Homage to Catalonia

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

After travelling to Spain at the end of 1936 with the intention of working as a correspondent for a British socialist newspaper, thirty-three-year-old George Orwell decided to join the Republican efforts to overturn Francos Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Having enrolled in the POUM militias, the young writer was soon forced to experience first-hand the hardships and dangers of trench warfare, before becoming involved in the Barcelona May Day street fighting and nearly being killed by a bullet on his return to the front line. Orwells initial idealistic dreams of a victorious fight against fascism were gradually tainted by doubt and disillusionment as the divisions and infighting within the Republican coalition became apparent. Part war memoir, part tract, part expos, Homage to Catalonia is a pivotal work in Orwells uvre, and a key to understanding his political ideas and commitment to the socialist cause. Rejected by Orwells long-standing publisher, Gollancz, on political grounds, it is here presented in its original version, as published by Secker & Warburg in 1938.

Reviews

A moving eyewitness account... [A] brilliant book - Noam Chomsky

Author Bio

Eric Blair (190350), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was a novelist, journalist and critic, best remembered for his seminal novels 1984 and Animal Farm, and for works of non-fiction such as The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia.