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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Orwell's fascinating essays continue. You'd be well-served to cherry pick on topics, although I think there's something interesting in all of them. His thinking on language and fascism, fully developed in "1984", is actually more interesting in the collected essays.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Very thought provoking, although there were a few areas where I wished I had a little bit more information on his subject matter before I read it.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Some of the essays were about topics that I have no idea about, but the others were pretty interesting, especially the one about the politics, considering that they were written between 1938 and 1942. Another fascinating version of the author of Animal farm and 1984.
Alcuni di questi saggi erano su argomenti che ignoro completamente, mentre altri erano molto interessanti, specie quelli di argomento politico, anche perché sono stati scritti tra il 1938 ed il 1942.
Un'altra e affascinante versione dell'autore de La fattoria degli animali e 1984.
Alcuni di questi saggi erano su argomenti che ignoro completamente, mentre altri erano molto interessanti, specie quelli di argomento politico, anche perché sono stati scritti tra il 1938 ed il 1942.
Un'altra e affascinante versione dell'autore de La fattoria degli animali e 1984.
My rating may be biased by never having read literary criticism before, but the book has merits far beyond looking through Orwell's eyes at fiction. Orwell's observations on present society and its players are incisive, honest, and rational. He cuts through poor arguments and puffery, but he doesn't do this just for the sake of showing off. Even when he thinks that a writer is saying something poorly or isn't really saying anything worth reading, he still asks why. It's difficult to describe, and I'm doing a poor job, but Orwell is one of the best observers of society that I've read. In some cases, his historical predictions have turned out to be wrong, but on the big ideas concerning how society works, he is incredibly sharp.
Note, there are a few essays in here that I thought more or less out of place compared with the rest--in the early parts of the book, the real gems are infrequent, but the essays in the back are almost universally excellent.
Note, there are a few essays in here that I thought more or less out of place compared with the rest--in the early parts of the book, the real gems are infrequent, but the essays in the back are almost universally excellent.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
“I often have the feeling that even at the best of times literary criticism is fraudulent, since in the absence of any accepted standards whatever -- any external reference which can give meaning to the statement that such and such a book is "good" or "bad" -- every literary judgement consists in trumping up a set of rules to justify an instinctive preference. One's real reaction to a book, when one has a reaction at all, is usually "I like this book" or "I don't like it" and what follows is a rationalisation.”
George Orwell' best works, almost all are about the way politics influence language and art. He himself wrote a lot of book reviews but his reflections here are the things we so often fee, and so rarely express. I like this essay, thats all I can say, the rest is rationalization.
George Orwell' best works, almost all are about the way politics influence language and art. He himself wrote a lot of book reviews but his reflections here are the things we so often fee, and so rarely express. I like this essay, thats all I can say, the rest is rationalization.