ok so I can tell you are getting a little bored now and looking at your watch. I will close by saying that I felt that Orwell's documentary writing, of his experiences in the prison and hop-picking, were the best pieces for me of this collection. I believe this is also how Orwell started his writing career with The Road to Wigan Pier. In this way I feel I can look at them as well-written, personal historical documents. I prefer it when Orwell does not impose his opinions constantly, as he understandably does with other forms of writing in this collection. However, this is where I wonder about his class obsession. It is well known that Orwell found it very difficult being the poorest boy at a rich school (he was at Eton). He teetered on the brink of being accepted neither by the middle class nor the lower-middle class. After Eton he werved inthe British Army in India. I have the impression that he was trying to atone for his guilt in being born (fairly) rich and privileged. However, he did not simply scourge himself by living as a destitute, and voluntarily inflicting deprivation on himself, but he did this *publicly*. He wrote books about it, and although I wholly admire his strength and willingness to do this, I cannot help but think he is slightly self-righteous about having done this. Did he really want to remain undiscovered in his guise as a tramp while hop-picking, to really be as unspecial as one of them? While travelling with them he read 'Eugenie Grandet', and wrote home half-way through the journey in order to be sent 10 shillings a day later. One man who donated them food and tobacco was so friendly that apparently Orwell forgot his Cockney accent - can you imagine how this must have sounded from the mouth of an Old Etonian?! I can imagine all the tramps laughing behind his back when he wasn't listening - and this man then comiserated with how painful it must be for a man of Orwell's stamp etc. So I felt that Orwell didn't fully question why he was doing this, or whether there were some bad elements to what he was doing, and how honest he was to his new 'friends'. The clearest example of this I felt was in Orwell's description in 'Clink' of the night he spent in a prison. He deliberately got hugely intoxicated and then found some policemen to faller over in front of so that he would get arrested. Once in prison, he spoke to the other men in his cell, listened in on their conversations and learned their previous crimes and their family situations. A day later he was out, had a shower and shave, and tapped all this up on a typewriter before getting it published for middle-class people to pore over. What I noticed was that there was a section in this essay all about 'splits': the lowest of the low, the police informers who were dressed as prisoners and circulated amongst them to pick up information. Orwell writes "for there is complete freemasonry between prisoners, and they talk without reserve in front of one another. It was a dingy trick, I thought". Orwell did not seem to judge his own deception and pretence as any similar kind of betrayal of trust.
What is good in this Penguin selection is the range of writing included, and the different sides to Orwell that this displays. Some is a bit bland (his views on junk shops), some interesting (his views on seaside postcards and that they are an outlet for the Don Quixote/Sancho Panza combination residing in us all - interesting as well that he should choose to intellectually deconstruct such a 'light' thing), a couple simply descriptions of events he has put himself through, such as a night in prison with the proles, or hop-picking for a season with the proles, and also a couple of articles which simply, in my opinion, show a sort of thick-headedness, and an obsession with class which clouds any real perspicacious observation of his subject.
Orwell's essay on "Boys' Weeklies" I found most interesting, engaging and infuriating of this collection. As Orwell wrote these for the most part in the 1940s, I had the added pleasure of a glimpse back in to history, and enjoyed the description of these boys' magazines and even the smell of the newsagents in which they were sold. I took great pleasure, as I assume Orwell and the countless boys who read these magazines did, in their slang: "Go and eat coke!", "What the thump!" and "You frabjous ass!". I was also interested for the most part in Orwell's probing analysis, although I found it mis-directed. For example, he kept banging his drum about the fact that these magazines never changed, that they conjured up a romanticised but fair depiction of public schools, and that this was inaccurate. I wondered about Orwell's grip on reality when I read "As for class-friction, trade unionism, strikes, slumps, unemployment, Fascism and civil war - not a mention." Well come on George, you had already established that this is a magazine aimed at middle-class and working class boys and young teens: why would these characters who are getting in to scrapes and falling off ladders have reason to refer to economic slumps? More importantly, and here is where I believe Orwell entirely missed the fundamental point of these magazines, they are about escapism. If you are poor, your father is out of work and depressed, you can see the well-dressed boys going to their better school further up the road, if you catch glimpses in the paper about war invasions and death, if you have an inkling that after school your life will not be easy: you turn to these maqazines to live for an hour in a reassuring and fair world. Orwell proposed these papers should propound Communist ideals rather than Capitalist, but to be realistic, one would need money to set up a printing press, so obviously capitalists have a large head-start here, and in addition, Briatin was a capitalist society. Schoolboys reading any kind of "Trotsky's Funnnies" would not have recognised this world, and may well not have found it fun. Similarly Orwell questioned the invasion of the the boys' magazine world with single characters, inhumanly strong and who could fix things with a simple sock to the jaw of the baddie. Again, Orwell took a sidetrack down some winding country-path and manage to avoid the simple and I believe correct view that the average 11 year old boy in 1940 was largely powerless. At school, with his parents, in Church, perhaps even with his peers, and certainly financially and physically, he was weak. The idea of being able to get what you want - which was of course the right thing and just - in such an uncompromising and awe-inspiring way - must have felt like manna to these boys.
