Orwell’s third novel, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, originally published in 1936, rails against the “money-god,” as expressed in the power of advertising to penetrate our minds, map our thoughts and wishes, and subvert our personal autonomy.
Et vive l‘Aspidistra. France. 1960. #28 of a limited edition of 35. PR6029.R8 K414 1960
In this wartime polemic, Orwell called for the “democratization” of education, immediate dominion status for India, the nationalization of mines, railways, banks, and major industries, limitation of incomes, and other radical reforms.
The Lion and the Unicorn : Socialism and the English Genius. London. 1941. Searchlight Book, No. 1HX246 .O7 1941
Written on the eve of World War II, Orwell’s fourth novel, Coming Up for Air, looks both to the past, evoking the English pastoral of Orwell’s youth, and to the future, toward the shadowy outline of 1984: “The world we’re going down into, the kind of hate world, slogan-world, the secret cells where the electric light burns night and day…”
This collection of ten essays by Orwell (NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1953.), included “Such, Such Were the Joys,” his scathing portrait of St. Cyprians (called “Crossgates” in the essay)—the public school where he boarded, unhappily, for five years. The manuscript of the essay was found among his papers after his death and had its first publication in Partisan Review in 1952.
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Keep the Aspidistra Flying. New York. 1956. 1st American edition. Jacket design by Milton Glaser. PR6029 R8 K4 1956
Journal d'un Anglais moyen : roman. France. 1952. 1st French translation of Coming Up for Air. PR1508 J6 1952
The first published anthology of Orwell’s essays included his early studies of popular culture (a field that Orwell is now widely credited with having pioneered), literary pieces on Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, W. B. Yeats, and Arthur Koestler, and the political essay: “Wells, Hitler and the World State.” (Need image from CSWR)