Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
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Book Summary Information
Author: George OrwellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1980-10-22
ISBN: 0156421178
Number of pages: 232
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of Homage to Catalonia
Book Review: "PLACE ME AMONGST THE TROTSKYISTS"
Summary: 5 Stars
(A parody of yet another of Famous Archie Rice's music hall hits.) Others might call it PUT ME IN THE POUM -- Partry of Marxist Unification (or POUM) -- but I would discourage festivities on the grounds of toxic irony. Besides, in this conflict I would much prefer to be back at the Hotel with Orwell's wife, drinking tea and listening to her tell me what kind of man he was, and why she accompanied him to Barcelona while this thing was brewing. "Well, you see," she might begin, "there was something going on, you know. 'Said it might turn into some sort of war. An' he 'ad to 'ave 'is story, like. An' I 'adn't been to Spain, I 'adn't. But who'd 'ave thought it to be so cold?"
Me, well one of the things I didn't like about Orwell's Spain and the POUM in particular was that their mascot, a dog, was branded -- yes, branded -- with the letters P O U M burnt large on his hide. Makes you wonder: Who would brand a dog? Socialism's not for them, I suspect. But then, of course, what would you expect in a country which has as its great entertainment, the ritual public torture and killig of cattle?
But this book does not flinch. This is a great documentary of the Spanish Civil war because this man went there only intending to watch, but joined in mostly without thinking, and kept notes throughout. (Got 'imself seriously wounded too, for 'is trouble.) Shortly after leaving Spain he transcribed those notes into the book before you.
NOTE: Days later, after reading and reviewing this book I began reading it again very carefully, to check my first impression, and CATALONIA seems to me an even better book than I thought originally. That Orwell participates in the action and maintains his objectivity is phenomenal. It is impossible to imagine Hemmingway with all his vainglory, doing anything comparable. Some say Orwell was a great writer, some say he wasn't, but he himself wouldn't have wasted any time on that. You can't call Orwell a stylist, precisely. What you find when you read his work, is a sincere man writing in good English, without tricks.
"It is difficullt to be certain about anything except what you have seen with your own eyes, and consciously or uconsciously everyone writes as a partisan. In case I have not said this somewhere earlier in the book I will say it now; betware of my partisanship, my mistakes of fact and the distortion inevitably caused by my having seen only one corner of events."
He has the skill his education gave him, but the remainder derives from the decency of his character. Orwell was a disciplined writer with high principles who never blew smoke up anybody's dress.
Re-reading now, I came to realize suddenly that I read this book long ago; probably in High School, and either skipped over his description of the political causes of the war, or read them and simply didn't understand them. Now I understand: The Trotskyites were only those individuals who sought to practice that kind of humanist social collectivism he espoused when he was one of the Party's leading thinkers and writers; in other words, the true Revolutionaries. The Spanish Communists were comitted to a universalist totalitarian collective throughout Europe, directed from Moscow by Stalin. The later collaborated with the Spanish Fascists to eat the Trotsky-Socialists. It was typical of the brief Nazi-Soviet alliance that devoured Poland. (Stalin had Trotsky assassinated, later.) Soon, Franco, copying Napoleon's tactics, would sweep over Spain with his own mercenary army of North Africans, and devour the Spanish Comunists too.
I recommend the book not because of its political posture -- whatever that may be (Orwell was Labor. What does that mean today?) -- for Orwell has no propaganda angle. Does he? Or does he? You have to figure it out for yourself.
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