HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Inside the Whale and Other Essays (1940)

by George Orwell

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
792527,655 (4.02)21
It is not possible for any thinking person to live in such a society as our own without wanting to change it.George Orwell was one of the most celebrated essayists in the English language, and there are quite a few of his essays which are probably better known than any of his other writings apart from Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.Stefan Collini presents a collection of Orwell's longer, major essays as well as a selection of shorter pieces, arranged into three categories: Personal/Descriptive, Literary, and Political.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 21 mentions

Showing 5 of 5
There are several overlaps with the book "Shooting an Elephant", but "Inside the Whale", discusses the literary scene inhabited by the writers who would be "Avant garde in the 1950's and early 60's. Orwell is writing about them in 1940, and predicting their futures. He's good at it. "England, your England" describes the effects of the war in 1940, and advances an intelligent patriotism. "Boy's Weeklies" is a description of the genre that later led to the world of Harry Potter. (sorry, but it is true!)
The Title of this 1962 Penguin reprint means that this isn't a review of the Gollancz book of 1940. ( )
1 vote DinadansFriend | Jun 6, 2014 |
This is a short collection of 9 essays on various topics, but generally some combination of literature, politics, and society. I'd read previously another collection of Orwell's essays, which I enjoyed, and this collection is just as good. Though the topics of these essays are quite specific, and might not strike everyone as interesting topics for essays, they are all interesting, as Orwell writes so well as to be of general interest. Aside from being of value for literary reasons, some of the essays are also of historical value as they document the state of society as it was in the past. ( )
2 vote P_S_Patrick | Oct 6, 2012 |
I have already read some of these essays but the new stuff and the odd re-read was highly rewarding.

Orwell is an exceptionally lucid writer, expressing insightful thoughts with clarity and imagination. The description of a working coalmine is direct and powerful, and even the lit crit about writers I haven't read comes across as sharp. The peach is "Politics and the English Language", which should be required reading for anyone who uses words, which is to say everybody. ( )
1 vote usyd23 | Feb 1, 2009 |
Spectacular writing, whether you agree with him or not. Lots of the politics is completely incomprehensible to me, but I can still take delight in his crisp prose. Of course Politics and the English Language is a classic, decrying sloppy language as symptomatic of careless or dishonest thought; Orwell's own writing, as one would hope, follows the principles he's advocating.

Worth it for the style, regardless of what you think of his opinions. ( )
  tikitu-reviews | Mar 11, 2007 |
When Orwell met Miller in Paris in 1936 on his way to fight in Spain, the American novelist, who was completely indifferent to the Civil War, told Orwell that he was an idiot. In ‘Inside the Whale’ and three enthusiastic book reviews Orwell revealed his fascination with and attraction to Miller’s astonishing passivity and his total rejection of the concept of decency.

This was Orwell’s first collection of essays, published by Gollancz in March 1940 shortly after the Second World War broke out, emphasized a new and extremely important aspect of his work, which was recognized and appreciated by the critics. ‘Charles Dickens, ’ the longest of his essays and one of the earliest critical studies of the novelist, is still valuable for its freshness and vigor as well as for Orwell’s suggestive identification with his subject. ‘Boys’ Weeklies’ examines the political implications of those magazines ‘sodden with the worst illusions of 1910. ’ And ‘Inside the Whale’ uses Henry Miller to exemplify the attractive and comfortable declaration of irresponsibility which Orwell himself was unable to make.
3 vote antimuzak | Nov 6, 2006 |
Showing 5 of 5
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (17 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Orwell, GeorgeAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Sutton, HumphreyCover photographsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
When Henry Miller's novel, Tropic of Cancer, appeared in 1935, it was greeted with cautious praise, obviously conditioned in some cases by a fear of seeming to enjoy pornography.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This selection published in Penguin in 1957 as Selected Essays. Reprinted in 1962 as Inside the Whale and Other Essays.
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

It is not possible for any thinking person to live in such a society as our own without wanting to change it.George Orwell was one of the most celebrated essayists in the English language, and there are quite a few of his essays which are probably better known than any of his other writings apart from Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.Stefan Collini presents a collection of Orwell's longer, major essays as well as a selection of shorter pieces, arranged into three categories: Personal/Descriptive, Literary, and Political.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.02)
0.5
1
1.5
2 4
2.5
3 16
3.5 5
4 29
4.5 6
5 25

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,659,213 books! | Top bar: Always visible