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Thread: Shooting an Elephant and other essays

  1. #16
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ralfyman View Post
    Everyman has published a thick anthology of many of his essays.
    Oh no, every time I think I am near finishing Orwell I discover something else. I thought I only had A Clergyman's Daughter left. Then I discover his essays. Last Saturday I went into a bookshop and noticed there was a book of his letters and another book of his diaries.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

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  3. #18
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Nice, but a little expensive, in least in hardback form. It also does not say which essays are included.

    I have to admit, I am getting a little annoyed at the proliferation of Orwell books. It is like J.R.R. Tolkein's books. I read The Hobbit (many times), then The Lord of the Rings. Then I tackled The Silmarillion, which I had to have two goes at. I thought I had done Tolkein, but then I discovered there was a Book of Last Tales, and then another book of lost tales, and I am not sure there wasn't another. Unfortunately, most of these were not even as readable as The Silmarillion.

    I went into a branch of Waterstones today. On the Orwell display, I noticed Orwell's Essays, which contained some, but not all of the same essays in Shooting an Elephant. There were also Orwell's Letters and Orwell's Diaries. Then I noticed two more books, Orwell on Politics and Orwell in Spain. No doubt there is an Orwell on Literature being prepared for print right now. Orwell in Spain contains Homage to Catalonia (I think) and other writings on the Spanish Civil War. Orwell on Politics contains Animal Farm and other writings on politics It reminds me of when I used to buy David Bowie CDs. There were numerous albums containing different combinations of his previous songs. It makes it rather difficult to be a completist. I am not sure why there is such a push on Orwell over here at the moment. It is not an anniversary or centenary of anything Orwell related, so far as I know. All the same, I do want to read A Clergyman's Daughter still, and maybe track down his essays that I have not read yet, possibly at the library.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  4. #19
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    I have been reading the introduction to another collection of Orwell's essays. I was disturbed to read that not only might Orwell not have shot the elephant, that also that it was not him who was caned as a schoolboy in the essay, Thus, Thus Were the Joys, or that he had attended a hanging in Burma, or that he spent as long as he indicated in a French hospital, as outlined in his essay, How the Poor Die. The writer of the introduction says perhaps it does not matter too much whether the writings are essays or short stories. I think it matters very much. For instance, in Shooting an Elephant, Orwell not only describes himself shooting an elephant, but how he felt about it. how it was a metaphor for colonialism. If this event did not actually happen to him, it is fiction, even if the same event happened exactly as described to someone else. To pass off a short story as an essay is dishonest. If it's a memoir, that's a different thing. Everyone realises that memories are unreliable.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  5. #20
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    I now tend towards believing that Orwell did shoot the elephant for two reasons:

    • The wikipedia entry refers to a contemporary of Orwell's in the Burma police, called George Stuart, who said that Orwell was transferred to another part of Burma as punishment for shooting the elephant.
    • Orwell writes convincing about how the animal reacted after it was shot. He said a look of senility came over it. Surely Orwell must have seen this to have written it?
    Last edited by kev67; 12-10-2013 at 05:25 PM.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  6. #21
    All are at the crossroads qimissung's Avatar
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    I agree with you that a degree of honesty is important when writing an essay. I have enjoyed his book of essays so much and"Shooting an Elephant" is a particular favorite of mine. It is just so particularly descriptive and vivid that it is hard to believe this didn't happen to him, so I'm glad you found this bit of corroboration.
    "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
    "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai
    "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka

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