Homage to Catalonia
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Summary
This is Orwell's memoir of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War - a groundbreaking work of dissident literature drawn from vivid personal experience.
There are occasions where it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all...
Both a memoir of Orwell's experiences during the Spanish Civil War and a heartfelt tribute to those who died, Homage to Catalonia is an extraordinary first-hand record of his time on the frontline. Written with all of the depth, passion and deep human understanding that defines Orwell's writing this is a vivid account of the battles that were faced by ordinary working people as they fought for both their lives and their ideologies.
Although Orwell was himself near-fatally wounded he finds both bleak and comic notes in his experience which is recorded with such clarity and depth that this short work has become one of his best known.
'The finest model of how to write about a foreign conflict, a war or a revolution... Brilliant reportage' Timothy Garten-Ash
'[Orwell] describes what is happening in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War in such a way that we are able to see why he’s so upset about Soviet power. His argument is not one of category and concept but of irresistible observation' Timothy Snyder
'When he went to Spain, [Orwell] was an unknown. He wasn’t Hemingway. He wasn’t a well-connected intellectual. He just had this amazing eye for detail. He was an amazing observer, and he could write so powerfully. This book, to me, is just one of the classics of foreign reporting' Guy Raz
There are occasions where it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all...
Both a memoir of Orwell's experiences during the Spanish Civil War and a heartfelt tribute to those who died, Homage to Catalonia is an extraordinary first-hand record of his time on the frontline. Written with all of the depth, passion and deep human understanding that defines Orwell's writing this is a vivid account of the battles that were faced by ordinary working people as they fought for both their lives and their ideologies.
Although Orwell was himself near-fatally wounded he finds both bleak and comic notes in his experience which is recorded with such clarity and depth that this short work has become one of his best known.
'The finest model of how to write about a foreign conflict, a war or a revolution... Brilliant reportage' Timothy Garten-Ash
'[Orwell] describes what is happening in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War in such a way that we are able to see why he’s so upset about Soviet power. His argument is not one of category and concept but of irresistible observation' Timothy Snyder
'When he went to Spain, [Orwell] was an unknown. He wasn’t Hemingway. He wasn’t a well-connected intellectual. He just had this amazing eye for detail. He was an amazing observer, and he could write so powerfully. This book, to me, is just one of the classics of foreign reporting' Guy Raz
Reviews
A war story that is both brutally honest and lyrically beautiful
Daily Telegraph
