- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books (Sep 18 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0465030491
- ISBN-13: 978-0465030491
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.5 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 381 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #305,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Vanity Fair and Nation contributor Hitchens passionately defends a great writer from attacks by both right and left, though he also refutes those fans who proclaim his sainthood. George Orwell (1903-1950), a socialist who abhorred all forms of totalitarianism, was, as Hitchens points out, prescient about the "three great subjects of the twentieth century:" imperialism, fascism, and Stalinism. In all things, Orwell's feelings were every bit as visceral as intellectual, and Hitchens devotes some of his best writing to describing Orwell's first-hand experiences with empire in Burma. It was there that he learned to hate racism, bullying and exploitation of the lower classes. "Orwell can be read," notes Hitchens, "as one of the founders of... post-colonialism." Orwell's insights about fascism and Stalinism crystallized in Spain, while he was fighting in the Civil War. Hitchens offers an excellent analysis of the writer's women, both real (his wives) and fictional, to show that the feminist critique of Orwell (that he didn't like strong, brainy women) may be unfair, though Hitchens also points out what feminists have ignored: Orwell's "revulsion for birth control and abortion." Hitchens brilliantly marshals his deep knowledge of Orwell's work. Fans of Orwell will enjoy Hitchens's learned and convincing defense, while those unfamiliar with Orwell may perhaps be induced to return to the source. (Oct.) Forecast: Hitchens has made a splash with recent books (Letters to a Young Contrarian and The Trial of Henry Kissinger). Basic is banking on similar success with a 30,000 first printing.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Far from being an ordinary biography, this small volume is an in-depth investigation of the essential George Orwell-"the heart on fire and the brain on ice." Hitchens recognizes that Orwell was more than the author of 1984 and Animal Farm. He was a keen critic of Nazism and Stalinism and didn't soften his pictures of them to sell books. His analysis of the grave inequities of those two forms of government is sufficiently acute to apply to the early 21st century's political spectrum. While claiming that Orwell "requires extricating from a pile of saccharine tablets and moist hankies [as] an object of sickly veneration and sentimental over-praise," Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair and the Nation, asserts that in contrast to his many contemporaries who wrote about the era's political issues (e.g., Louis MacNeice, Stephen Spender, and Cecil Day Lewis), "it [is] possible to reprint every single letter, book review and essay composed by Orwell without exposing him to any embarrassment"-a remarkable feat, indeed. The only problem with this study is that it assumes that the reader already knows that Orwell conscientiously overcame his early anti-intellectualism, his dislike of the "dark" people of the English Empire, and his squeamishness about homosexuality-all to become a great humanist. Thus, it is written for readers who have already done their homework. Recommended for large libraries with extensive political science holdings.
Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Simple Truth,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Why Orwell Matters (Paperback)
As someone who has just begun to read the works of Christopher Hitchens - a few essays from Vanity Fair and "God is not Great" - my appreciation of the man is admittedly thin. Yes, I know Hitchens is reputed to be polemical, hard-headed and thorough in his analysis of big issues, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Rather than intimidate me, these credentials oddly enougly enticed me to pick up another one of Hitchens's controversial studies titled "Why Orwell Matters" on the life and times of the English writer, George Orwell. Anything about Orwell as an essayist,columnist,broadcaster, and civil servant that is written by a big-name critic like Hitchens is bound to have something intelligent to say about his continuing impact on the modern world. To start with, Hitchens does an extensive job of clarifying Orwell's literary values as seen through the eyes of the political left and right, the nationalists, the imperialists, the feminists, and finally the common man. As one reads through each of these takes on Orwell, he or she must be careful to understand what Hitchens is in effect doing. He is lining up all these opposing and conflicting views on the true identity of Orwell in history in order to destroy them like straw men. For him, each of these idealisms try to distort Orwell's true affect on history by presenting him as a traitor to or defender of their narrow cause. In the process of exposing the inadequacies of each of their positions on the 'Orwellian' persona, Hitchens offers what he believes is a more honest, straightforward assessment. Orwell was a writer who saw life in the simplest of terms: tyranny versus freedom. Within these parameters, Hitchens produces extensive proof that consistently shows Orwell writing about and speaking against governments and societies that oppress the individual. Those who would enlist Orwell's simple message in aid of some great ideological cause, whether it be communism, socialism or conservatism, are the clearest examples of tyrants using ideas to solidify power. Hitchens does a remarkable job on showing how "1984" really is really an apocalyptic expose on what happens to a society that loses its grasp on freedom. The many impoverished characters that pop up quite regularly in this and other works are all victims of those at the top who make it their life calling to control and dehumanize the underling. While some would say that such a philosophy clearly makes Orwell a socialist, Hitchens believes that the true measure of the man is something deeper and personal understanding of the lot of humankind. