George Orwell’s career is unique in that most people work backward from the end and start at the beginning. Orwell had produced four novels and three non-fiction books before Animal Farm came out in 1945, but only The Road to Wigan Pier had sold in large enough quantities to earn him enough royalties to support himself as a full-time author. In reality, if not for his two final works on the psychology and application of totalitarianism, most of his books and journalism would have probably gone out of print.
However, understanding those works requires a grasp of Orwell’s previous writing. In particular, Nineteen Eighty-Four concluded the concepts he had been mulling over during his professional career.
George Orwell’s Books in Order
Down and Out in Paris and London
When writing about life among the underclass on both sides of the Channel, the youthful Orwell used a fair amount of artistic license. The storytelling is lively and frequently humorous despite Orwell’s exaggerations and omissions, and his desire to cast off his privilege and empathize with outsiders is bracingly honest.
Burmese Days
In his first book, Orwell relied on his five years of serving with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma and writhes in remorse over his participation in a dictatorial system that passed itself off as heroic. John Flory, his cynical protagonist, is the first of Orwell’s helpless loner characters; he is painfully aware that he is a part of something dishonest and corrupt but is powerless to flee.
The Road to Wigan Pier
a split-level book. The first is a meticulously researched report that eloquently captures the struggles of working-class existence in the north of England. The second is an eccentric, somewhat waspish polemic that promotes socialism while viciously mocking socialists. This book aims to disturb its own readers.
Homage to Catalonia
Orwell’s depiction of the Spanish Civil War has subsequently become the most widely read book about the conflict, despite being attacked or disregarded at the time for revealing the unpleasant truth about splits within Spain’s anti-fascist left. Anecdotes of six months spent on the periphery of a conflict, where there was a lot more waiting than fighting, coexist with sharp political insights.
Animal Farm
It’s simple to read the one book that Orwell considered painless to write. The book, which is billed as “a fairy tale,” transforms Russian history from 1917 to 1943 into a metaphor for a farm that even a 10-year-old can understand. Because Stalin was a crucial ally during the war, the book’s politically driven rejection by multiple publishers further increased Orwell’s resolve to speak about the unpopular realities.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The first convincing examination of the totalitarian mentality wasn’t non-fiction; it was a book that was equal parts thriller, love tale, essay, and postmodern investigation of what happens when the truth stops being true. Because of Orwell’s wide range of concerns (power, propaganda, surveillance, and organized dishonesty), the inventiveness of its language, and the emotional drama of Winston and Julia’s struggle with the inevitable, this book was explosive upon release and is reborn every generation.
The fight Winston and Julia have with the inevitable.
Orwell and England
A comprehensive overview of Orwell’s journalistic Swiss army knife flexibility. ‘England Your England’ was written to inspire socialists to support the war effort, yet it persists due to its ageless perceptions of English identity. ‘Notes on Nationalism’ remains an essential text on ideology, bigotry, and cognitive bias, and the delightfully personal ‘As I Please’ columns for Tribune are no less essential.
The Ministry of Truth
One of the most well-known contemporary books in the world today is George Orwell’s final book, 1984. Dorian Lynskey examines Orwell’s influences in The Ministry of Truth, including his involvement in the Spanish Civil War and traditional utopian and dystopian literature. He also looks at how popular the book has become and how readers’ reading habits have evolved over time. Anyone interested in Orwell or the evolution of our culture must read this fascinating and unique book.
