Orwell Among the Liars

Spain made all the difference. Describing in 1946 his own evolution as writer and as political man, George Orwell commented that he had been confused and uncertain until about 1935, but “the Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood.”

Before going to Barcelona and impulsively joining the militia of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista), Orwell had experienced poverty and had used it as the main theme of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, but he had made his adventures into literature rather light-heartedly. The impoverished men and women of the rue du Coq d’Or are portrayed as a curious collection of rogues and scamps, each with a story...