Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"In 1937 Orwell went to Spain to observe the civil war and write about it. He stayed to take part in it, joining the militia as a private," writes Lionel Trilling in his Introduction to Homage to Catalonia. Orwell fought on the anti-fascist side of the Spanish Republic against the Nationalist coup that attempted to overthrow the election victory of the Popular Front.

Orwell stayed in Spain, mostly on the front, in the trenches, until he was hit by a sniper's bullet. Luckily for all of us, future readers of 1984, he survived and recovered. He vividly describes the experience of being hit in the throat by a bullet: "Roughly speaking it was a sensation of being at the centre of an explosion. There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all around me, and I felt a tremendous shock—no pain, only a violent shock. such as you get from an electric terminal, with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shrivelled up to nothing."

To me, the most important aspect of Orwell's memoir is how clearly he presents the ugly tangle of conflicting political interests of the forces on the anti-fascist side. We learn about the tragic days in May 1937 when different factions on the side of the Republic fought each other for several days in Catalonia, mainly in Barcelona. Orwell writes that among the anti-fascist fighters there were men, "who were killed without ever learning that the newspapers in the rear were calling them Fascists." He sums it up bitterly: "This kind of thing is a little difficult to forgive."

Orwell provides sharp political observations and analyses in two substantial appendices to the text. I believe some readers may find the following observation astonishing: "The only unexpected feature in the Spanish situation—and outside Spain it has caused an immense amount of misunderstanding—is that among the parties on the Government side the Communists stood not upon the extreme Left, but upon the extreme Right."

I highly recommend Homage to Catalonia, particularly to anyone interested in 20th-century history. Well-written, interesting, and highly enlightening work! Certainly deserving more insightful reviews than I am able to provide.

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