The Lion and the Unicorn

The Lion and the Unicorn

Printed: 9.99 $eBook: 4.99 $
Author:
Series: George Orwell Books, Book 12
Genre: Classics
Publisher: e-Kitap Projesi & Cheapest Books
Publication Year: 2021
Format: (eBook + Printed)
Length: English, 6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm), 96 pages
ASIN: B08TZSGSWQ
ISBN: 9786257120883
Rating:

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius was published in February 1941, well into the Second World War, after Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain.

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About the Book

PREFACE

&

SUMMARY

  • "As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me."
  • "Literature, especially poetry, and lyric poetry most of all, is a kind of family joke, with little or no value outside its own language-group."

― George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius was published in February 1941, well into the Second World War, after Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. It is a long essay, divided into three parts.

1.         England Your England (35 pages)

2.        Shopkeepers at War (19 pages)

3.        The English Revolution (9 pages)

 

The three essays 1. describe the essence of Englishness and records changes in English society over the previous thirty years or so 2. make the case for a socialist system in England 3. argue for an English democratic socialism, sharply distinct from the totalitarian communism of Stalin.

Now, at this distance of 76 years, the political content seems to me almost completely useless. After the war, the socialist policies carried out by Attlee's government, thirty years of 'Butskellism' and Britain's steady industrial decline into the 1970s which was brutally arrested by Mrs Thatcher's radical economic and social policies of the 1980s, followed by Tony Blair's attempt to create a non-socialist Labour Party in the 1990s, and all the time the enormous social transformations wrought by ever-changing technology – the political, social, economic, technological and cultural character of England has been transformed out of all recognition.

That said, this book-length essay is still worth reading as a fascinating social history of its times and for its warm evocation of the elements of the English character, some of which linger on, some of which have disappeared.

About the Author
George Orwell

Who Was George Orwell?
George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist and critic most famous for his novels 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949). George Orwell was a novelist, essayist and critic best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism.

Family and Early Life:
Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell spent his first days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited. (His younger sister, Avril, was born in 1908. Orwell didn't really know his father until he retired from the service in 1912. And even after that, the pair never formed a strong bond. He found his father to be dull and conservative.

George Orwell's Most Famous Books:
Sometimes called the conscience of a generation, Orwell is best known for two novels: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both books, published toward the end of Orwell's life, have been turned into films and enjoyed tremendous popularity over the years.
'Animal Farm' (1945)
Animal Farm was an anti-Soviet satire in a pastoral setting featuring two pigs as its main protagonists. These pigs were said to represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The novel brought Orwell great acclaim and financial rewards.
'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949)
Orwell's masterwork, Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984 in later editions), was published in the late stages of his battle with tuberculosis and soon before his death. This bleak vision of the world divided into three oppressive nations stirred up controversy among reviewers, who found this fictional future too despairing. In the novel, Orwell gave readers a glimpse into what would happen if the government controlled every detail of a person's life, down to their own private thoughts.

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