Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Homage to Catalonia

by George Orwell, Lionel Trilling (Introduction)

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 10,703 ratings · 683 reviews

In 1936 Orwell went to Spain to report on the Civil War and instead joined the fight against the Fascists. This famous account describes the war and Orwell’s experiences. Introduction by Lionel Trilling.

Paperback, 232 pages

Published October 22nd 1980 by Harcourt, Inc.(Harvest Book) (first published April 25th 1938)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of the 20th Century

469th out of 4,698 books — 31,951 voters

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Best Non-Fiction (non biography)

141st out of 2,110 books — 3,793 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 17, 2012 B0nnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another *FAQ* I wrote from back in the day in usenet for alt.books.george-orwell

Mr. Orwell has kindly granted me an interview regarding his book, Homage to Catalonia

B: There has been some talk about the Spanish Civil War lately, perhaps inspired by the recent movie El Laberinto del Fauno . This war was a labyrinth as well: sorting out the various factions and who did what to whom certainly is quite a chore.

But first things first. Could you describe your ensemble - you are wearing some unu...more

26 likes · like · see review

Sep 14, 2011 Bill Kerwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, biography

This book is justly famous for its disillusioned account of how the Communist Party—in its eagerness to defeat Franco's fascism--betrayed the successful anarchist experiment in Catalonia for the sake of expedience, how it executed and imprisoned its anarchist and socialist comrades for the sake of a temporary alliance with the bourgeois.

I found all this very interesting, but have to admit that the real reason I liked the book so much was for its gritty account of war on the cheap, where guns ar...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jul 04, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: journalists

Orwell left England in 1936 and spend six months fighting fascism in Spain - actually fighting fascism, like, throwing grenades and living in trenches, and being shot at, and crawling across 'no man's land' in the mud. He was a member of P.O.U.M., 'Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista', or the Workers Party of Marxist Unification. Orwell was not a Marxist, but a strident opponent of Franco's fascist forces. The book, like his 'Road to Wigan Pier', is a collection of Orwell's observations told...more

13 likes · like · see review

Jul 06, 2012 Asma awadh rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-books

لطالما كانت الحرب الأهلية الإسبانية موضوعاً محيراً بالنسبة لي كنت أضعها دائماً ضمن خانة المواضيع المهمة والواجب قرائتها, كنت لا أترك رواية تتحدث ولو بشكل بسيط عن تلك الحرب الا وقد أشتريتها وهذا سبب قرائتي لكتب كاميلو خوسيه ثيلا ومحاولة قراءة لمن تقرع الأجراس لـ ارنست همنغواي لكن لم استطع من إكمالها حتى الآن ,إلى ان اتى هذا الكتاب الشافي ,كانت رؤيتي لتلك الحرب رؤية سطحية جمهوريين من حزب اليسار يصارعون فرانكو المدعوم من قبل الأنظمة الفاشية في المنطقة فقط بعد القراءة اتضحت الصورة أكثر صحيح انها ظلت...more لطالما كانت الحرب الأهلية الإسبانية موضوعاً محيراً بالنسبة لي كنت أضعها دائماً ضمن خانة المواضيع المهمة والواجب قرائتها, كنت لا أترك رواية تتحدث ولو بشكل بسيط عن تلك الحرب الا وقد أشتريتها وهذا سبب قرائتي لكتب كاميلو خوسيه ثيلا ومحاولة قراءة لمن تقرع الأجراس لـ ارنست همنغواي لكن لم استطع من إكمالها حتى الآن ,إلى ان اتى هذا الكتاب الشافي ,كانت رؤيتي لتلك الحرب رؤية سطحية جمهوريين من حزب اليسار يصارعون فرانكو المدعوم من قبل الأنظمة الفاشية في المنطقة فقط بعد القراءة اتضحت الصورة أكثر صحيح انها ظلت حرب بين اليمين واليسار لكن ذلك اليسار لم يكن موحداً بمافيه الكفاية لمواجهة القوة الفاشية .
كتالونيا وبعاصمتها برشلونة كانت مركزاً لتلك المنظمات والنقابات العمالية ذات التوجه اليساري التي كانت تحارب جنباً الى جنب في الجبهة عند خط النار في مواجهة قوات فرانكو لكن في برشلونة الأمور كانت تختلف فتلك النقابات اختلفت فيما بينها وأصبحت تتراشق التهم بين بعضها البعض متهمة كل واحدة الأخرى بالخيانة لصالح قوات فرانكو ,أحد من تلقوا تلك التهم هي نقابة الـ P.O.U.M التي كان كاتبنا يحارب ضمن صفوفها لك ان تتخيل مشهد التوتر الذي ساد المدينة وحرب الشوارع التي بدأت بينهم فيما بعد.

