George Orwell

Before the war How long shall we go on saying that, I wonder? How long before the answer will be 'Which war' The approach of the Second World War finds suburban insurance agent George Bowling in a reflective mood. As he thinks back to the sedate Oxfordshire village of his Edwardian boyhood, he contemplates regretfully what has happened to England since then, from the First World War, in which he served, to the seemingly inescapable money-grubbing and mechanization of everyday life in modern London. A lucky windfall allows Bowling to make a secret return to his idyllic birthplace: a fortifying respite, he hopes, from the struggles of life in a modern city on the verge of war. But is there really any going back? Published in 1939, Coming Up for Air is the most accomplished of Orwell's early realist novels, casting light on the development of Orwell's distinctive thinking as a cultural critic. The novel explores many of the themes Orwell later reprised in 1984 nostalgia, memory, and disillusionment in the face of modernity's ills, including industrialisation, capitalist exploitation, and endless war.

"Poverty is what I am writing about". In the late 1920s, Eric Blair resigned his post as a colonial policeman in Burma, immersed himself in the slums of Paris and London, and reinvented himself as George Orwell, one of the most revered prose stylists in the English language. Orwell decided to write about the lives of the poor - the dishwashers of Paris, the tramps of London - not by imagining poverty, but by experiencing poverty. The result is a book which is as provocative and incisive about class inequalities, homelessness, and social prejudices today as it was when it was first published in 1933. Down and Out in Paris and London was George Orwell's first book, and it remains a masterpiece of prose writing. This edition is accompanied by an introduction which examines Orwell's book for its literary, social, and political significance. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. The year is 1984, and life in Oceania is ruled by the Party. Under the gaze of Big Brother, Winston Smith yearns for intimacy and love - "thought crimes" that, if uncovered, would mean imprisonment, or death.

'If you had asked me why I had joined the militia I should have answered: "To fight against Fascism," and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: "Common decency."' Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War. It was the last and most mature of Orwell's documentary books and it is a sharp, focused and angry account of the fighting in Spain. The discomforts of trench warfare, his near-death experience of being shot, and his painful and disorientating medical treatment all contribute to the book's gripping immediacy. At the same time, Orwell was aware that he was producing a work of art: 'Beware of my partisanship, ' he warns his readers, 'my mistakes of fact, and the distortion inevitably caused by my having seen only one corner of events.' Lisa Mullen's introduction examines how the book straddles the divide between literature and history, and provides readers and students with a concise explanatory account of the controversies which have grown up around the book since its publication.

'The face was quite unfamiliar to her, and yet not strange. She had not known till this moment what face to expect'. A Clergyman's Daughter is George Orwell's least well-known, most unappreciated novel. Drawing on his experiences as a hop-picker, teacher, and urban vagrant, it tells the peculiar story of Dorothy Hare, the daughter of the Rector of St Athelstan's in the fictional town of Knype Hill. Unacknowledged by her absent-minded father and gossiped about by his rheumatic parishioners, Dorothy is suddenly and traumatically catapulted into the unknown. She wakes up in London, her memory temporarily gone; travels to the Kentish countryside; spends a night in Trafalgar Square; works for the authoritarian schoolteacher Mrs Creevy; and then journeys back to her old, limited life. A novel about loss and return, A Clergyman's Daughter charts the course of a young woman's voyage out and circular homecoming. In his introduction to the novel, Nathan Waddell lays out the fantastical elements and socio-political dimensions of A Clergyman's Daughter and examines how it drew inspiration from James Joyce's epic modernist novel Ulysses, a book Orwell deeply admired. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Fifty Essays (1946) is a collection of wartime pieces by George Orwell. It covers a variety of topics in English literature, and also includes some pioneering studies of popular culture. It was acclaimed by critics, and Orwell himself thought it one of his most important books.

The first ever graphic novel version of Animal Farm - a Times Book of the YearAnimal Farm is the story of what happens when the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master, and how their revolution goes horribly wrong. Now George Orwell's dark, timeless fable has been turned into a graphic novel for the very first time, illustrated in full colour by the renowned Brazilian artist Odyr to bring us a whole new work of art.'This brightly coloured homage to Orwell's timely allegory is heartbreaking and elegant. Odyr's images of animals casting off their bonds and then living with the results of their revolution are painterly and evocative, both loose and illuminating' The New York Times

With a new introduction by Professor Richard Bradford this edition takes a fresh look at one of the great works of the twentieth century. Orwell's classic dystopian fiction warns us of our future, and deals with issues that speak to multiple dangers faced by many nations today. Winston Smith is a member of 'the party' and subject to constant surveillance by the eyes of Big Brother, the ruler of the society. 'Newspeak' is designed to eradicate all political speech, 'Thoughtcrimes' are categorized as any thoughts of resistance or rebellion against any aspect of society, and the threat of despatch to 'Room 101' is a looming warning to all. Orwell explores the mechanics of totalitarianism revealing how control over the mass media allows the state to control all aspects of life, both the past and the future.

A beautiful new edition of George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." A group of farm animals rebel against their drunken, abusive owner, and set out to create a utopia of equality. Thus begins the brilliant, sharp satire of class struggle and revolution that rocked the twentieth century. George Orwell's 1945 classic is an enduring, devastating story of new tyranny replacing old, and power corrupting even the noblest of causes. This stunning new edition is the perfect gift for Orwell fans and for those striving for to improve our world.

