Orwell's Roses
by
43/99
Critics' Rating Index
76/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
99/99
Volume of Reviews
74/99
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About This Book
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.
Reviews
"This is in part due to Solnit's nose for a good story, but also because, especially in this book, she artfully trains her branching offshoots on a supportive trellis ..."
"Orwell will always be relied on for his astute understanding of the threat of totalitarianism and its malignant lies; Solnit also ensures that we'll value Orwell's profound understanding of how love, pleasure, and awe for nature can be powerful forms of resistance."
"I won't give away how Solnit rescues her portrait of Orwell from the bear trap she has sprung on it."
"Instead we are presented with a farrago of Solnit's own, often abstruse concerns ..."
"an extraordinary mixture of heterogeneous ideas yoked together not exactly by violence but by curiosity, happenstance and a fair amount of perseverance."
"[A] lyrical exploration."
"Regardless, readers of the early 21st century should be grateful for her clear-eyed, articulate presence in our midst."
"While she does, in general, see Orwell's misogyny, Solnit doesn't—to quote her response to his roses—'think enough about what that meant' ..."
"It's not easy to find new angles on such a prominent figure, but Rebecca Solnit has done just that."
"Solnit seems especially exercised by the apparent contradiction between a progressive political standpoint and the pursuit of personal pleasure."
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