"الكل يصدق بقصص فظائع العدو و ويكذب قصص فظائع الجانب الذي هو معه"

اقتباس أحبتته لأنه دليل على أن كاتبنا كان يعترف بوجود بعض الفظائع للجانب الذي كان يحارب معه رغم أنها كما يصفها كاتبنا, لاتقارن كلياً بفظائع النظام الفاشي بقيادة فرانكو ,لكننا هنا لانقف صف الحياد وندعيه بل
يجب علينا الوقوف لجانب ضد اخر ,هذا ماحاول ايضاحه كاتبنا بعد هذا الأقتباس.

لو لم أكن إسبانية لوددت أن أكون لكثرت ما امتدح جورج اورويل صفاتهم رغم الظروف التي كانت تمر فيها البلاد من صراعات الا أن اخلاقهم كانت شهمة ولطيفة وأذكر هنا حادثة ورد ذكرها في الكتاب حين قام مفتشون بتفتيش غرفة الفندق الخاصة به ,بوجود زوجته, لأشتباهم به طبعاً بانتمائه لنقابة الـP.O.U.M
فتشوا كل شيء تقريباً ولم يجدوا شيئاً ضده لم يتبقى الا السرير الذي كان بالإمكان أخفاء الكثير والكثير من الأشياء التي تثبت ادانته إلا أنهم لم يستطيعوا أن يفتشوه والسبب أن زوجته كانت جالسة عليه واحتراماً لها لم يستطيعوا أمرها بالقيام عن السرير,قالها في جملة جميلة "إنني أحمل ذكريات سيئة عن إسبانيا, وجميلة عن الإسبان"

(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 08, 2009 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

HEADLINE: For students, here the politics is explained.

For you students who have this great book imposed upon you in a syllabus, here is the best help I can give you with regard to Chapters V and XI, which are in some editions included only as Appendices.

It is interesting to note that at the outset Orwell himself was nonplussed by the alphabet soup of the political situation in Spain. At first he was at a loss when confronted with the idea of right wing communism as you probably are. It was only...more

37 likes · like · see review

Aug 26, 2007 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Deluded leftists.

A glimpse into a pocket of war as various conflicting powers (try to) take claim of a newly set anarchist state, following a popular uprising in 1936 Spain.

George Orwell conscientiously; and later coincidently, sets himself among the more anarchist faction (P.O.U.M), working his way through the ranks of a rag-tag organisation battling off Fascism (Franco), Communism (directed by Russia), the Nazis and British imperial interest.

Tedious and uneventful trench warfare add to the increasing propagand...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2008 Matt Carrington rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

The classic Orwell memoir. Orwell seamlessly blends his experiences as a soldier on the Communist front during the Spanish Civil War with shrewd insight into the political machinations fueling Spanish revolution (and the resulting apathy of the non-Fascist world). One of the better books to demonstrate how wars are fought by the poor and ignorant, while controlled by the obtuse and powerful. A timely read given the strong parellels to the current US Middle East policy.

