Inside the Whale and Other Essays is a book of essays written by George Orwell in 1940. It includes the eponymous essay "Inside the Whale".
 First edition | |
| Author | George Orwell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd. |
Publication date | 11 March 1940 |
| Pages | 188 |
| Preceded by | Coming Up for Air |
| Followed by | Animal Farm |
Background edit
Inside the Whale was published by Victor Gollancz 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.[1] Gollancz initially printed 1,100 copies in March 1940, with some copies destroyed by Nazi bombing of England.
Contents edit
- "Inside the Whale" (1939)
- "Charles Dickens" (1940)
- "Boys' Weeklies" (1940)
Later version edit
A collection of essays with the same title was published in 1962 in the UK by Penguin Books.[2] 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)
- "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"
- "The Prevention of Literature"
- "Boys' Weeklies"
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 by Henry Miller
- Last Poems by A. E. Housman
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- Ulysses by James Joyce
kept upright by a black elephant bookend.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Vol. 1 - 165 & 166
- ^ Orwell, George (1962). Inside the Whale and Other Essays. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-00-1185-4.
External links edit
- Inside the Whale and other Essays at Faded Page (Canada)