Homage to Catalonia

Homage to Catalonia is a book by George Orwell. It was published in 1938. In the book, the author talks about his time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He explains what he saw and what happened to him.

Background

George Orwell went to Spain in 1936, just after he had finished writing The Road to Wigan Pier. He wanted to fight against fascism. As well as fighting in the war, he wanted to write about what happened so people in Britain would know what was happening.

Content

Orwell tells the story of what happened to him in the war. He talks about what Barcelona was like when it was run by anarchists and how the soldiers got ready to fight in the war. Next, Orwell talks about fighting in trenches. The second part of the book talks about how some of the groups fighting against the fascists started to argue amongst themselves and how Orwell had to leave the country to escape some of the groups who had turned against him.

Homage To Catalonia Media

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  "There were still women serving in the militias, though not very many. In the early battles they had fought side by side with the men as a matter of course." (Barcelona, 1936. Militiawomen on beach near Barcelona. Photo: Gerda Taro).

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  "I knew that I was serving in something called the P.O.U.M. (I had only joined the P.O.U.M. militia rather than any other because I happened to arrive in Barcelona with I.L.P. papers), but I did not realise that there were serious differences between the political parties." (Republican soldiers, June 1937. Photo: Gerda Taro).

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  "And I hope the account I have given is not too misleading ... consciously or unconsciously everyone writes as a partisan ... beware of my partisanship, ... and the distortion inevitably caused by my having seen only one corner of events. And beware of exactly the same things when you read any other book on this period of the Spanish war." (Ch. XII)

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  In 1996 a public square in Barcelona was named after Orwell.