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 29, 2011 Lorenzo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aaa-my-library, british, 2011-readings

Reading anything by Orwell is always worth and rewarding.
And "Homage to Catalonia" makes no exception.
As someone pointed out somewhere the way Orwell understood and described Spain surpasses by far what Hemingway wrote pretty much in the same years about the same country.

But while Hemingway spent his Spanish time in a sort of cosmopolitan way drinking, waking up late, watching bullfighting, munching tapas and generally having fun (Fiesta!), Orwell was freezing in trenches, picking up cigarette...more Reading anything by Orwell is always worth and rewarding.
And "Homage to Catalonia" makes no exception.
As someone pointed out somewhere the way Orwell understood and described Spain surpasses by far what Hemingway wrote pretty much in the same years about the same country.

But while Hemingway spent his Spanish time in a sort of cosmopolitan way drinking, waking up late, watching bullfighting, munching tapas and generally having fun (Fiesta!), Orwell was freezing in trenches, picking up cigarettes butts in the mud, being assaulted by rats, dealing with faulty guns and being hunted down for no reason in a hostile Barcelona.

Now, nobody forced Orwell to have that kind of unpleasant experience and he later reckoned how he was pretty much a fool in volunteering among the socialist forces in the Spanish Civil War, but let's be frank: could you picture Ernest doing the same without asking for a bloody daiquiri?
The toll of that bell didn't really sound.

The less convincing part of this book is actually the first one when Orwell reports about his -rather modest- military actions with that sort of detailed step by step account that I don't really like although we knew he had a diary with him so that we expect how every tiny detail here is true.
But this doesn't happen very often and the most clever and interesting part of this book are the ones in which Orwell struggles with cold, lack of hygiene, disillusion and boredom. Something that another idealist like his countryman Lord Byron would have never mentioned.
Orwell's observations on the people who fought (or better waited) with him in the trenches are also very good in pointing out the absolute naivete of the whole combatants, mostly teenagers coming from peasant families which were hardly able to communicate with the foreigners fighting at their side and for the same cause.

And then come the hectic Barcelona days and the whole book stands up on a higher level.
What we have is now Orwell at his very best. And writing about real paranoids, not fictional ones, in a way that wallops master Kafka. What I can say is that I have not only read but felt the feverish state of Orwell and a whole town where good and evil, friends and enemies got suddenly all mixed up with no apparent logic.

This is a book to reread and to hold in a visible shelf.
This is a book that teaches you something in its own way and will always do.
(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 26, 2012 umberto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, england

In fact I read this novel in May, 2005; its review taken below.

I found this memoir-like book surprisingly interesting and readable in terms of his direct experience in the Spanish Civil War. I think George Orwell didn't try to be a hero there since he himself was gunned down by a shot through his throat one morning. He simply wrote, "The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting and I think it is worth describing in detail" (Chapter X, pp. 143-4)

However, his valor didn't dimi...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 25, 2012 Ted rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, lit-british, politics-political-theory, socialism-communism-anarchism, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

5 likes · like · see review

Aug 09, 2011 Will James added it

For some reason I was expecting 'Homage to Catalonia' to remind me of Stephen Crane's 'The Red Badge of Courage', despite Crane's book being fiction, but I was wrong. While both deal with the effects of civil war, Orwell's memoir of his time in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9) probably captures better the boredom and frustrations of war, as opposed to the action and excitement of it.

With great English understatement, Orwell manages to convey a great deal of the complexities and often unintended hu...more

like · see review

Mar 19, 2009 Kevin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Review – Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

Homage to Catalonia is the best war book I’ve ever read. It is both entertaining and honest, and has little to do with the partisan bickering that composes much of the book’s background.

Orwell went to Barcelona in 1936 to report on the Spanish Civil War. He was so struck with the progress of the workers’ revolution there, the camaraderie and the hope, that he decided this state of affairs was worth defending, and enlisted with a militia unit. His unit...more Review – Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

Homage to Catalonia is the best war book I’ve ever read. It is both entertaining and honest, and has little to do with the partisan bickering that composes much of the book’s background.

