Reading Orwell

16. War, Confusion, and Mud in Homage to Catalonia

Reading Orwell

Show Notes

Orwell's mud. Homage to Catalonia shows how Orwell could turn the muddying of troops and the muddied waters of civil war into impressionistic form. This episode reconstructs these emphases, connecting them to Orwell's reasons for participating in the Spanish Civil War in 1937.

More from Reading Orwell

Feb 3, 2026

An account of Orwell's and Aldous Huxley's views of their most famous works, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and Brave New World (1932), concentrating on how each writer thought they'd outdone the other in imagining the future.

May 3, 2024

A conversation with ⁠Professor David Dwan⁠ about Animal Farm (1945) and the annotated edition of it he produced in 2021 for the Oxford World's Classics series.

Nov 14, 2023

The third and final instalment of a 3-part mini-series looking at Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in hour-long episodes, focusing on Part III of the book.

Nov 8, 2023

The second instalment of a 3-part mini-series looking at Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in hour-long episodes, focusing on Part II of the book.

Nov 6, 2023

The first instalment of a 3-part mini-series looking at Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in hour-long episodes, starting with Part I of the book.

See all episodes →