Orwell's England

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Much of George Orwell's best writing, brought together in this comprehensive collection, is concerned with England, a country that he found both endearing and frustrating.In the brilliantly perceptive The English People, he lists the national characteristics as 'suspicion of foreigners, sentimentality about animals, hypocrisy, exaggerated class distinctions, and an obsession with sport'. The Road to Wigan Pier, his blistering account of poverty in the north of England, and his essays on class and the horrors of life at private school violently attack what he famously called 'the most class-ridden country under the sun'. Yet other writings here also ruminate on the merits of cricket, gardening, roast dinners, pubs, cups of tea and seaside postcards, showing Orwell's attitude to Englishness in all its lively complexity.Much of George Orwell's best writing, brought together in this comprehensive collection, is concerned with England, a country that he found both endearing and frustrating.In the brilliantly perceptive The English People, he lists the national characteristics as 'suspicion of foreigners, sentimentality about animals, hypocrisy, exaggerated class distinctions, and an obsession with sport'. The Road to Wigan Pier, his blistering account of poverty in the north of England, and his essays on class and the horrors of life at private school violently attack what he famously called 'the most class-ridden country under the sun'. Yet other writings here also ruminate on the merits of cricket, gardening, roast dinners, pubs, cups of tea and seaside postcards, showing Orwell's attitude to Englishness in all its lively complexity.
Born in India in 1903 George Orwell moved to England with his family in 1907. He was educated at Eton and joined the Indian Imperial Police, serving five years in Burma before returning to Europe. The period of poverty that followed inspired DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON (1933). In 1937 he published THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER. His political convictions led him to fight for the Republicans in Spain and to write HOMAGE TO CATALONIA. In 1945 ANIMAL FARM was published. Orwell died of TB in 1950.