Orwell went to Barcelona in 1936 to report on the Spanish Civil War. He was so struck with the progress of the workers’ revolution there, the camaraderie and the hope, that he decided this state of affairs was worth defending, and enlisted with a militia unit. His unit soon went to the front, where it stood nearly idle for several months and did little fighting. The unit returned several months later to what seemed like a different city, in the throes of inter-party fighting as the Russian-backed communists attempted to take control of the war effort. Orwell’s unit returned briefly to the front, but while he was hospitalized (due to a bullet caught in the neck,) its members were declared illegal, and he was forced to flee the country.

As American readers, most of us are more familiar with the Spanish Civil War through Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. Unlike that self-important, posturing brick of a novel, Homage to Catalonia paints an affectionate portrait of a brave, but naïve, effort that was doomed from the start by international intrigue. Orwell’s affable co-combatants are poorly equipped, crawling with lice, and little interested in fighting, which is lucky because they’re left on an immobile front where if the food isn’t great, the cigarette ration is at least adequate.

The power of this book is in its indictment of the foreign press and the hypocrisy of international communism. Each did its part to muck up the war effort and betray the people it purported to defend, and Orwell explains as clearly as possible the complex international forces that wasted the war effort and opened the door to fascism in Spain.

This book is indeed an homage, to a brief time in a small place where equality was real, but fleeting, and to the people who were there to live this hope. It also shows us the moments when Orwell became disillusioned with communism, leading to his best known works. (It may difficult for us to imagine, but we need to keep in mind that in the 1930’s, the violence and cynicism of the U.S.S.R. were still widely unknown, and there were many active communists all over the world.) Thus, this book, in addition to being highly enjoyable, is vital to understanding a mindset now remote and alien to us, and a time we mostly know nothing about.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 04, 2008 Johnny Waco rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, war

Homage to Catalonia is the fourth Orwell book I've read, after 1984, Animal Farm, and Burmese Days, and I've come to the conclusion that Orwell is an interesting, provocative writer, just not a particularly great one. Homage to Catalonia is a scattershot book, careening between political and historical analysis and personal episodes during the Spanish Civil War; without a doubt, the personal sections are much more compelling. For instance, the long (read: very long) chapter breaking down the var...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2013 Craig rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favorite Orwell book. A young George Orwell goes to Barcelona to write about the Spanish Civil War, and decides the only moral course of action is to join the resistance to Franco.

Two things really make this book a gem to me: The first, that many have commented on, is the beginning of disillusionment with Socialist governments. In the fog of war, the factions of the resistance can never quite unite, and the infighting and positioning inevitably drive Orwell from Catalonia. Though Orwell canno...more

like · see review

Mar 07, 2013 Stephen Fothergill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Homage to Catalonia is Orwell’s personal account of his time spent in Spain during the Civil war, and covers the period from his arrival in Barcelona, in December 1936, to his escaping into France, almost by the skin of his teeth, in June 1937. He describes in great detail the street fighting in Barcelona in April 1937, his months spent in the trenches at the front line east of Huesca, and his recuperation following being shot by a sniper. There is extensive political discussion, as can be expec...more

like · see review

Feb 25, 2013 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography, british, history, politics, spanish, war

