Amazon.com: A Collection of Essays: 9780156186001: Orwell, George: Books

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$10.49","priceAmount":10.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"g%2B0qg4wmYGKOph3uPOU%2B1ZE1StOvhaPQ4zmCmUkGt6JBCqxx6znUCLyw3lxu%2F5NH54fKCPO8SaTTdStF3BxORNBkUquKmYh8sI%2F4lDAY3%2BTsp5DBRrKyFpG%2FGuSbsk%2BZ2ysGB0Ts090%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$8.21","priceAmount":8.21,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"21","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"g%2B0qg4wmYGKOph3uPOU%2B1ZE1StOvhaPQ6Pok5ha5yDZX6y4tgkEq5fUxZYniIl4%2FvOnEtkzVB8wwBKPbNA%2BzWNL0V%2B4HDDMqhMTQW4uQ%2FZXgGYGz5PCS%2Fk7uiq1KKfVWBR6vkI9%2F1D9nae9cEKR88BvKjk%2Fiy3kpTstXfXzRuExx1xpgSxrhGN%2FvhsQVmQxk","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}],"desktop_buybox_group_2":[{"displayPrice":"$10.49","priceAmount":10.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"g%2B0qg4wmYGKOph3uPOU%2B1ZE1StOvhaPQ4zmCmUkGt6JBCqxx6znUCLyw3lxu%2F5NH54fKCPO8SaTTdStF3BxORNBkUquKmYh8sI%2F4lDAY3%2BTsp5DBRrKyFpG%2FGuSbsk%2BZ2ysGB0Ts090%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"PICKUP","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":2}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

A clear-eyed, uncompromising collection of essays from the "conscience of his generation" and the author of 1984 (V. S. Pritchett). One of the most thought-provoking and vivid essayists of the twentieth century, George Orwell fought the injustices of his time with singular vigor through pen and paper. In this selection of essays, he ranges from reflections on his boyhood schooling and the profession of writing to his views on the Spanish Civil War and British imperialism.

The works collected here include “Such, Such Were the Joys,” “Shooting an Elephant,” “Politics and the English Language,” and “Why I Write.” Perfect for those new to Orwell’s work and a wonderful compilation for the experienced Orwell reader, A Collection of Essays is an invaluable anthology.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Mariner Books Classics
Publication date

October 21, 1970
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

5.31 x 0.83 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0156186004
ISBN-13

978-0156186001
See all details

This item: A Collection of Essays

$10.49

Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Down and Out in Paris and London

$11.89

Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

The Road To Wigan Pier: (Authorized Orwell Edition): A Mariner Books Classic

$9.89

Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price: $00

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Choose items to buy together.

The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell
George Orwell

Paperback
$19.95
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
Homage to Catalonia
George Orwell

Paperback
-31%$13.78
List: $19.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Orwell: Essays: Introduction by John Carey (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series)
George Orwell

Hardcover
-28%$32.49
List: $45.00
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Politics and the English Language
George Orwell

Paperback
$7.89
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
All Art Is Propaganda: (Authorized Orwell Edition): A Mariner Books Classic
George Orwell

Paperback
-38%$10.49
List: $16.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon
Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell

Paperback
-37%$11.89
List: $18.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 27
FREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by Amazon

Customer reviews

459 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers find the book great, enjoyable, and a joy to read. They also say it's full of interesting comments and perspectives. However, some customers report missing content and typographical errors. Opinions are mixed on the writing quality, with some finding it inspiring and well-written, while others say it's unreadable.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

Readability Insight Writing quality Content missing

18 customers mention "Readability"18 positive0 negative

Customers find the book great, interesting, and a joy to read. They say it's a classic of English literature that keeps their attention.

