Most Popular Books by George Orwell

75th ANNIVERSARY EDITION “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

It is 1984. The world is in a state of perpetual war and Big Brother sees and controls all. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party and propaganda-writer at the Ministry of Truth, is keeping a journal he should not be keeping and falling in love with Julia, a woman he should not be seeing. Outwardly compliant, Winston dreams of rebellion against the oppressive Big Brother, risking everything to recover his lost sense of individuality and control of his own future. One of the bestselling books of the twentieth century, 1984 is the dystopian classic that introduced such Orwellian terms as ''Big Brother,'' ''doublethink,'' ''Newspeak,'' and ''thoughtcrime'' to the collective consciousness, giving official terminology to state-sanctioned deception, surveillance, and historical revisionism.

"This volume contains the best essays by one of the best English essayists. George Orwell has become famous all over the world for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, but throughout his writing life he was also a prolific journalist and essayist. He wrote brilliantly about politics, about literature, and about contemporary cultural life, always with that steely honesty and intolerance of cant which were the hallmarks of his direct, limpid prose. Stefan Collini''s collection brings together nineteen essays, including such well-known pieces as ''Shooting an Elephant'', ''Charles Dickens'', ''Politics and the English Language'', and ''Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool''. A substantial introduction situates Orwell''s writing in its historical context and analyses the distinctive features of his style, while extensive notes explain historical allusions and identify his sources and quotations." Klappentext.

This Excellent Collection brings together Orwell''s longer, major books and a fine selection of shorter pieces. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell''s Books created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain. This Books created and collected in George Orwell''s Most important Works illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of the XX century - a man who elevated political writing to an art. This Collection included: · 1984 · ANIMAL FARM · A CLERGYMAN''S DAUGHTER · BURMESE DAYS · COMING UP FOR AIR · DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON · HOMAGE TO CATALONIA · KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING · LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH WAR · THE LION AND THE UNICORN · THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER

Honoring the author''s mastery of the essay form, brings together such classic works as "Shooting an Elephant" with passages from his wartime diary and lesser-known journalistic pieces that weave together the personal and political in studies of his boyhood in an English boarding school and his experiences during the Spanish Civil War.

George Orwell set out ''to make political writing into an art'', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell''s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell''s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ''four great motives for writing'' – ''sheer egoism'', ''aesthetic enthusiasm'', ''historical impulse'' and ''political purpose'' – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell''s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer''s oeuvre.

globally known for his works: Animal Farm; 1984; Down and Out in Paris and London; Burmese Days; Keep the Aspidistra Flying, among others. Down and Out in Paris and London is a memoir of the most defining period of the author''s life and his first work. It was upon its publication in 1933 that the pseudonym George Orwell was born, at the suggestion of his editor. After working as a British Empire police officer in Burma, George Orwell decided to understand the life, ways, and thoughts of the poor population and went to live as one of them. Orwell lived in destitution for a long time before finding work as a dishwasher in a hotel, and all the experiences he had in both cities resulted in this precious book. In Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell discusses his times living in poverty in such a realistic and moving way that it is impossible to put the book down before finishing it.

George Orwell was a novelist, essayist and critic best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism. Animal Farm was published in 1945 when Orwell, a democratic socialist, was angered at Joseph Stalin for betraying the ideas of the Russian Revolution. In fact, that is the basis of Orwell''s book. The characters in Animal Farm resemble significant people that impacted the Russian Revolution. These characters act similarly to the real people and actions that were done in the past. Through this book, George Orwell exposes Stalin''s true nature and evils using a corrupt pig named Napoleon that eventually dictates the farm. Animal Farm is one of the most influential political texts ever written.

"1984 - the novel marking the end of communism." George Orwell''s 1984 revolves around Winston Smith, an office worker who performs censorship duties in Oceania''s Ministry of Truth as a small cog in the wheel of a monstrous state apparatus. For years, doubts have been gnawing at him about the legitimacy of the system in which even a blink of the eye can cost him his life. The novel begins with the first step towards putting this initially purely intellectual resistance into action: Winston opens a diary. He subsequently falls in love with a young female colleague, and together they begin a love affair that, in the dictatorship that invades every aspect of life, is in itself an act of high treason. Even though they have different views on the society they live in, they are united by the rejection of its narrow moral corset and the desire for individual freedom and, not least, a right to love and feel. While Winston understands HOW the machinery of tyranny works, he does not understand WHY the massive effort of its surveillance and repressive apparatus is undertaken. When they decide to seek contact with the underground opposition and eventually end up in the hands of the repression apparatus of the state, Winston learns the true background of Oceania''s society. Until his death, George Orwell was a convinced socialist - all the greater was the effect his work, published in 1949, had on the political left of the time. On the political left, the Soviet Union was seen as the realisation of Marx''s ideas, the workers'' paradise that would free the enslaved masses from their shackles. Orwell was one of the few leftists of his time who dared to shake this narrative. Under the impression of the undeniable terror of Stalinist rule and its cynical, opportunistic cooperation with fascist and capitalist foreign countries, he criticised the hypocrisy and inhumanities of the real communism with Animal Farm and 1984.