Ok so I can tell you are getting a little bored now and looking at your watch. I will close by saying that I felt that Orwell's documentary writing, of his experiences in the prison and hop-picking, were the best pieces for me of this collection. I believe this is also how Orwell started his writing career with The Road to Wigan Pier. In this way I feel I can look at them as well-written, personal historical documents. I prefer it when Orwell does not impose his opinions constantly, as he understandably does with other forms of writing in this collection. However, this is where I wonder about his class obsession. It is well known that Orwell found it very difficult being the poorest boy at a rich school (he was at Eton). He teetered on the brink of being accepted neither by the middle class nor the lower-middle class. After Eton he werved inthe British Army in India. I have the impression that he was trying to atone for his guilt in being born (fairly) rich and privileged. However, he did not simply scourge himself by living as a destitute, and voluntarily inflicting deprivation on himself, but he did this *publicly*. He wrote books about it, and although I wholly admire his strength and willingness to do this, I cannot help but think he is slightly self-righteous about having done this. Did he really want to remain undiscovered in his guise as a tramp while hop-picking, to really be as unspecial as one of them? While travelling with them he read 'Eugenie Grandet', and wrote home half-way through the journey in order to be sent 10 shillings a day later. One man who donated them food and tobacco was so friendly that apparently Orwell forgot his Cockney accent - can you imagine how this must have sounded from the mouth of an Old Etonian?! I can imagine all the tramps laughing behind his back when he wasn't listening - and this man then comiserated with how painful it must be for a man of Orwell's stamp etc. So I felt that Orwell didn't fully question why he was doing this, or whether there were some bad elements to what he was doing, and how honest he was to his new 'friends'. The clearest example of this I felt was in Orwell's description in 'Clink' of the night he spent in a prison. He deliberately got hugely intoxicated and then found some policemen to faller over in front of so that he would get arrested. Once in prison, he spoke to the other men in his cell, listened in on their conversations and learned their previous crimes and their family situations. A day later he was out, had a shower and shave, and tapped all this up on a typewriter before getting it published for middle-class people to pore over. What I noticed was that there was a section in this essay all about 'splits': the lowest of the low, the police informers who were dressed as prisoners and circulated amongst them to pick up information. Orwell writes "for there is complete freemasonry between prisoners, and they talk without reserve in front of one another. It was a dingy trick, I thought". Orwell did not seem to judge his own deception and pretence as any similar kind of betrayal of trust.
May 22, 2018
This was hard going despite it only being just over 100 pages long. I found the subject matter of the individual essays interesting but the writing is laboured and repetitive. It reads like a stream of consciousness, not well edited thoughtful pieces. My enjoyment of them was purely for the historical insight, I enjoyed finding out more about the Penny Dreadful’s which I only knew as a name in passing and I didn’t mind Decline of English Murder but mostly I felt like I was stuck next to my nutta uncle at Xmas dinner who wouldn’t shut up and I couldn’t escape. The one exception to this was the last piece; Hop-Picking Diary, which I bolted through without noticing the length at all. This essay alone got the edition bumped up from a 2 star. I’m hoping Down and Out in London and Paris is along the vein of that as I’ve been looking forward to reading it but now I’m slightly downcast by the prospect. Honestly if you want good essays read Joan Didion instead.
June 24, 2023
[Penguin Books] (2009). SB. Fifth printing thus. 117 Pages. Purchased from Syntax64.
Eight essays, originally published in various periodicals (1931-1946).
