Inside the Whale

From one of Britain’s most acclaimed essayists, a stunning new collection on writers and writing

A brilliant literary critic, George Orwell approached works of literature on his own unique terms. Witty, incisive, and unexpectedly charming, the essays in this collection bring together his finest observations on writers and writing.

The novels of Henry Miller lead Orwell inside the belly of Jonah's whale, an imagined refuge at a time of total war. A trenchant investigation of Charles Dickens unfolds into a poignant portrait of nineteenth-century liberalism. A minor pamphlet on Shakespeare by Tolstoy provokes a stirring evocation of humanism and the excessive vitality of life. These are a series of singular thrilling reading experiences, a celebration of Orwell's engagement with the literary world.

George Orwell (1903-1950), born Eric Arthur Blair, was a novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. He served as an Imperial Police Officer in Myanmar (formerly Burma), lived in near-destitution in Paris and fought with the Republican army in the Spanish Civil War. His powerful explorations, in both novels and essays, of totalitarianism and fascism firmly established the adjective 'Orwellian' in the English language.