Can't believe what he (and others) went through for a political cause... in another country. Still foggy about all the political machinations of pre-WWII Spain (sounds like everyone else is too), but what really sticks out is the humanity-in-the-face-of-war aspect of this book. He consistently remarks about the generosity and overall kindness of the Spanish people, despite being mostly destitute and raggedly hopeless in a war torn-country (or the city of Barcelona) where people were thrown into...more Can't believe what he (and others) went through for a political cause... in another country. Still foggy about all the political machinations of pre-WWII Spain (sounds like everyone else is too), but what really sticks out is the humanity-in-the-face-of-war aspect of this book. He consistently remarks about the generosity and overall kindness of the Spanish people, despite being mostly destitute and raggedly hopeless in a war torn-country (or the city of Barcelona) where people were thrown into jail for no particular reason en masse. Also, this lends some insight into CRZ's trilogy of books, especially the Prisoner of Heaven. The secret police, the unnamed terror, the furtive lifestyles, and underground hush hush political underpinnings of the city were presented by CRZ, but as it wasn't the focus of the novels it wasn't expressed as drastically as it could have been. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish I had read HTC before CRZ's work, but oh well. No doubt I'll read those again, but this time armed with a more vivid impression of what really was going on in that city. It makes Inspector whatever the hell is name was (Fuentes?) even more of a dick with all his back-stabbing and flip-flopping based on who was in power. Real men of courage stood for their cause, regardless of bodily harm, imprisonment, and overall shitty life that may result from their convictions. Orwell and Kopp stick out in this regard. Orwell at least got out; Kopp was a Belgian who couldn't return to his country because he would have been jailed for breaking the law by going to Spain. All Kopp got for his courage and battle prowess (he reached a pretty high rank based on his actions and intelligence) was to be thrown into a jail like a forgotten animal, as Orwell put it. In a foreign country, nonetheless. Its enough to make one sick. And, as Orwell saliently points out, this was not an exceptional case; it happened all the time and was practically the norm. The whole war is enough to make one sick (and Orwell even remarks it is also glorious), but the people made it worth fighting for, I guess was Orwell's message. It always comes back to the people. (less)

like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Naessens rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book relates the events during George Orwell's stay in Spain between the end of 1936 and June 1937. Though it is interesting to have an Englishman's point of view about Spain and Spaniards, even if readers may get less anecdotes and stereotypes about the Spaniards' character than they expect, it is more important to learn that the Spanish Civil War was more of a revolution than of a civil war at first.
Moreover, it explains how this revolution was undermined not only in Spain but also in Eur...more This book relates the events during George Orwell's stay in Spain between the end of 1936 and June 1937. Though it is interesting to have an Englishman's point of view about Spain and Spaniards, even if readers may get less anecdotes and stereotypes about the Spaniards' character than they expect, it is more important to learn that the Spanish Civil War was more of a revolution than of a civil war at first.
Moreover, it explains how this revolution was undermined not only in Spain but also in Europe due to internal struggles among anti-fascists, USSR and the left-wing media. Read especially chapters 5 and 11 about this. I guess few people are aware of these facts, at least outside Spain.

Besides, even if the reading may be difficult at times on account of the numerous acronyms, I find this book very readable, interesting and full of anecdotes that catch readers' attention. The spanish militias, the conditions and the lack of action on the front, the few raids, the events of May in Barcelona, the author's injury are all clearly described and prevent the reading from being repetitive and boring.
In addition to that, George Orwell is clearly aware that even if he is objective he may be wrong as it is proved by this quote : "I have tried to write objectively (...) though, obviously, no one can be completely objective on a question of this kind. One is practically obliged to take sides, and it must be clear enough which side I am
on. Again, I must inevitably have made mistakes of fact (...). It is very difficult to write accurately about the Spanish war, because of the lack of non-propagandist documents. I warn everyone against my bias, and I warn everyone against my mistakes. Still, I have done my best to be honest. But it will be seen that the account I have given is completely different from that which appeared in the foreign and especially the Communist press. It is necessary to examine the Communist version, because it was published all over the world (...) and is probably the most widely accepted one.".

