Homage to Catalonia

by George Orwell Narrated by Frederick Davidson

Overview

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and instead joined the POUM militia to fight against the Fascists.

In this now justly famous account of his experience, he describes both the bleak and the comic aspects of trench warfare on the Aragon front, the Barcelona uprising in May 1937, his nearly fatal wounding just two weeks later, and his escape from Barcelona into France after the Party of Maxist Unification (POUM) was suppressed.

As important as the story of the war itself is Orwell's analysis of why the Communist Party sabotaged the workers' revolution and branded the POUM as Trotskyist, which provides an essential key to understanding the outcome of the war and an ironic sidelight on international Communism.

It was during this period in Spain that Orwell learned for himself the nature of totalitarianism in practice, an education that laid the groundwork for his great books Animal Farm and 1984.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A crucially important book. Without [Homage to Catalonia] there would have been no Animal Farm and no Nineteen Eighty-Four - works of fiction that, like the reality that preceded them, focus on the terrifying consequences of authoritarianism for the individual mind." - The Guardian

"A wise book, one that once read will never be forgotten." - Chicago Sunday Tribune

"No one except George Orwell ... made the violence and self-dramatization of Spain so burning and terrible." - New York Times

"One of Orwell's very best books and perhaps the best book that exists on the Spanish Civil War." - The New Yorker

DEC 92 - AudioFile

Homage to Catalonia is a triumph. The book lends itself to audio, not just because of Orwell's clear, reflective reporting on the Spanish Civil War, but also because of his superb descriptive powers. The observational passages leave the listener with lasting impressions of Spain and the Spanish character, and indeed the character of the war itself. Frederick Davidson makes a fine reader. He sounds convincingly as Orwell might have sounded, even to the occasional use of French-accented Spanish pronunciation. The audio presentation adds a new dimension to a text which is required reading for any student of the Spanish Civil War. A.D.H. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169908206
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/1992
Edition description:	Unabridged

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