An excellent mixture. Includes some poverty tourism (fishing for copy), rum profanity and screaming generalisations applied to various elements of society.
A modern reader could easily dismiss these writings as outpourings from a stuffy, sanctimonious bigot, but they remain meritorious.
Eight essays, originally published in various periodicals (1931-1946).
An excellent mixture. Includes some poverty tourism (fishing for copy), rum profanity and screaming generalisations applied to various elements of society.
A modern reader could easily dismiss these writings as outpourings from a stuffy, sanctimonious bigot, but they remain meritorious.
February 9, 2020
This is a collection of essays by George Orwell. Some are of his adventures, some are a pure ramble of musings. I really enjoyed the first and final stories, ‘Clink’ and ‘Hop-Picking Diary’, which I would give minimum 4 stars. However, I must admit I did not finish ‘Boy’s Weekly’ and skimmed over the last 10 pages of this section because, quite frankly, it was going nowhere and life is too short. Overall, a good book to read and a great addition to the Penguin Books Great Ideas collection.
February 14, 2018
A classic book of Orwellian essays, most of which I found interesting - Notes On Nationalism feels particularly topical at the moment, and Why I Write is fascinating. However, an extended essay (an I-felt-unnecessary one-third of the book) on Charles Dickens, who I'm not a fan of, and another on the art of Donald McGill, brought my interest right down.
January 18, 2024
In these essays Orwell says some smart and insightful things about capitalist Britain but unfortunately is taken down by his own stereotypes of people.
Some stories were better than others, and I did enjoy the titular essay.
Some stories were better than others, and I did enjoy the titular essay.
April 30, 2024
George should stick to Old McDonald cosplay
June 13, 2024
Here is a breakdown of every essay contained in this book and my thoughts on them:
Decline of the English Murder: 4/5 stars
A wonderful short little essay about Orwell's thoughts on the decline of this particular literary genre. I really enjoy how he sets the scene, even in this opinionated essays, as I can really immerse myself in what he has to say. And I do agree, the murder genre is one which will never be the same again.
A Hanging: 5/5 stars
I LOVE his short stories! His use of imagery and metaphors in order to paint emotion and typical human morality issues really spoke to me, and I felt as if I was there. I have not read up much on the background toward this short-story, but there are clear references to his novel Burmese Days.
Benefit of a Clergy (Some Notes on Salvador Dali): 3/5
This one was more informative than opinionated, as I did not know much of Salvador Dali's background when first reading this. Orwell's disgust for Dali's twisted mind is clear (and I couldn't help but agree as I learned of the events which Dali experienced or initiated throughout his life). Much to think about. Also another great example of why I admire Orwell; he writes about what he is passionate about or wants to make a point of, not simply for the sake of a name.
How the Poor Die: 4/5
This was a very emotional story, as well as graphic. This establishes Orwell's connection to the 'poor' (i.e. the working class). It is important to understand a writer's background when reading their work, as it tells you a lot about their experiences and opinions. This was a mix between a story and biography of Orwell's experiences of the inequalities between the social classes, with the environment of the hospital which the story takes place really struck a chord with me, I realised just how terrifying and horrible it is to feel completely helpless and isolated from any aid or society.
Rudyard Kipling: 2/5
I don't know much of Rudyard Kipling either, although visiting his house as a child and having read the Jungle Book. Orwell suggests he is a 'good, bad poet', which is a recognisable term in today's literary world of people becoming famous for their lesser skills... in general many good points were made throughout this chapter, however, most I simply couldn't keep track of since I didn't have sufficient knowledge of the author (!)
Raffles and Miss Blandish: 1/5
I think I skipped through this one very VERY quickly, as there is nothing I recognise about the topic of this essay. Once again, many great arguments made, but as this is a reference to mid-20th-century society, I have no way of knowing the intricacies of Orwell's opinions on the matter.
Charles Dickens: 3/5
I really did enjoy this essay, albeit it being VERY long in my opinion, however once again I am not familiar enough with all of Dicken's work as Orwell seems to be in order to give a valuable opinion on this. I found it quite funny when Orwell criticises Dicken's writing and artistic choices, as well as some of the reasons his legacy lives on still today. He explains that many of his characters fall flat, lack sufficient background, and all-round he takes himself too seriously (although deserves some of his fame, to be sure!). Quite entertaining in the end, I have some roasts to take with me to future book-club meetings!