Finally, this book deals with elements like propaganda, the control of information and totalitarianism that will be found later in 1984 (Orwell's best book in my opinion), which shows how much these events left their mark on George Orwell.(less)

like · see review

Dec 27, 2012 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Orwell is a master-- I already knew that, but I hadn’t read anything by him for quite some time before I picked this up, and I was impressed all over again. His account of the time he spent in Spain during the Spanish Civil War is fascinating. Orwell candidly describes the naivety and idealism that sent him packing for Spain in the first place, as well as the disillusionment and disgust that sent him home again. The book also provides a clear (and actually readable) analysis of the political qua...more

like · see review

Dec 22, 2012 Stella rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

George Orwell is one of the most brilliant writers in the world as anyone who has read Animal Farm or 1984 will readily testify. But here in Spain, fighting against the Fascists is where Orwell was made. He himself says that everything he has written since 1936 has been influenced by what he witnessed in the Spanish war. 'Homage to Catalonia' is Orwell's tribute to that overwhelming time of his life. A true, beautifully poignant personal account of his trials in Spain - the naive idealism of his...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 24, 2012 Ismael Galvan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isn't it great when you stumble onto a bombshell of a book? Orwell is most famous for his two books 1984 and Animal Farm. I had heard that Homage to Catalonia was one of his greatest works, but I purposely avoided it because it sounded historically dense. This book is anything but boring.

Homage to Catalonia is a book Orwell wrote about this experiences of fighting alongside the anarchists in Spanish civil war. The tone reads somewhere between a journal and newspaper article.

What makes this book...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 02, 2012 Gary Daly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Homage to Catalonia is a fascinating personal account that for me demonstrates the gulf between a personal historical perspective and the so-called 'big picture' analysis of historical events. History is in many ways is filtered by the process of academic research, media coverage, powerful ideology and the ebb and flow of opposing political and social histories. Orwell states more than once in Homage to Catalonia that the reader must always be aware of bias and the singular perspective (includin...more Homage to Catalonia is a fascinating personal account that for me demonstrates the gulf between a personal historical perspective and the so-called 'big picture' analysis of historical events. History is in many ways is filtered by the process of academic research, media coverage, powerful ideology and the ebb and flow of opposing political and social histories. Orwell states more than once in Homage to Catalonia that the reader must always be aware of bias and the singular perspective (including his own).

A vicious and treacherous turning point in the civil war for many on the left, George Orwell amongst them was the incessant violence caused by the inter-party power struggles, which continued whilst bombs and men were being obliterated at the front. In 1937, Spanish as well as many foreign militia veterans were on leave in Barcelona direct from the front. These volunteers were rounded up by their Communist allies jailed, tortured and in many cases shot. All the while the militia continued to fight the fascists dumb to the bloodshed the communists were reaping behind the front.

Orwell served 193 days in his first deployment at the front. He discovered very quickly how ammunition; weapons, food, water, medicine, cigarettes and logistical support were strategically and cruelly held back by the communists. The communists are revealed to be a repulsive and hypocritical force in the civil war (there own worst enemy).

Once Orwell returned to Barcelona for rest and recuperation he was plunged into the bloody morass of the leftist in-fighting. Orwell’s manned rooftops and barricades against anarchists, paramilitary police and communist forces all unsure as to who should kill who, swapping bottles of beer for bread and cigarettes and sharing stories across the streets and roofs they occupied.

The communists demanded total obedience and demanded control over the troops. They were sick and tired of having 'other' political and fighting units not under their banner. There are no definite records as to the casualties in the Barcelona fighting but an estimated 400 people were killed and 1000 wounded in three of four days.

After Barcelona with the situation still unresolved Orwell returned to the front. Shortly afterwards a fascist sniper shot him through the neck. He spent weeks traveling from one poorly equipped field hospital to the next. Unbeknownst to Orwell by the time he arrived in Barcelona the Militia as a political force had been banned by the communists. Orwell was forced (still recovering from his severe neck wound) into hiding. The communists did what they do best round up and imprison and shoot militia veterans. Orwell with his wife escaped across the frontier into France. Tragically many English and foreign militia were not so fortunate. Troops Orwell had served with at the front including his former Belgian Commanding Officer were amongst thousands sent to 'secret' camps and never heard of again.

