George Orwell was first and foremost an essayist, producing
throughout his life an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that
reflected--and illuminated--the fraught times in which he lived.
"As soon as he began to write something," comments George Packer in
his foreword, "it was as natural for Orwell to propose, generalize,
qualify, argue, judge--in short, to think--as it was for Yeats to
versify or Dickens to invent.""Facing Unpleasant Facts "charts
Orwell''s development as a master of the narrative-essay form and
unites such classics as "Shooting an Elephant" with lesser-known
journalism and passages from his wartime diary. Whether detailing
the horrors of Orwell''s boyhood in an English boarding school or
bringing to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the Spanish
Civil War, these essays weave together the personal and the
political in an unmistakable style that is at once plainspoken and
brilliantly complex.
目錄:
Foreword by George Packer
Introduction by George Packer
The Spike
Clink
A Hanging
Shooting an Elephant
Bookshop Memories
Marrakech
My Country Right or Left
War-time Diary
England Your England
Dear Doktor Goebbels--Your British Friends
Are Feeding Fine!
Looking Back on the Spanish War
As I Please, 1
As I Please, 2
As I Please, 3
As I Please, 16
Revenge Is Sour
The Case for the Open Fire
The Sporting Spirit
In Defence of English Cooking
A Nice Cup of Tea
The Moon Under Water
In Front of Your Nose
Some Thoughts on the Common Toad
A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray
Why I Write
How the Poor Die
Such, Such Were the Joys