Shooting an Elephant
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Product Description
Product Description
'Shooting an Elephant' is Orwell's searing and painfully honest account of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma; killing an escaped elephant in front of a crowd 'solely to avoid looking a fool'. The other masterly essays in this collection include classics such as 'My Country Right or Left', 'How the Poor Die' and 'Such, Such were the Joys', his memoir of the horrors of public school, as well as discussions of Shakespeare, sleeping rough, boys' weeklies and a spirited defence of English cooking. Opinionated, uncompromising, provocative and hugely entertaining, all show Orwell's unique ability to get to the heart of any subject.
About the Author
Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in India in 1903. He was educated at Eton, served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and worked in Britain as a private tutor, schoolteacher, bookshop assistant and journalist. In 1936, Orwell went to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded. In 1938 he was admitted into a sanatorium and from then on was never fully fit. George Orwell died in London in 1950.
Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include Friends in High Places, The English and The Political Animal. He lives in Oxfordshire.
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First Sentence
From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fabulous collection of essays from one of the great masters of the form. It's fascinating to see him realise that the political Left is as susceptible as the Right to stultifying orthodoxy. From the outset though Orwell shows himself to be a very English sort of radical: wary of isms and ologies, of grand plans and hyperbole.
He really has more in common than he'd perhaps have liked to admit with Dickens, the subject of one of the best essays here. Both were a complex mixture of progressive and traditionalist. Orwell is additionally a mixture of Internationalist and patriot and we see this reflected here with an essay on the Spanish Civil War followed by one in defence of English cooking.
Back to Dickens, why is he so interesting to Orwell? He suggests it's because he read Dickens during the crucial years of childhood. I think there's more to it than that: beneath Orwell's criticisms of Dickens lies the knowledge that for all his limitations Dickens is the greater novelist. He may lack powers of analysis - it's hard to imagine him writing an essay of anywhere near this penetration - but his characters breathe.
Orwell is too honest a thinker to evade this truth, just as he's too honest a thinker to tow the Leftist party line. This honesty coupled with a wonderful curiosity about the world means that in this collection you'll find essays about everything from toads, nonsense poetry and the value of popular fiction to reflections on Gandhi and an unforgettable description of a pauper's hospital. Recommended!
He really has more in common than he'd perhaps have liked to admit with Dickens, the subject of one of the best essays here. Both were a complex mixture of progressive and traditionalist. Orwell is additionally a mixture of Internationalist and patriot and we see this reflected here with an essay on the Spanish Civil War followed by one in defence of English cooking.
Back to Dickens, why is he so interesting to Orwell? He suggests it's because he read Dickens during the crucial years of childhood. I think there's more to it than that: beneath Orwell's criticisms of Dickens lies the knowledge that for all his limitations Dickens is the greater novelist. He may lack powers of analysis - it's hard to imagine him writing an essay of anywhere near this penetration - but his characters breathe.
Orwell is too honest a thinker to evade this truth, just as he's too honest a thinker to tow the Leftist party line. This honesty coupled with a wonderful curiosity about the world means that in this collection you'll find essays about everything from toads, nonsense poetry and the value of popular fiction to reflections on Gandhi and an unforgettable description of a pauper's hospital. Recommended!
Format:Paperback
The genius of Orwell is that what ever the subject- Shakespeare, imperialism, tabloid journalism, Ghandi or what ever,he writes with a simplicity and directness that is almost conversational in tone but loaded with a clear headed wisdom that is borne of learning and a life well lived. The essays contained in this little book are little marvels, they entertain, provoke and instruct in equal measure. Despite the fact that some of these works date from the late 1930's, Orwell is surprisingly prescient in his analysis of Communism,the growth of corporatism and the spread of American power. Likewise,his 'Examination of Gulliver's Travels' is masterly as his 'Confessions of a Book Reviewer' is amusing and no doubt entirely accurate. I recommend this work- firstly because much of what Orwell has to say is relevant even today and secondly, he is a beautiful prose stylist. Recommended.
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of book-reviews and essays. Some of the essays might be described as stories ("The Spike", for example, describes the 1920's/1930's equivalent of a homeless-person's hostel, in a similar vein to what might be found in "Down and out in Paris and London"; and "Shooting an Elephant" could be described as an autobiographical short story, based on Orwell's experiences in Burma) - but, overall, it's more like a collection of book reviews or newspaper articles than a book of stories.
A previous reviewer said that his book was missing the Intro. by Jeremy Paxman. My version did have the Intro. - eight well-written pages, easily-readable, but all that he's saying could have been condensed into "Orwell was a terrific writer, one of my favourites, fantastic ...".
The same previous reviewer did not like the quality of the cover-paper, but it wasn't that complicated for me.
One of the reviews is of Dickens' work in general; another is of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. These reviews might be of interest to students obliged to read either Dickens or Swift. Orwell is a pretty merciless critic, which I find quite refreshing - he doesn't apologize for pointing out things which he doesn't find particulary interesting, even if it concerns a "great" author like Dickens.
I am a big fan of Orwell's stories, but not so much a fan of newspaper articles and book-reviews, so I've only given it four stars.
A previous reviewer said that his book was missing the Intro. by Jeremy Paxman. My version did have the Intro. - eight well-written pages, easily-readable, but all that he's saying could have been condensed into "Orwell was a terrific writer, one of my favourites, fantastic ...".
The same previous reviewer did not like the quality of the cover-paper, but it wasn't that complicated for me.
One of the reviews is of Dickens' work in general; another is of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. These reviews might be of interest to students obliged to read either Dickens or Swift. Orwell is a pretty merciless critic, which I find quite refreshing - he doesn't apologize for pointing out things which he doesn't find particulary interesting, even if it concerns a "great" author like Dickens.
I am a big fan of Orwell's stories, but not so much a fan of newspaper articles and book-reviews, so I've only given it four stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This edition is not so good
Orwell is a great writer and that's all that needs to be said about the content but with this specific edition I wish to make two points for a buyer to beware:
1) Re:... Read more
1) Re:... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2008 by George Orwell2
Orwell on politics and language
Of course I read this collection many years ago as all self-respecting writers of my generation have. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2006 by Dennis Littrell
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