A compilation of personal letters creates an autobiography of the author of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" through his correspondence with other literary luminaries, including T.S. Eliot and Henry Miller, as well as letters to complete strangers.

"Homage to Catalonia" is George Orwell''s personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the POUM militia of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. The war was one of the defining events of his political outlook and a significant part of what led him to write in 1946, "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism, as I understand it". The first edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952, when it appeared with an influential preface by Lionel Trilling. The only translation published in Orwell''s lifetime was into Italian, in December 1948. A French translation by Yvonne Davet—with whom Orwell corresponded, commenting on her translation and providing explanatory notes—in 1938–39, was not published until five years after Orwell''s death.

1984 or Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949. 1984 is one of George Orwell''s most powerful politically charged novels, a beautifully crafted warning against the dangers of a totalitarian society, and one of the most famous novels in the dystopian genre. Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling party in London whose every move is monitored by telescreens. Everywhere Winston goes, the party''s omniscient leader, Big Brother, watches him. This is an important novel not only for its stark warning against abusive authority (and its somewhat ironic contribution to modern television content), but also for its insights into the power of manipulating language, history, and the psychology of fear and control. These issues are perhaps even more pertinent today than when Orwell penned his novel.

"Orwell''s modern hell" - The New Yorker Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell''s chilling prophecy about the future. "Arguably the greatest dystopian novel ever written ... a book that everyone should read not just once, but again, every 10 years. It certainly deserves a reread right now." - CNN

This title brings George Orwell''s classic satire Animal Farm together with the author''s other works exploring the nature of politics and the Second World War. His topics include: corrupt political language, the oppressive British Empire, and a wry review of Mein Kampf .

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell presents a dystopian vision of a totalitarian future where the Party, led by Big Brother, exerts complete control over every aspect of life.

Collec. essays,journalism,letters of G. Orwell.-v.1

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. According to Orwell, the fable reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. The Soviet Union, he believed, had become a brutal dictatorship built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin ("un conte satirique contre Staline"), and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole".

Erlebe George Orwells Animal Farm in der englischen Originalausgabe - scharf, zeitlos und erschreckend aktuell. Die Fabel, die die Welt erschütterte George Orwells "Animal Farm" ist mehr als nur eine Geschichte über Schweine und Pferde - sie ist eine der kraftvollsten politischen Allegorien, die je geschrieben wurden. Eine Revolution beginnt mit Hoffnung und Gleichheit, endet aber in Unterdrückung und Verrat. Die Tiere stürzen ihren menschlichen Bauern, träumen von Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit - doch schon bald herrschen die Schweine. Eine einfache Geschichte mit tiefer Warnung Auf den ersten Blick liest sich "Animal Farm" wie eine kurze, zugängliche Fabel. Doch darunter liegt eine bitterernste Analyse über Macht, Propaganda und den Verrat an Idealen. Orwells klare, präzise Sprache entfaltet ihre volle Wirkung im englischen Original - direkt, schneidend, unvergesslich. Warum das Original lesen? Weil Orwells Botschaft in seinen eigenen Worten am stärksten wirkt. Sprachrhythmus, Ton und Ironie verlieren nichts von ihrer Schärfe. Für Schüler:innen, Literaturfans oder alle, die Orwell wirklich verstehen wollen, ist die Originalausgabe die beste Wahl. Stimmen zum Buch "Orwells Animal Farm bleibt eine der verheerendsten politischen Satiren, die je geschrieben wurden." (Harold Bloom) "Animal Farm ist eine zeitlose Warnung - eine Fabel, die mit jeder Generation wahrer wird." (Christopher Hitchens) Ein Muss für alle, die selbst denken wollen Ob als Wiederentdeckung oder Ersteinblick: Animal Farm im Original bietet Klarheit, Kraft und Relevanz. Kurz, präzise - und lange nachwirkend. Jetzt bestellen - die Wahrheit steckt im Original. ------------- Animal Farm by George Orwell - A Timeless Political Allegory: Orwell''s English Original George Orwell''s "Animal Farm" is a powerful allegorical novella that explores the rise and corruption of power through the story of a group of farm animals who overthrow their human owner in the hope of creating an equal society. What begins as a revolution for justice soon descends into tyranny under the rule of the pigs, mirroring the very oppression they sought to escape. Published in 1945, Animal Farm remains a brilliant satire on totalitarianism, inspired by the events of the Russian Revolution and Stalin''s regime. Orwell''s clear, deceptively simple prose makes this a gripping and thought-provoking read for all ages. A must-read classic that feels as urgent and relevant today as when it was first published.

Plongez en VO dans ce chef-d''oeuvre absolu. Pour vous aider, des traductions en marge vous permettront de bien comprendre le texte original. Ce texte en VO fait partie des chefs-d''oeuvre de la littérature anglo-saxonne.

