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Orwell laments the attitude that every book deserves a review and asserts that in more than nine cases out of ten the book is worthless. The week-in week-out production of snippets reduces the book reviewer to the "crushed figure in a dressing gown". He notes that books on specialist subjects ought
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to be reviewed by experts, but for practical reasons they end up with the editor's "team of hacks". He would prefer to give very long reviews to the few books of merit and ignore the majority. His consolation is that a book reviewer is better off than a film critic.
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Orwell describes the lifestyle of a book reviewer living in a cold stuffy and untidy bedsitter, trying to motivate himself to start reviewing an assorted batch of books, working late into the night, and getting inspiration just in time to meet the copy deadline.
76:. In 1940 he reviewed over 100 books. From 1945 to 1946 Orwell had kept up a high level of work, producing some 130 literary contributions. He had been seriously ill in February and was desperate to get away to Jura.
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and criticises the practice of reviewing almost every book published, which gives rise to this lifestyle.
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in 1930, and other publications for which he wrote reviews included
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Politics vs. Literature: An
Examination of Gulliver's Travels
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34:. In it, he discusses the lifestyle of a
46:Orwell started writing book reviews for
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650:Inside the Whale and Other Essays
535:Politics and the English Language
500:A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray
27:published in 1946 by the English
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577:Some Thoughts on the Common Toad
570:Second Thoughts on James Burnham
271:Down and Out in Paris and London
486:Confessions of a Book Reviewer
144:Confessions of a Book Reviewer
21:Confessions of a Book Reviewer
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493:Decline of the English Murder
106:Bibliography of George Orwell
787:. You can help Knowledge by
556:The Prevention of Literature
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542:The Politics of Starvation
440:Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool
345:Spilling the Spanish Beans
228:Keep the Aspidistra Flying
783:or essay collection is a
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412:Raffles and Miss Blandish
405:Poetry and the Microphone
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606:Such, Such Were the Joys
398:The Lion and the Unicorn
384:The Art of Donald McGill
377:My Country Right or Left
128:Chatto & Windus 2003
844:Essays about literature
834:Essays by George Orwell
563:Riding Down from Bangor
279:The Road to Wigan Pier
220:A Clergyman's Daughter
79:The essay appeared in
16:Essay by George Orwell
776:This article about a
736:The Orwell Foundation
461:Reflections on Gandhi
454:Toward European Unity
854:Literary essay stubs
696:Eileen O'Shaughnessy
642:Betrayal of the Left
514:The Moon Under Water
426:Notes on Nationalism
391:England Your England
338:Shooting an Elephant
252:Nineteen Eighty-Four
691:Victor Gollancz Ltd
479:Books v. Cigarettes
433:The Sporting Spirit
287:Homage to Catalonia
720:Why Orwell Matters
686:Secker and Warburg
447:The English People
55:New English Weekly
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83:on 3 May 1946.
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36:book reviewer
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789:expanding it
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731:Orwell Prize
726:Orwell Award
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701:Sonia Orwell
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839:1946 essays
628:As I Please
620:Collections
584:Why I Write
244:Animal Farm
828:Categories
263:Nonfiction
112:References
42:Background
676:Orwellian
324:The Spike
317:A Hanging
778:literary
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326:" (1931)
319:" (1931)
142:Text of
100:See also
669:Related
204:Fiction
87:Summary
81:Tribune
73:Tribune
61:Horizon
49:Adelphi
752:Portal
741:Statue
708:(1949)
661:(1946)
653:(1940)
645:(1941)
302:Essays
290:(1938)
282:(1937)
274:(1933)
255:(1949)
247:(1945)
239:(1939)
231:(1936)
223:(1935)
215:(1934)
197:Novels
29:author
781:essay
598:1950s
355:1940s
309:1930s
25:essay
785:stub
471:1946
70:and
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