''Inside the Whale and Other Essays'' is a book of essays written by
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
in
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
*Janu ...
. It includes the eponymous essay "
Inside the Whale".
Background
''Inside the Whale'' was published by
Victor Gollancz
Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian ...
as a book of essays on 11 March 1940. Orwell refers to it as a "book" in part three of the essay. ("While I have been writing this book another European war has broken out."), as well as in letters he wrote to
Geoffrey Gorer and Humphry House, an English scholar, the following month. Gollancz initially printed 1,100 copies in March 1940, with some copies destroyed by Nazi bombing of England.
Contents
*"
Inside the Whale" (1939)
*"
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
" (1940)
*"
Boys' Weeklies
"Boys' Weeklies" is an essay by George Orwell in which he analyses those weekly story-paper publications for boys which were current around 1940. After being published in ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' in abridged form, it was published ...
" (1940)
Later version
A collection of essays with the same title was published in 1962 in the UK by Penguin Books.
This edition was a reprint of an earlier collection entitled ''Selected Essays'' published in 1957. The collection contains the following essays:
*"
Inside the Whale"
*"Down the Mine" (a passage from ''
The Road to Wigan Pier
''The Road to Wigan Pier'' is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. Its first half documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the ...
'')
*"
England Your England"
*"
Shooting an Elephant"
*"
Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool"
*"
Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels"
*"
Politics and the English Language
"Politics and the English Language" (1946) is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the "ugly and inaccurate" written English of his time and examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.
The essay ...
"
*"
The Prevention of Literature"
*"
Boys' Weeklies
"Boys' Weeklies" is an essay by George Orwell in which he analyses those weekly story-paper publications for boys which were current around 1940. After being published in ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' in abridged form, it was published ...
"
The back cover of the 1962 edition notes that the front cover is a photograph of a selection of books from George Orwell's personal library. These are
* ''
For the Time Being'' by W. H Auden
* ''
Enemies of Promise'' by Cyril Connolly
* ''
Stalky & Co.'' by Rudyard Kipling
* ''
Tarr'' by Wyndham Lewis
* ''
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...
'' by Henry Miller
* ''
Last Poems'' by A. E. Housman
* ''
Leaves of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...
'' by Walt Whitman
* ''
Ulysses'' by James Joyce
kept upright by a black elephant
bookend.
See also
*
Bibliography of George Orwell
The bibliography of George Orwell includes journalism, essays, novels, and non-fiction books written by the British writer Eric Blair (1903–1950), either under his own name or, more usually, under his pen name George Orwell. Orwell was a proli ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inside the Whale and other Essays
1940 non-fiction books
Books by George Orwell
English-language books
English essay collections
Victor Gollancz Ltd books
Books of literary criticism