George Orwell the Essayist

<p>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. <p/>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.</p>