Homage to Catalonia

[Boris239]

I've just finished reading Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia". It is about Orwell's experiences during the Spanish Civil War. He was a volunteer in the POUM militia and spent about a year in the Aragon front. I'm interested in Spanish histoty and found the book very interesting. Has anybody else read it? How did you like it?

[The Atheist]

Hi there, I realise that I'm posting a very long time after the event, but I have indeed read Homage many times.

Marvellous book. Orwell's knack of being detached from events to write as an observer while a particpant is unique, in my experience. It gives the Spanish Civil War an almost Boy Scout-ish feel - as though it's all a bit of a lark, yet at the same time, he succinctly conveys the horror and squalor of life at the front.

It's a crying shame that he lost all of his early notes, as that's where most of the action took place and it does make it a little disjointed.

Hope you try more of his lesser-known books.

[kelby_lake]

I liked it. I like the detatchment of Hemingway's stuff (well, the two I've finished :)) but sometimes it can be too detatched. I think Orwell struck the balance right, between detatchment and personal experience.

[kev67]

I thought it was a superb book. I lent it to a Spanish colleague, and he thought it was great too. George Orwell certainly didn't just walk the walk (not that Orwell approved of clichés).

[TheGoodNews]

Yes, it maybe Orwell's best and most meaningful book. It definitely gives insight into his later essays and books such as 1984. It's also ripe with amazing passages such as this:

"One had breathed the air of equality. I am well aware that it is now the fashion to deny that Socialism has anything to do with equality. In every country in the world a huge tribe of party-hacks and sleek little professors are busy 'proving' that Socialism means no more than a planned state-capitalism with the grab-motive left intact. But fortunately there also exists a vision of Socialism quite different from this." George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia page 104.