Diaries

Published in Russian for the first time, George Orwell’s diaries reveal to us an unknown story—hidden from the eyes of readers of his great works—about the ordinary life of an extraordinary person. The eleven surviving diaries he wrote between 1931 and 1939 describe his youthful wanderings among miners and traveling workers, the rise of totalitarianism, and the terrible drama of the Second World War. He wrote everything down—his thoughts, drafts of poems, weather observations, clippings from newspapers with recipes and advice for gardeners. These daily notes preserved priceless “seeds” of events and reflections from which his later literary masterpieces grew. They also reflect tragic moments of his personal life, such as the death of his first wife and his own decline in the painful struggle against tuberculosis.

Stylistically impeccable, Orwell’s diaries absorb the full breadth of his life and thoughts over many years—an experience of autobiography that he never wrote. © Storyside