The Art of Donald McGill: 3/5
I did some light research before reading this essay, as once again it is in reference to the drama of the 20th-century promiscuous artists. Orwell wrote this at the time of McGill's court case, therefore there is a lot of focus on his own conclusions about the postcards which caused the case in the first place. Mostly, I agree with his arguments, and that the humour portrayed in some of McGill's crude jokes do indeed represent something very human in all of us.
Notes on Nationalism: 4/5
A very interesting essay, also very fitting for Orwell's fame within the political genre. It's intriguing to see his opinions form since he wrote this essay around the time of World War II. I also learned a lot about different forms of nationalism, and its connections to things such as British colonialism, the Soviet Union, Hitler's rise to power, and so forth.
Why I Write: 5/5
This was BY FAR my favourite essay of Orwell's. Everything he writes about regarding what made him want to start writing, the main reasons and motivations of writers everywhere and the emotions which drive him is everything I can relate to and see myself in. He even included a little poem he wrote surrounding the frustrations of being born in the wrong time; which I loved and am definitely framing onto my wall when I get the chance (!).
Overall, this book took me a lot longer to read than I expected, but was worth it in the end. Orwell is an incredible writer, as we all know (!), and it's so lovely to read some of this more opinionated essays to really understand what sort of person he was, and his main motivations behind writing such politically and socially focused pieces.
Decline of the English Murder: 4/5 stars
A wonderful short little essay about Orwell's thoughts on the decline of this particular literary genre. I really enjoy how he sets the scene, even in this opinionated essays, as I can really immerse myself in what he has to say. And I do agree, the murder genre is one which will never be the same again.
A Hanging: 5/5 stars
I LOVE his short stories! His use of imagery and metaphors in order to paint emotion and typical human morality issues really spoke to me, and I felt as if I was there. I have not read up much on the background toward this short-story, but there are clear references to his novel Burmese Days.
Benefit of a Clergy (Some Notes on Salvador Dali): 3/5
This one was more informative than opinionated, as I did not know much of Salvador Dali's background when first reading this. Orwell's disgust for Dali's twisted mind is clear (and I couldn't help but agree as I learned of the events which Dali experienced or initiated throughout his life). Much to think about. Also another great example of why I admire Orwell; he writes about what he is passionate about or wants to make a point of, not simply for the sake of a name.
How the Poor Die: 4/5
This was a very emotional story, as well as graphic. This establishes Orwell's connection to the 'poor' (i.e. the working class). It is important to understand a writer's background when reading their work, as it tells you a lot about their experiences and opinions. This was a mix between a story and biography of Orwell's experiences of the inequalities between the social classes, with the environment of the hospital which the story takes place really struck a chord with me, I realised just how terrifying and horrible it is to feel completely helpless and isolated from any aid or society.
Rudyard Kipling: 2/5
I don't know much of Rudyard Kipling either, although visiting his house as a child and having read the Jungle Book. Orwell suggests he is a 'good, bad poet', which is a recognisable term in today's literary world of people becoming famous for their lesser skills... in general many good points were made throughout this chapter, however, most I simply couldn't keep track of since I didn't have sufficient knowledge of the author (!)
Raffles and Miss Blandish: 1/5
I think I skipped through this one very VERY quickly, as there is nothing I recognise about the topic of this essay. Once again, many great arguments made, but as this is a reference to mid-20th-century society, I have no way of knowing the intricacies of Orwell's opinions on the matter.
Charles Dickens: 3/5
I really did enjoy this essay, albeit it being VERY long in my opinion, however once again I am not familiar enough with all of Dicken's work as Orwell seems to be in order to give a valuable opinion on this. I found it quite funny when Orwell criticises Dicken's writing and artistic choices, as well as some of the reasons his legacy lives on still today. He explains that many of his characters fall flat, lack sufficient background, and all-round he takes himself too seriously (although deserves some of his fame, to be sure!). Quite entertaining in the end, I have some roasts to take with me to future book-club meetings!
The Art of Donald McGill: 3/5
I did some light research before reading this essay, as once again it is in reference to the drama of the 20th-century promiscuous artists. Orwell wrote this at the time of McGill's court case, therefore there is a lot of focus on his own conclusions about the postcards which caused the case in the first place. Mostly, I agree with his arguments, and that the humour portrayed in some of McGill's crude jokes do indeed represent something very human in all of us.
