Search

This essay discusses the uncanny parallels, paradoxes, and puzzles in the lives and careers of author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the famous George Orwell, and the virtually unknown French writer and political radical, Jean Malaquais. The striking affinities between Orwell and Malaquais, both of whom came to literary maturity in the 1930s, involve both their themes and genres. Both men fully engaged the issues of their times as independent leftists. Both also wrote political novels, documentary reportage, war diaries, and anti-utopias that addressed the conditions of the poor and working class (especially miners), the agonies of war-torn Europe, and the dangers of a totalitarian dystopia in the near future. Their remarkable affinities even extended to participation as volunteer soldiers in the same militia during the Spanish Civil War, the POUM (United Marxist Workers' Party). Yet no biographer or scholar has ever compared the two men or even noted their numerous, arresting similarities. The divergent 'afterlives' of Orwell and Malaquais raise large questions about cultural memory, the literary Zeitgeist, and Clio's caprice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article attempts to expose and debunk some myths of the participation of the English-speaking volunteers in the XV International Brigade that have frequently been overlooked. Our assumptions are based on a wide range of archival and well documented sources. From the very beginning there were many elements that merged together to offer all kinds of exaggerations, legends and self-aggrandizing images. Journal reports, scholarly articles, posters, poems and symbols have been exploited with the purpose of turning a very harsh reality into an idealized, over-fantasized experience. Ernest Hemingway (a war correspondent) was perhaps the most conspicuous case, and Esmond Romilly and John Sommerfield (both fighting in the defence of Madrid) were the first to give a romantic vision of their war experiences. In contrast, George Orwell, Laurie Lee, Jason Gurney, William Herrick or Alvah Bessie are examples of volunteers who denounce the lack of organization, the scarce military training they received or even the excessive, in their opinion, control by their officers on their daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's observations regarding the political views of the 20th-century writer George Orwell on fascism. Details are given noting that despite how famous Orwell became for his anti-communist criticisms, his early anti-fascist comments were not particularly original or effective. Accounts are then given outlining how Orwell's political views formed in response to the Spanish Civil War and World War II. An overview of his anti-fascist views is then provided.

In recent years, and particularly around the time of his birth-centenary in 2003, George Orwell's reputation has come under a cloud. Both his unexampled honesty as a writer and his stainless political idealism have been brought into question. This article takes a further tentative step into this hitherto forbidden region by exploring the connections of Eric Blair and Eileen O'Shaughnessey with various espionage agents and intelligence networks in Barcelona in the spring of 1937. Although the argument is founded on a range of original contemporary documentation, as with many Spanish Civil War stories, facts are complicated and conclusions necessarily provisional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the May 29, 1999 Raymond Williams Memorial Lecture, delivered by critic Christopher Hitchens at Hay-on-Wye, England. The views of writers George Orwell and Raymond Williams in relation to the Spanish Civil War, the trials of non-Stalinist communists in Spain, and Williams's views on English culture.