"...The thinking laid out in this book is that good; that clear; that unique...." Read more

"...comics for boys, or explaining his own compulsion to write, Orwell is always engaging and writes in clear, crisp prose that most essayists can only..." Read more

"...but the clarity and incisiveness of Orwell's writing makes him worth reading whether he's discussing the trouble with leftist politics or the..." Read more

"...It kept my attention though it was much longer than I had anticipated. I did struggle through it at times and breezed through it at others...." Read more

15 customers mention "Insight"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book full of interesting comments and perspectives. They say it's thought-provoking and penetrating. Readers also mention the essays are introspective and offer a deeper perspective into his earlier life. Overall, they describe the book as an excellent collection of inspiring and well-written essays.

"...in which Orwell lived and simultaneuosly displayed an absolutely timeless thought process...." Read more

"...It is insightful on Dickens the man and his politics, and how they relate to his work...." Read more

"...His writings and this collection of essays are very introspective of the eccentricities of human nature; his satire is cutting to the bone in it's..." Read more

"...Orwell's thought provoking and penetrating analysis captures so much about Dickens and his work in such a compact and lucid style that even his..." Read more

29 customers mention "Writing quality"20 positive9 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's inspiring and well-written, while others say the typographical errors throughout the kindle edition make the book unreadable. They also mention some of the essays are dull and the table of contents and essay titles don't match the print edition.

"...Aside from that, these are clearly the writings of a balanced thinker, someone who could mentally stand apart from the times he lived in and the..." Read more

"...These essays are the best in the genre, and definitely among Orwell's best essays...." Read more

"...Some of the essays were quite dull, however, But I enjoyed the ones on writing and how written English often moves toward obscurity...." Read more

"...This collection contains several classic essays -- "Shooting an Elephant", "Politics and the English Language", "Such, Such were the Joys"..." Read more

3 customers mention "Content missing"0 positive3 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the content of the book. They mention it's missing over half of its contents, 33 pages, and a table of contents. Readers also say the Kindle edition has no essay titles that match.

"...But it also is striking to me that this book does not contain Bookshop Memories, a very powerful piece about Orwell's experiences as a young..." Read more

"...forward to reading the most in this collection is missing over half of it's contents." Read more

"The Kindle edition has no table of contents, and the essay titles do not match the essays of the print edition." Read more

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort by reviews type

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

M. Strong

The insights of a truly first-rate mind

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2006

Verified Purchase

I picked this book up on the recommendation of someone whose thinking I really respect. As I began reading, I had no idea what to expect. Pretty early in the book, I dog-eared a page because it possessed a really penetrating insight. By the time I finished reading, the upper corner of the closed book was substantially thicker than the rest because of all the dog-eared pages. The thinking laid out in this book is that good; that clear; that unique.

Orwell wrote most of these essays in the 1930s and 1940s, but his thinking and insights read as if they came from someone looking directly at our world today. Aside from that, these are clearly the writings of a balanced thinker, someone who could mentally stand apart from the times he lived in and the popular thought of his day. Orwell sees through and beyond the surface motivations of society and more interestingly, of himself, and comments clearly and precisely on what he sees.

Reading these essays dropped me right into the times in which Orwell lived and simultaneuosly displayed an absolutely timeless thought process. If you enjoy clear, detached thinking and writing, these assays are a must for you. Very highly recommended.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Eric Mayforth

Orwell Was a Great Essayist, Too

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

George Orwell is most famous for his novels "1984" and "Animal Farm," but was a superb essayist as well. In this collection of essays from the 1930s and 1940s, Orwell holds forth on a wide range of topics.

The reader learns much about the author's home country of England in this book. Orwell remembers his challenges as a child in an English boarding school--some of his travails there came as a result of the country's class system, a topic that the author also takes up in a lengthier essay about his homeland later in the book. Orwell notes some ways in which England had changed since the early nineteenth century.

During his early life, Britain still had its empire (although Orwell wondered in these pages how long it would last), and the reader gets a look at what imperialism really looked like on the ground in an essay that tells the story of an elephant being shot and killed in Burma.

Politics was at the forefront of world events in the Thirties and Forties, with free societies attempting to defend themselves against various forms of totalitarianism. Orwell speaks here of the world's trajectory during this time, and in these essays touches on Gandhi, the Spanish Civil War, authoritarianism, left-wing thought, and what was happening to the concept of objective truth in the West.

