Orwell's Roses
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- Synopsis
- &“An exhilarating romp through Orwell&’s life and times and also through the life and times of roses.&” —Margaret Atwood &“A captivating account of Orwell as gardener, lover, parent, and endlessly curious thinker.&” —Claire Messud, Harper's&“Nobody who reads it will ever think of Nineteen Eighty-Four in quite the same way.&”—Vogue A lush exploration of roses, pleasure, and politics, and a fresh take on George Orwell as an avid gardener whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world&“In the year 1936 a writer planted roses.&” So begins Rebecca Solnit&’s new book, a reflection on George Orwell&’s passionate gardening and the way that his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, and the natural world illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and the intertwined politics of nature and power. Sparked by her unexpected encounter with the surviving roses he planted in 1936, Solnit&’s account of this understudied aspect of Orwell&’s life explores his writing and his actions—from going deep into the coal mines of England, fighting in the Spanish Civil War, critiquing Stalin when much of the international left still supported him (and then critiquing that left), to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism. Through Solnit&’s celebrated ability to draw unexpected connections, readers encounter the photographer Tina Modotti&’s roses and her Stalinism, Stalin&’s obsession with forcing lemons to grow in impossibly cold conditions, Orwell&’s slave-owning ancestors in Jamaica, Jamaica Kincaid&’s critique of colonialism and imperialism in the flower garden, and the brutal rose industry in Colombia that supplies the American market. The book draws to a close with a rereading of Nineteen Eighty-Four that completes her portrait of a more hopeful Orwell, as well as a reflection on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance.
- Copyright:
- 2021
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9780593083383
- Related ISBNs:
- 9780593083369
- Publisher:
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Date of Addition:
- 10/11/22
- Copyrighted By:
- Rebecca Solnit
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Literature and Fiction, Outdoors and Nature, Language Arts
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.
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- by Rebecca Solnit
- in Nonfiction
- in Biographies and Memoirs
- in Literature and Fiction
- in Outdoors and Nature
- in Language Arts