George Orwell was an inveterate keeper of diaries. Eleven diaries are presented here, and we know there may be two more from his time in Spain hidden away in the NKVD Archives in Moscow. Covering the period 1931-1949, this volume follows Orwell from his early years as a writer up to his last literary notebook. His Hop-Picking Diary covers some of Orwell's time spent down and out; a wonderful entry from 1931 tells of a communal shave in the Trafalgar Square fountains. The notes from his travels through industrial England, which formed the basis of The Road to Wigan Pier, show the development of the gifted young novelist and impassioned social commentator. 'Frightful landscape of slag-heaps and belching chimneys.[...] Beards of ice on lock gates.' This same acute power of observation is evident in his diaries from Morocco, where he also encountered extreme poverty. We catch a glimpse of a different Orwell at home. His domestic diaries chart the progress of his garden and animals with a keen eye, from the succinct, 'Pig active again.' to the more poetic, 'One of the plants that carries the snow most beautifully is lavender.'The wartime diaries make fascinating reading, from descriptions of events overseas, to the daily violence closer to home and his astute perspective on the politics of both. Orwell offers a different take on the typical view of the home front. 'War is simply a reversal of civilised life, its motto is "Evil be thou my good", and so much of the good of modern life is actually evil that it is questionable whether on balance war does harm.'The diaries provide a new and entirely refreshing insight into Orwell's character and help towards an understanding of his great works.

The articles collected in George Orwell's Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century. This outstanding collection brings together Orwell's longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes 'The Spike', 'Bookshop Memories', 'Down The Mine', 'North And South', 'Charles Dickens', 'The English Revolution', 'Looking Back On the Spanish War', 'Freedom Of The Park', 'Future Of The Ruined Germany', 'Nonsense Poetry', 'Notes On Nationalism', 'Books Vs Cigarettes', 'Politics And The English Language', 'The Prevention Of Literature', 'Why I Write', 'Reflections On Gandhi" and Many More. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell's essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain.

Down and Out in Paris and London is the first full-length work by George Orwell. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities London & Paris. Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his twenties, it documents his 'first contact with poverty'. Exposing a shocking, previously-hidden world to his readers, Orwell gave a human face to the statistics of poverty for the first time - and in doing so, found his voice as a writer.

"Still outlawed by regimes around the world, Animal Farm has always been political dynamite." - The GuardianAnimal Farm - the history of a revolution that went wrong - is George Orwell's brilliant satire on the corrupting influence of power. When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless elite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine.'-George Orwell About the AuthorEric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which brought him world-wide fame. His novels and non-fiction include Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia.'You can't have a revolution unless you make it for yourself; there is no such thing as a benevolent dictatorship.'-George Orwell

1984 and Animal Farm, two of the most disturbing and powerful novels ever written, are presented here in one volume, together with George Orwell's insightful essays "Politics and the English Language" and "Why I Write," all newly designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press.1984 Winston Smith is a hardworking member of the Party, the ruling government of Oceania. Laboring in the Ministry of Truth, the Party's propaganda arm, he is in charge of revising history, the Party's way of controlling the past as well as the present. And Big Brother, the Party's all-powerful leader, is always watching, always making sure that everyone does exactly what they are supposed to do. This makes for an orderly society, but individuality is crushed. Even love is forbidden, with procreation under the strict supervision of the Party. But then Winston meets Julia and learns of "The Book," a forbidden publication that seems to promise a different way of life.1984's brilliance comes from Orwell's prescient understanding of modern life--the power of the media, the loss of privacy, the distortion of language for the sake of "political correctness," and the suppression of individual thought and expression. Required reading for students since it was first published, it is one of the most disturbing and powerful novels ever written. Animal FarmManor Farm is run by its drunken owner, Mr. Jones, and his incompetent workers. Chafing under their exploitation, the animals rise up against their human masters and take over the farm. Under the guidance of the intellectually superior pigs, the animals then set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. But as time passes, their labors don't have quite the results they expected, and they begin to realize that their porcine leaders may have other purposes in mind. On one level, Animal Farm is a simple tale about barnyard animals. On a deeper level, it is a pointed political satire about corrupted ideals, class conflict, and misdirected revolution--themes as valid today as when the book was first published. As we continue to wrestle with these issues, the cutting clarity of Orwell's masterpiece delivers an enduring warning for all who care about justice, freedom, and equality.

Winston Smith is a hardworking member of the Party, the ruling government of Oceania. Laboring in the Ministry of Truth, the Party's propaganda arm, he is in charge of revising history, the Party's way of controlling the past as well as the present. And Big Brother, the Party's all-powerful leader, is always watching, always making sure that everyone does exactly what they are supposed to do. This makes for an orderly society, but individuality is crushed. Even love is forbidden, with procreation under the strict supervision of the Party. But then Winston meets Julia and learns of "The Book," a forbidden publication that seems to promise a different way of life.1984's brilliance comes from Orwell's prescient understanding of modern life--the power of the media, the loss of privacy, the distortion of language for the sake of "political correctness," and the suppression of individual thought and expression. Required reading for students since it was first published, it is one of the most disturbing and powerful novels ever written. Newly designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press.

Manor Farm is run by its drunken owner, Mr. Jones, and his incompetent workers. Chafing under their exploitation, the animals rise up against their human masters and take over the farm. Under the guidance of the intellectually superior pigs, the animals then set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. But as time passes, their labors don't have quite the results they expected, and they begin to realize that their porcine leaders may have other purposes in mind. On one level, Animal Farm is a simple tale about barnyard animals. On a deeper level, it is a pointed political satire about corrupted ideals, class conflict, and misdirected revolution--themes as valid today as when the book was first published. As we continue to wrestle with these issues, the cutting clarity of Orwell's masterpiece delivers an enduring warning for all who care about justice, freedom, and equality. Newly designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press.