The author's insights into human nature were keen, with great observations here on what it was like to be a child, characteristics of various stages of life, humor, crime, power in interpersonal relations, class, and other aspects of life.

Orwell also examined the writing of other authors such as Dickens and Kipling, described the state of boys' weeklies, wrote an essay on language, and offered his thoughts on the motivation of writers.

Most people likely do not even know that Orwell was such a prolific essayist, but those who make that discovery and read this collection will likely find that they enjoy his work in that arena as much as they enjoyed his novels.

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sarang Gopalakrishnan

Good Stuff, Mostly

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2004

Verified Purchase

Note that all the essays in this collection are available online, most of them at multiple sites.
This sample of Orwell's essays is representative but perhaps a little too small. At least two other essays, "A Hanging" and "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool" should have been included.
"Such, Such Were the Joys" is a moving reminiscence of boarding school, where Orwell had a miserable time as a frail student on "reduced fees".
"Charles Dickens" is a long piece of literary-social criticism. It is insightful on Dickens the man and his politics, and how they relate to his work. Orwell notes the class limitations on Dickens's outlook, but feels that in spite of them, Dickens is a "free intelligence".
"Rudyard Kipling" is an essay in the same style. Orwell admits Kipling's faults but feels that despite them, he produced better poetry than most of his contemporaries. This is put down to his writing about/for a class with a sense of responsibility.
"The Art of Donald McGill", "Raffles and Miss Blandish" and "Boys' Weeklies" are essays that analyse public sentiment through a survey of popular literature and art. These essays are the best in the genre, and definitely among Orwell's best essays.
"Inside the Whale" is an essay about contemporary (1920-1940) serious literature. Parts I and III praise Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer; part II reviews literature between the wars. The image of a transparent whale (inside which Henry Miller sits) is arresting, but this essay is not otherwise a very good one. Orwell says several obvious or false things about 1920s writers, misrepresents the Auden group, and is somewhat hyperbolic about Henry Miller.
"England your England" is an essay about the English national spirit, and is very revealing about Orwell's own patriotism.
"Looking Back on the Spanish War" -- Orwell fought with a Trotskyist militia in Spain; his experiences are recounted in Homage to Catalonia. This is a brief reminiscence. Hopefully it will inspire you to read the book.
"Politics and the English Language" has been very influential; its thesis is that the use of cliches and euphemisms leads to muddy thinking which makes totalitarianism bearable. It includes his six rules of good writing. Orwell also makes this point in the brilliant appendix to 1984.
"Marrakech" and "Shooting an Elephant" are essays about colonialism. The latter describes it from much closer range; it describes an experience Orwell had as a colonial administrator in Burma and is one of his most famous essays.
"Reflections on Gandhi" discusses Gandhi's personal ethics and political philosophy. Orwell's critique of Gandhi is memorable:
"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals. No doubt alcohol, tobacco, and so forth, are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is also a thing that human beings must avoid."
"Why I Write" is an account of Orwell's development as a writer. Orwell claims that the political purpose was foremost in all his writing, and ends this essay with the famous aphorism that "good prose is like a windowpane."

131 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

James

Small but Beautiful book

Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2024

Verified Purchase

Very nice binding. Gold edged pages like a fancy bible or something. Nice cloth bookmark built in and quality paper.
Very nice book

Chedapan

SMALEST BOOK with tiny print.

Reviewed in Spain on July 24, 2024

Verified Purchase

This book is tiny and that is a selling secret until delivery. The font used is about size 6 so very hard to read. I was refunded by Amazon and was asked to keep the item as it was too much trouble for sending back. Pity as the content is worthy of study. I am doing well with the Kindle version but that is without illustrations.

L

Collection of his more famous essays.

Reviewed in India on April 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

Paper quality ok. Print is little awkward. About writer nothing more can be added to his greatness.