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see what influence writers command in their words when shaping the thoughts of others, including Hitchens himself.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Orwell Exegesis,
By Ron Hunka (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why Orwell Matters (Hardcover)
WHY ORWELL MATTERSChristopher Hitchens ISBN 0-465-03049-1 In a lifetime of reading, the writer whose books and essays have influenced my thinking more than any other is George Orwell. It is commendable that Christopher Hitchens singles him out as a writer that matters. But I am somewhat disappointed in this book. The book is not a biography. Hitchens writes about Orwell's books and ideas rather than his personal life, but he includes so little about the latter that one has difficulty determining Orwell's circumstances. For example, Hitchens tells us that Orwell's father was a non-factor in his life, but he hardly makes clear why. Elsewhere, he informs us that Orwell, who he says was awkward with women, married twice. Again, a little background on the marriages might be helpful. Hitchens sets out to defend Orwell against attacks by writers, politicians, and assorted adversaries. The book has too many such defenses. Hitchens devotes so much energy to these pursuits that in the end it is, it seems, the quality of the portrayal of Orwell's work, that is sacrificed. Not enough of the clear, unpretentious feel of Orwell's writing comes through in this book. Hitchens does call attention a number of times to Orwell's fine essay , "On Politics and the English Language". In this essay, among other things, Orwell laid out some simple rules for straightforward, honest writing. One of these rules, for example, is "Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent." Although Hitchens may be Orwell's advocate, he seems not a practitioner of his writing guidelines. Consider Hitchens' sentence, for example, "Notwithstanding this elaborate disavowal or "dementi", authors in need of a quick fix continued to use even the clapped-out Labourism of the late 1970s as a template for sub-Orwellian literary enterprises." Toward the end of this book, Hitchens writes that Orwell's thought has largely been vindicated by time and that he "need not seek any pardon on that score". Exactly, his work stands alone sufficiently not to have required the earlier defenses. In summary, Hitchens also offers that Orwell had a "commitment to language as the partner of truth". This pithy synopsis of his work gets to the heart of Orwell's writing. I wish the rest of the book were as apropos.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting perspective on frequently misunderstood man,
By
This review is from: Why Orwell Matters (Hardcover)
I've never been George Orwells biggest fan. It's not his ideas that I disagree with so much as an aversion to mixing politics and fiction. I've yet to read a really good piece of polemic in fiction form that could truly be called Literature, and it has always bothered me that people claim 1984 as a work of art. Thus is was with great delight that I read in this book Hitchens description of the novel as one of the "Good Bad Books" of 20th century fiction. This book enabled me to divorce Orwell from my views on literature and art, and start to view him from a scope of political scrutiny. Hitchens writes the portrait of a man who was, throughout his life, a contradiction. He aborhed racism and expressed a desire for true equality, while at the same time combating conservative views in himself that believed 'blacks' and the poor to be inferior. A man who spent his life in constant support of socialism, yet filling volumes with scathing criticism of the Left. What ultimately surfaces in this book is a picture of a man who believed in truth above all. on the closing page, Hitchens states that "politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring, as do the few irreducible individual who maintain allegiance to them." This is why Orwell matters, not because of what he contributed to politics, important as those contribution may be, but because he followed principle above all. This book is undoubtbly worth the time and effort to read, but it isn't without it's flaws. In more than a few spots Hitchens falls prey to the "sickely veneration and sentimental overpraise" that he condemns in the introduction. The lack of footnotes and bibilography is troubling to say the least, as he rarely gives exact locations of quotes, something he repeadetly calls Orwells detractors on. If you can, ignore these faults, and simply realize that this book is not an objective authority, and should be taken in most parts as merely opinion. But regardless, it is very englightening opinion on one of the most misunderstood figures of our time.
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