Essays

Name: Essays
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: George Orwell
ISBN: 9781094061597

Author: George Orwell

Narrator: Alex Hyde-White

Unabridged: 25 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 11/30/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Literary Collections

Synopsis

The articles collected in George Orwell’s Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century—a man who elevated political writing to an art. This outstanding collection brings together Orwell’s longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes “My Country Right or Left,” “Decline of the English Murder,” “Shooting an Elephant,” and “A Hanging.”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 defense of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell’s essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move, and entertain.

About George Orwell

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blaire, was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and literary critic. He is best known for his works of social criticism and opposition to totalitarianism. He also wrote nonfiction about his experiences in the working class and as a solder. His work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective “Orwellian,"describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices, has become part of the English language. In 2008, the London Times named him the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

About Claire Bloom

Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll’s House, and Long Day’s Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen’s birthday honors for services to drama.

About Alex Hyde-White

Alex Hyde-White is an actor and a producer of two films and hundreds of audiobooks thru his label Punch Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by MJ on June 08, 2015

Numerous inadequate volumes of Orwell’s superlative essays are available from legit presses and bootleggers, bundled together under thematic pretences or skinnied down to the longer more ‘essential’ writings. This monolithic hardback includes the famous and forever pleasurable classics ‘Shooting an......more

Goodreads review by Roy on June 05, 2017

What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. George Orwell is one of the inescapable writers of the last century. Far from becoming irrelevant, his works seem to become more significant with each passing year (as most recently evidenced by......more

Goodreads review by Nikola on August 21, 2019

Da li bi zbirku eseja sa nekoliko sjajnih tekstova, trebalo oceniti najvišom ocenom? Možda su ocene pomalo detinjaste, ali ih je zabavno davati. Nisam čitao Orvela (čak ni 1984), ali sam naleteo na njegov esej o radu britanskih rudara 1920-ih. Te slike su mi se urezale u pamćenje, pa ih sad redovno......more

Goodreads review by Jay on May 01, 2024

1984 was undoubtedly Orwell’s masterpiece, this much we all know. However, if you’ll permit me to use a tired metaphor unlikely to meet with the approval of the great man himself (see writer’s rule number 1: “Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in prin......more

Goodreads review by John on January 15, 2023

A total of 41 essays. Other reviews go into more detail. A Hanging, Shooting an Elephant, In Defence of P.G Wodehouse and Charles Dickens were some of my favourites. Orwell’s brilliant wit, satire, love of nature and insights into a variety of topics shine through in his writings. Sadly, the themes......more

Quotes

“This wonderful collection of essays is greatly enhanced by Alex Hyde–White’s attentive narration…Throughout this collection, Hyde–White’s narration maintains consistency as he captures the author’s tone and intonation. When Orwell includes dialogue, Hyde–White smoothly shifts into character…Throughout his reading, Hyde–White expertly guides the listener through Orwell’s fascinating ideas.” AudioFile

“Orwell is the most influential political writer of the twentieth century…He gives us a gritty, personal example of how to engage as a writer in politics.” New York Review of Books

“[Orwell] evolved, in his seemingly offhand way, the clearest and most compelling English prose style this century…But of course he was more than just a great writer. We need him today because [of] his passion for the truth.” Sunday Times (London)

“The real reason we read Orwell is because his own fault-line, his fundamental schism, his hybridity, left him exceptionally sensitive to the fissure–which is everywhere apparent–between what ought to be the case and what actually is the case. He says the unsayable.” Financial TImes (London)