Highly recommended eReader, purchased for Kindle ($2.99)
(less)

like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Denerick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Like many writers of his age, Orwell found himself fighting for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. He saw the defiance of the Spanish working class against fascism as a turning point in European history. Many men of the left shared this view.

The memoir itself is intriguing, full of the familiar reflections on the camaraderie of young men at war, the drudgery of trench life, the sheer boredom of it all. But as those who are familiar with the Spanish Civil War well know, a darker and mo...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 Gijs Grob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-and-autobiography, war, english, british-literature, 20th-century-1930s

Orwell's verslag van zijn eigen rol en waarnemingen in de Spaanse Burgeroorlog: zijn ervaringen aan het front, uitleg over de verschillende politieke machten in de republiek, de situatie in Barcelona waar de communisten en de anarchisten in de clinch liggen, zijn verwonding en zijn vlucht naar het buitenland.

Orwell schrijft ongelooflijk zakelijk (wanneer hij een kogel in zijn hals krijgt, noemt hij dat 'interessant'), en zijn relaas gaat opvallend vaak over verveling en praktische ongemakken, wa...more

like · see review

Aug 01, 2012 Adrian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Having just bought a kindle I scoured the internet for anything that could possibly be remotely interesting (and free) that I could find. Somehow I stumbled upon Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell. I had heard of the author without remembering why. (1984 and Animal Farm, which I will get around to reading soon after having read this) Simply because I myself was in Barcelona the previous summer, I picked it up.

It honestly did come across as an interesting read. Though it takes part during the...more

like · see review

Jul 31, 2012 Oscar rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had read some of Orwell's essays in some random website, and that led me to try to read more of his non-fiction books, something I did not feel like doing after reading 1984. The book is a chronicle of Orwell's time as a volunteer in the republican side during the Spanish Civil War. The names of places (Aragon, Catalonia, Barcelona, Huesca, Tarragona, Lerida, Zaragoza, etc), the names of people that get referenced or mentioned every now and then (Franco, Negrin, Antonio Martin, Ortega y Gasset...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 10, 2012 Bob Costello rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very easy read which gives you a interesting slice of the of the Spanish Civil War. Orwell spent less than a year in Spain but a good part at the war front. Half of the story is about life in the trenches of the war and the other half between hospitals and Barcelona. After reading this short book it is easy to under how Franco's forces defeated the Republican government since the communist, who ended up controlling the Republican government, were more concerned about crashing other left wing f...more

like · see review

Jul 04, 2012 Fiona Walsh rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have wanted to read this for a long while. And like most of Orwell's works, it didn't disappoint. I cannot get over how much beauty and simplicity there is in his works. You can't shake the impression that Orwell is speaking to you, like an old friend recounting an old memory over a coffee counter. Orwell's writing invites you in, and I love that about his novels. Homage to Catalonia is a book about his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, when he joined the POUM militia in the fight ag...more

like · see review

Apr 21, 2012 Zach Vaughn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction

In "Homage to Catalonia," Orwell writes about his experiences serving in the militia during the Spanish Civil War. Orwell came to Spain as a journalist in 1936 to cover the conflict, but shortly thereafter he joined the P.O.U.M. - a Marxist militia - which was fighting on the Aragonese front near the town of Huesca. According to Orwell’s account, the resistance to Franco’s uprising began as a revolution with anarchists and Marxists assuming control of land and factories and beginning the process...more

like · see review

Mar 20, 2012 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is sincerely meant. Although he served at the front and was badly wounded in the neck during the fighting in 1937, he nonetheless loved Spain and the Spanish people. Even when the Spanish Communists were trying to put him in jail because of his accidental affiliation with a Socialist group they were eradicating, he speaks of

" . . . the flashes of magnanimity that you get from Spaniards in the worst of circumstances. I have the most evil memories of Spain, but...more George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is sincerely meant. Although he served at the front and was badly wounded in the neck during the fighting in 1937, he nonetheless loved Spain and the Spanish people. Even when the Spanish Communists were trying to put him in jail because of his accidental affiliation with a Socialist group they were eradicating, he speaks of

" . . . the flashes of magnanimity that you get from Spaniards in the worst of circumstances. I have the most evil memories of Spain, but I have very few bad memories of Spaniards. I only twice remember even being seriously angry with a Spaniard, and on each occasion, when I look back, I believe I was in the wrong myself. They have, there is no doubt, a generosity, a species of nobility, that do not really belong to the twentieth century."

