Homage to Catalonia

[chickenfeet]

I've been listening to an unabridged version of Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. It's been many years since I read the book and listening to it has reinforced my opinion that Orwell is one of the greatest English writers of non fiction. I had the same feeling when rereading The Road to Wigan Pier recently. I'm trying to analyze why I think Orwell is so good and have decided it comes down to a combination of factors.

Passion and compassion. Orwell is not naive about humanity and certainly doesn't have an exaggeratedly romantic view of "the workers" but he believes deeply in the essential hope that lies within humanity and recognises that a better, richer future is possible. It's so refreshing after years in what passes for the "left" has been serving up distrust and meanspiritedness.

Honesty. Paraphrasing, "I have my biases and, necessarily, a limited viewpoint so take what I say with a pinch of salt. Test my conclusions against the facts as you know them and see if they stand up. Just apply the same scepticism to the other guys!".

Really perceptive analysis. His analysis of the role of the USSR/CPSU/Comintern/PSUC in the Spanish War is brilliant. Given that he was doing it with the limited information available in 1937, it's extraordinary.

Clarity of exposition. Orwell's logic is impeccable. He constructs his case with absolute clarity of structure. He differentiates clearly between facts, conclusions, opinions and hypotheses and provides claim support accordingly. In short, he is the polar opposite of the Stalinist propagandists.

All in all, it's a very fine piece of writing.

Comments

[gramarye1971]

You've pretty much nailed every single reason why I love Orwell's nonfiction. I don't have anything much to add except that I absolutely agree with all of the above points. ^_^

[shezan.livejournal.com]

One of my all-time favourite books (with Wigan Pier and Down and Out, etc.) Orwell isn't an author the French understand (they read 1984 and believe they get it) and I am indebted to Simon Leys - a footnote in the splendid Chinese Shadows - for leading me to Inside the Whale, then the Compleat essays, letters etc. The honesty and the refusal of any bathos (for instance in "How the Poor Die") were a powerful influence.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Also: he had a sense of humour (the portraits of the sandal-wearing weirdos attracted by the Socialist movement); and of course he was powerfully English (everything in The Lion and the Unicorn, natch.)

And the best opening sentences: "As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me." Beat that for style.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

He does have a very good, and very English, sense of humour. He is also a very English socialist. In a way he reminds me of EP Thompson.

I don't quite know how to characterise it but his description of being shot is amazing.

[sabotabby]

I love that book.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Belatedly chiming in:
Non-fiction, yes. Fiction, very iffy. His essays are beautiful polemic; the problem is that his fiction gets looked at in the same way as people see his essays, and fiction should not be analysed so. Polemicists do not get deified as novelists, and I would respect Animal Farm and 1984 so much more had I been given them as Polemic not Literature.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Totally agree about the fiction. I quite like 1984 and Animal Farm but the earlier novels I'm much less convinced by. In any event his fiction is not in the same league as his non-fiction.