Talk:Homage to Catalonia

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Editions

These chapters summaries are really great, thanks for writing them Tzartzam. But (there's always a but) I think we've got a bit of a problem with different editions. I should say, before I start, that my edition is a Penguin paperback in print from at least the 60s to at least the 80s, and is presumably very widely read.

You write in the article:

In his second appendix to the book (formerly "Chapter XI" of the book's first edition, moved at Orwell's request), Orwell discusses the political issues at stake in the May 1937 Barcelona fighting

Now, in the edition I have, this stuff is in chapter eleven and there are no appendices. So I'm wondering when this stuff was moved, and when a first edition with it moved was published (and indeed, I'm wondering what edition you're using, because it appears to be a better one than mine). I suspect the other appendix in your edition is chapter five in mine, which details the political scene ("it looked at first sight as though Spain were suffering from a plague of initials", Orwell writes) - Orwell says something like "you can skip this chapter if you don't want to bother with the politics", so it moving to an appendix would make sense (although it's one of my favourite chapters).

I'm not saying the whole article should be switched around if your edition is more widely read than mine, or closer to what Orwell wanted, or whatever, but I think it's clear that this needs to be briefly addressed in the article to avoid confusion to those people who have an edition that's had a double appendectomy.

I would've fixed it up myself instead of writing all this if I could, but I only know what's in my edition, and the rest is guesswork. Thanks again for the article, it's great. I assume you'll be summarising all his other books and writing brief descriptions of all his essays now ;-) --Camembert

Agreed -- I was planning on sorting this out. I think putting the summaries under chapter headings, with a note to such as "Chapter Six in first edition, chapter five in second edition." Not got the time now, but I'll do it maybe tomorrow :)

As to the others... Well... -- Tzartzam

The chapters in question are noted in his essay Why I Write. There's definately scope for a little discussion of this... -- Sam

Material on the book

Beyond the chapter summaries there should be seperate sections on influences, effects of the book, context maybe, etc. I've never read the book so I can't add anything, but someone should. Jztinfinity 01:13, 3 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Popular Reception

Often on wikipedia there is a section on how well received a novel was, in terms of sales and critical reviews. Such a section would be beneficial here. 80.229.169.22 (talk) 22:34, 25 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the second to last paragraph of the overview, it gives the books sale count.

Infobox

I have removed some text from the infobox that was demonstrably incorrect by checking the ref and ISBN number. The infobox appears to have been copied from the article on Nineteen Eighty Four and not updated. This leads me to be rather suspicious of some of the other details also included - can anyone check the page numbers, publisher details etc? I don't have a copy of this book. DWaterson 11:44, 4 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Citations

Primary Reason for Travelling to Spain

The article currently says

"In December 1936, Orwell travelled to Spain primarily to fight, not to write..."

which is contrary to what appears in the fifth paragraph of the first chapter of Homage to Catalonia, the book this article is about.

"I had come to Spain with some notion of writing newspaper articles, but I had joined the militia almost immediately, because at that time and in that atmosphere it seemed the only conceivable thing to do."

So I think that the claim needs a reliable citation.

Looks like it should be changed. Murderbike (talk) 17:47, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Coming Up For Air?!

Why is there a summary of this novel, what has this got to do with Homage to Catalonia aside from the fact that they were written in the same period?

Summarize

The basic idea of each chapter and of "Appendix two" can be summed up without such detail and so many quotes. Leave something for the new reader! :)

Much in "Overview" can be removed, moved to Orwell's bio or other Spanish Civil War articles, or footnoted. -- LaNaranja (talk) 23:35, 6 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I looked online at an article in the 'Carolina Review, Univ. of North Carolina, review of Homage to Catalonia. it began ; " Its a great irony that one of the 20th century's most prominent critics of totalitarianism once fought on the side of stalin"..it finished " as Homage to Catalonia somewhat unintentionally shows us ,a 'true' proletarian revolution does not bring liberty,equality and freedom . instaed it brings chaos, disorganisation and eventually a repressive dictatorship."

It's against that that one is up against and why I think somewhat lengthy quotes from the book are a defnce against flights of fantasy. But if it's too much , cut it back - I do worry i over quote in my edits anyhow , and risk copyright violations... I keep thinking 'oh thats an interesting point..' etc and it builds up. Sayerslle (talk) 21:55, 11 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]