Notes on Nationalism: 4/5
A very interesting essay, also very fitting for Orwell's fame within the political genre. It's intriguing to see his opinions form since he wrote this essay around the time of World War II. I also learned a lot about different forms of nationalism, and its connections to things such as British colonialism, the Soviet Union, Hitler's rise to power, and so forth.
Why I Write: 5/5
This was BY FAR my favourite essay of Orwell's. Everything he writes about regarding what made him want to start writing, the main reasons and motivations of writers everywhere and the emotions which drive him is everything I can relate to and see myself in. He even included a little poem he wrote surrounding the frustrations of being born in the wrong time; which I loved and am definitely framing onto my wall when I get the chance (!).
Overall, this book took me a lot longer to read than I expected, but was worth it in the end. Orwell is an incredible writer, as we all know (!), and it's so lovely to read some of this more opinionated essays to really understand what sort of person he was, and his main motivations behind writing such politically and socially focused pieces.
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November 9, 2022RIP Orwell you’d of loved substack x
January 27, 2024
A man with many funny little opinions and observations
June 28, 2025
3.5. mixed bag of interesting and tedious essays.
June 10, 2021
Sharp as usual
September 12, 2022
Fantastic essays all the way through. Decline of the English Murder, Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dalí, Raffles and Miss Blandish and The Art of Donald McGill are interesting discussions about morality, obscenity, society and art. I find Orwell to be a bit too stuffy and small-c conservative, but he's still pretty astute in recognising the worth of the morally repugnant. And, unlike many conservatives, can recognise that this kind of art has both a cause and a point.
His essays on Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens were excellent deconstructions of their works and character. His thoughts on Dickens especially really ironed out my feelings about his relation to social class. Things to admire and criticise about his views, but explainable in context. Kipling was kind of a Tory loser though.
Notes on Nationalism was great; I essentially agree with its main theses. Nationalism is bullshit, but everyone likely holds some degree of in-group bias that makes us disregard reality from time to time. The transferability of nationalistic feeling was something I'd never considered before, but I feel like I've seen in the real world.
How the Poor Die was probably my favourite. In it Orwell recorded some of the thoughts he had while sick in a rundown Parisian hospital. It was a quiet and simple reflection on the nature of healthcare from the perspective of the underpriveliged, which I'd never really thought about, especially in more 'modern' times.
His essays on Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens were excellent deconstructions of their works and character. His thoughts on Dickens especially really ironed out my feelings about his relation to social class. Things to admire and criticise about his views, but explainable in context. Kipling was kind of a Tory loser though.
Notes on Nationalism was great; I essentially agree with its main theses. Nationalism is bullshit, but everyone likely holds some degree of in-group bias that makes us disregard reality from time to time. The transferability of nationalistic feeling was something I'd never considered before, but I feel like I've seen in the real world.
How the Poor Die was probably my favourite. In it Orwell recorded some of the thoughts he had while sick in a rundown Parisian hospital. It was a quiet and simple reflection on the nature of healthcare from the perspective of the underpriveliged, which I'd never really thought about, especially in more 'modern' times.
April 28, 2010
Mostly early essays or articles by the icon of all journalists who likes to drink and feel...important. But alas don't let that stop you for enjoying one of the British prose writers of all time. George Orwell in this small edition comments on the joy of being arrested for public drunkness in East London, the joys of dirty (not really) postcards of Donald McGill, the nature of junk stores, and true-crime reading.
In other words a collection of essays that comment on the taste and passions of the typical (if one exists) British citizen during and before the war years. A big plus is the design work of Penguin's "Great Ideas" series. A well-edited series of books by classic writers on particular subjects. Mostly from bigger editions of such a writer, but here you get the feeling that these books are made for a 1 hour long train trip, and they work beautifully in the bathtub.
And yeah Orwell works great in the bathtub.
In other words a collection of essays that comment on the taste and passions of the typical (if one exists) British citizen during and before the war years. A big plus is the design work of Penguin's "Great Ideas" series. A well-edited series of books by classic writers on particular subjects. Mostly from bigger editions of such a writer, but here you get the feeling that these books are made for a 1 hour long train trip, and they work beautifully in the bathtub.
And yeah Orwell works great in the bathtub.
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