Life at the front was not as dangerous as Orwell expected, but it had a certain kind of misery that is almost impossible to describe. "In trench warfare five things are important: firewood, food, tobacco, candles and the enemy. In winter on the Saragossa front they were important in that order, with the enemy a bad last. . . . The real preoccupation of both armies was trying to keep warm."

Orwell describes the sights and sounds and smells of the muddy trenches and the fear when bullets were whizzing by his head or a grenade landed nearby and exploded. But the thing he most clearly conveys is the cold.

"One icy night I made a list in my diary of the clothes I was wearing. It is of some interest as showing the amount of clothes the human body can carry. I was wearing a thick vest and pants, a flannel shirt, two pullovers [sweaters], a woollen jacket, a pigskin jacket, corduroy breeches, puttees, thick socks, boots, a stout trench-coat, a muffler, lined leather gloves, and a woollen cap. Nevertheless I was shivering like a jelly."

George Orwell's honesty and his sincere attempt to communicate with his reader is almost unprecedented among political writers. He makes his position very clear: he is a Socialist, in favor of revolution with a resulting government by the working man, anti-Capitalist and anti-fascism. He considers the Nazis and Mussolini's government fascist, but he also considers the Communists fascist. The writing in this book is clear and transparent, despite the difficulty of describing the complex alphabet soup of groups fighting on the government side, including Anarchists, Stalinists, Trotskyists, Right-wing Socialists, and various labor unions and workers' groups.

In the end Orwell and his wife get out of Spain just ahead of the Communists who want to arrest him and put him in jail, where they have put so many of his friends and the men he fought with. He describes those last days when the atmosphere in Barcelona was sizzling with uncertainty and terror. It is only because of bureaucratic inefficiency that his name doesn't arrive at the border before he does. He was lucky to come away with his life. Many of those arrested were not so fortunate.

2012 No 48(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 12, 2012 Arjun Mishra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

I am a neophyte on Orwell, though massively impressed by him, so I am not qualified to say how important this work is on his overall work and life. This is a critical analysis of the Spanish Civil War, which can be considered a prelude to WWII and the battles that would pan out in that conflict. Spain is often forgotten as a country when discussing and studying modern Europe because it did not participate in the world wars and did not have the same development trajectory as other nations, such a...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Incorrect title in spanish edition	4	48	May 26, 2013 01:59am

combine
Other Editions (70)

More editions...

Genres

History

339 users

Non Fiction

281 users

Politics

107 users

Classics

84 users

Cultural > Spain

75 users

War

73 users

Biography

68 users

Autobiography > Memoir

67 users

Literature

38 users

Biography > Autobiography

36 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.

Considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote fi...more

More about George Orwell...

Books by George Orwell

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Homage to Catalonia

5 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Homage to Catalonia

“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” — 198 people liked it

“On a ruinous wall I came upon a poster dating from the previous year and announcing that ‘six handsome bulls’ would be killed in the arena on such and such a date. How forlorn its faded colours looked. Where were the handsome bulls and the handsome bull-fighters now? It appeared that even in Barcelona there were hardly any bullfights nowadays - for some reason all the best matadors were Fascists.” — 6 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Homage to Catalonia
avg rating	preview: Homage to Catalonia Goodreads rating: 4.14 (10703 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9646.Homage_to_Catalonia?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367764410l/9646.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9646.Homage_to_Catalonia?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell[/url]

Homage to Catalonia

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website