Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays [Paperback]

George Orwell , George Packer
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
List Price: CDN$ 15.23
Price: CDN$ 14.42 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
You Save: CDN$ 0.81 (5%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Thursday, May 23? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback CDN $14.42  

Book Description

Oct 14 2009
Volume 11 from The Complete Works of George Orwell

The most important document that has come to light regarding Orwell's Spanish experiences is the deposition charging him and Eileen with espionage and high treason, a charge unknown to them. This is fully analyzed and can now be read in the context of the disputes that then divided the Left, well illustrated by the letters and documents printed here, notably his bitter response to Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War. This volume also includes a sequence of letters that throws a completely new light on Orwell's personal relationships.


From the Trade Paperback edition.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed


Product Details


Product Description

Review

"The edition is a national treasure" -- Michael Shelden Daily Telegraph "A scholarly edition of world class" -- Bernard Crick New Statesman "One of the great triumphs of late 20th-century publishing" -- D J Taylor Independent "The edition is a wonder" -- Bevis Hillier Spectator --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Eric Arthur Blair - better known as George Orwell - was born on 25 June 1903 in Bengal. He was educated at Eton and then served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He lived in Paris for two years, and then returned to England where he worked as a private tutor, schoolteacher and bookshop assistant. He fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded in the throat. During the Second World War he served as Talks Producer for the Indian Service of the BBC and then joined Tribune as its literary editor. He died in London in January 1950. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

5 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars On Imperialism and War Aug 15 2009
By Coach C TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
This is the second in the series of re-publishing of George Orwell essays edited by George Packer. The focus of this collection is to highlight Orwell's more journalistic side. The essays in this collection are less persuasive and much more narrative and impressionist.

Orwell's famous "Shooting an Elephant" essay on British imperialism in Burma is included here. It is no wonder the essay has become a standard in most undergraduate courses on British empire, Orwell exposes the contradictions of empire, that "when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom he destroys."

Probably the most interesting essays are the diary entries by Orwell during and after the Battle of Britain which are written with unflinching lucidity. We've all read about Dunkirk, Coventry, etc... but its always fascinating to read what real people felt at the time, to read about their reactions in the moment, rather than historical texts or even old newspapers. In between descriptions, Orwell even enlightens us with the odd insight such as his observation that "War is simply a reversal of civilised life."

A few of the essays at the end of the book, post-WWII are interesting such as his essay on racial prejudice titled "As I Please." But the final series of essays "Such, Such were the Joys" are no more than ramblings about the banalities of private school, specifically St. Cyprians where Orwell went to school.

Overall, I would recommend this book if just for the 100 or so pages from Orwell's diary during the war. The rest is average by Orwell's standards, which is certainly better than most.
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.7 out of 5 stars  7 reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A nice sample of Orwell's essays Oct 31 2008
By Stephen R. Laniel - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
George Orwell is unavoidably associated with 1984, as well he should be. And if that's what it takes to keep the man's reputation going through another generation, then by all means let that be his main claim to fame. Orwell should be almost as famous for Homage To Catalonia, his heartbreaking report on the Spanish Civil War. Like many Europeans and some Americans (Hemingway among them), Orwell was on the losing side, fighting the fascists and losing much of his idealism along the way.

Most of the essays in Facing Unpleasant Facts come after Homage to Catalonia, so they all have a realist and rather bleak view of the world. The message throughout is that we all know certain facts about the world, but that somehow people have just avoided saying them; hence the title of the collection. Elsewhere, in his famous essay "Politics and the English Language," Orwell notes that the language itself has become impoverished and calcified; without someone to sandblast off the rubbish, it will be impossible to talk straightforwardly about the way the world actually is.

Orwell honors that goal in Facing Unpleasant Facts. He is the master of the common English sentence. He tells stories about British colonialism that are devastating and to the point, as in "Shooting an Elephant" -- a perfect little gem of an essay, in which Orwell recounts killing the beast just so that he won't look like a fool before his Burmese subjects. In this sort of essay, the story doesn't spin very far from Orwell himself; he lets the audience draw its own inferences about the nature of colonialism. In others -- quite a few others -- he's more impersonal but just as concise: "England, Your England" is a series of flicks of the knife directed at the British government. The acid bubbles:

And yet somehow the ruling class decayed, lost its ability, its daring, finally even its ruthlessness, until a time came when stuffed shirts like [Anthony] Eden or [Lord] Halifax could stand out as men of exceptional talent. As for [Stanley] Baldwin , one could not even dignify him with the name of stuffed shirt. He was simply a hole in the air.

Beneath it all is a visceral sadness for the suffering of mankind. Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War because he wanted to help people. In "Clink," he gets liquored up and tries to get arrested, so that he might document the viciousness of the police. (Perhaps to his dismay, they weren't all that vicious.) In "How The Poor Die," he recounts a few weeks he spent recuperating in a public hospital for the poor in France; the doctors hardly noticed that the sacks of flesh they were working on were human beings. In "Such, Such Were The Joys," we get a Roald Dahlish taste of the barbarity of British schools. Orwell sees great potential in the world, and much suffering; those further up in the hierarchy, whether deliberately or not (mostly deliberately) force those below them to suffer.

Facing Unpleasant Facts also contains some trifles not really connected to the collection's title. For instance, there's a little essay on how to make a proper English cup of tea. There are a few pages in defense of British food. There's a charming essay on the return of spring; I have to imagine that essay rescued a few London moods at the height of the Blitz. A man can't argue the virtues of socialism all the time. I think it's safe to say, though, that socialism is where Orwell's heart lay; the springtime merely paid the bills.

Facing Unpleasant Facts is a fun, quick read. Its staying power lies in understanding Orwell more than it lies in understanding Britain, or socialism, though it's valuable on those as well. It's most valuable to budding essayists, who want to study at the feet of a master.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I doubt we will ever have a more lucid essayist /novelist in this century or any other. Dec 29 2011
By WA Ridley - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
These essays are as good as his novels; because you get to see things close-up in his mind ... a treat if there ever was one. George Orwell lets you in on it all, and tells the screeching posers what they don't want to hear.
5.0 out of 5 stars Facing Unpleasant Facts: Essential Reading May 10 2013
By Kevin - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Orwell's personal essays have never really been sufficiently accessible for American readers before this anthology. Facing Unpleasant Facts is the best possible introduction to Orwell, particularly for providing a balanced sense of his overall achievement. His most famous novel, 1984, is almost unreadably grim, but these essays are various; some of them are even quite funny for those who appreciate "black humor." Also, Orwell is, probably correctly, widely regarded as an atheist saint, but these essays reveal a man who was very human - and quite likable.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges