• ISBN13: 9781441125842
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: English Literature
• Publisher: Continuum
• Publisher Imprint: Continuum
• Publication Date: March 15, 2012
• Pages: 232
• Original Price: 34.99 GBP
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 386 grams

About the Book George Orwell is acclaimed as one of English<br>literature's great essayists. Yet, while many are considered classics, as a<br>body of work his essays have been neglected. Peter Marks provides the first<br>sustained study of Orwell the essayist, giving these compelling pieces the<br>critical attention they merit. Orwell employed the essay as a tool to entertain, illuminate and<br>provoke readers across an array of topics. Marks situates the essays in their<br>original contexts, exploring how journals influenced the type of essay Orwell<br>wrote. Acknowledging this periodical culture helps explain the tactics Orwell<br>employed, the topics he chose and the audiences he addressed. Orwell's first<br>and last published works were essays, providing evidence of the development of<br>his cultural and political views over two decades. Essays helped him fashion his distinctive<br>literary 'voice' and Mark traces how their afterlife contributes to Orwell's<br>posthumous reputation. Arguing the essays are central to Orwell's enduring<br>literary, political and cultural value, Marks shows how we understand the<br>complexities, subtleties, and contradictions of Orwell better when we<br>understand his essays.