Coming Up for Air is the seventh book by English writer George Orwell, published in June 1939 by Victor Gollancz. It was written between 1938 and 1939 while Orwell spent time recuperating from illness in French Morocco, mainly in Marrakesh. He delivered the completed manuscript to Victor Gollancz upon his return to London in March 1939. The story follows George Bowling, a 45-year old husband, father, and insurance salesman, who foresees World War II and attempts to recapture idyllic childhood innocence and escape his dreary life by returning to Lower Binfield, his birthplace. The novel is comical and pessimistic, with its view that speculative builders, commercialism, and capitalism are killing the best of rural England and the existence of new, external threats. Book Summary: As a child, Orwell lived at Shiplake and Henley in the Thames Valley. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, was a civil servant in British India, and he lived a genteel life with his mother and two sisters, though spending much of the year at boarding school at Eastbourne and later at Eton in Britain. He particularly enjoyed fishing and shooting rabbits with a neighbouring family. In 1937 Orwell spent some months fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He was wounded in the throat in May 1937, by a Fascist sniper at Huesca. Orwell was severely ill in 1938 and was advised to spend the winter in a warm climate. The novelist L. H. Myers anonymously gave £300 to enable this and Orwell went with his wife to North Africa where he stayed, in French Morocco, mainly in Marrakesh, from September 1938 to March 1939. (Orwell never learned the source of the money and he accepted it only on condition that it be considered a loan. He repaid the loan, eight years later, when he began making money from the success of Animal Farm.) Orwell wrote Coming Up for Air while he was in North Africa and left the manuscript at his agent''s office within a few hours of arriving back in England on March 30, 1939. It was submitted to Victor Gollancz, who had an option on Orwell''s next three novels, in spite of the ''cold treatment which [Orwell] had been given when Homage to Catalonia was rejected.'' In fact Orwell heard in April 1939 that Gollancz had reservations about the book, and was delaying a decision to accept it. The descriptions in the novel of a character who lectures at a meeting of Gollancz''s Left Book Club, and of the meeting itself, were such that Gollancz ''could not have helped being offended by them.'' Nevertheless, the publisher did bring out the novel without demanding major changes and it was published on June 12, 1939. It was the last Orwell novel to bear the Gollancz imprint. The themes of the book are nostalgia, the folly of trying to go back and recapture past glories and the easy way the dreams and aspirations of one''s youth can be smothered by the humdrum routine of work, marriage and getting old. It is written in the first person, with George Bowling, the forty-five-year-old protagonist, who reveals his life and experiences while undertaking a trip back to his boyhood home as an adult.

First published in 1949, George Orwell''s Nineteen Eighty-Four has lost none of the impact with which it first hit readers. Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101. . .

The downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. Setting out with the highest ideals and the best of intentions, the animals soon discover that the craving for power among some of them leads inexorably to dictatorship, corruption and disillusionment.

ReviewTrue Agony of a Socialist Orwell is obviously angry at the way Socialism has been distorted by Stalin. Using Animal characters as symbols Orwell honestly mocks and criticizes the Russian leadership under Lenin. It is a very easy to read book giving good perspectives on the Socialist Revolution. --Abhishek Kona Aug 22, 2011Animal Farm is a satirical allegory on the Russian Revolution. Orwell explains it, It is the history of revolution that went wrong. It tells the simple and tragic story of what happens when the oppressed farm rebel to attain freedom from Mr. Jones. It is about their attempt to rule the farm themselves on the basis of equality. The animals had initially aimed to form a utopian society, where each would work according to his capacity, respecting the needs of the others. But, they failed to do so. And, Animal Farm ended up being a dictatorship of the pigs that were the brightest, but did no physical work in reality. The main action of the story stands for The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. Animalism is a metaphor for Communism. Manor farm is an allegory of Russia, Mr. Jones is Russian C-Zar, Old Major stands for Karl Marx, and Snowball represents Leo Trotsky. Napolean stands for Stalin, while the dogs are the secret police. The horse, Boxer stands for the working class which works constantly for the greater good while Squealer is the propagandist. The novel is skillfully organized and presents the horrors of communism through simple story-telling. It presents what propaganda and brain washing do to the people living under the dictatorship. How the fickle minded people were swayed easily by the pigs, who managed to reverse the seven commandments and reduce them to Four legs good, two legs better . I would recommend this book to everyone above 14 years of age who has some knowledge about communism or a hint of what happened during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The book is gripping as there is always something happening. It ends with the pigs becoming mush like humans and changing the name of the farm back to the Manor Farm . The ending was sad it shows how power turns comrades into tyrannical dictators. --Diksha Mahajan Aug 14, 2012George Orwell is probably one of the few authors who has more than one book featuring regularly in the all the favorites of most people. In such a short book, we get to experience the entire range of the human emotions - probably characterized by the animals. But, what this book basically makes us realize is the fact that politics is relevant at all times. --Deep Agrawal Mar 2, 2012About the AuthorAbout the Author: The author of Animal Farm is George Orwell. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair. He was a very popular novelist, essayist, critic and journalist. His works spoke out against the social injustice that was prevalent at that time. He was in favour of democratic socialism and was opposed to totalitarianism. He continues to be held in high esteem as one of the most influential voices of his time, who spoke out about the English culture, as it was, during his lifespan.