Diaries

The diaries of George Orwell, published for the first time in Russian, reveal to us the unknown, hidden from the eyes of readers of his great works, story of the ordinary life of an extraordinary man. Eleven surviving diaries, written by him between 1931 and 1939, describe his youthful wanderings among miners and transient workers, the rise of totalitarianism, and the terrible drama of World War II. He recorded everything — his thoughts, drafts of poems, observations of the weather, clippings from newspapers with advice for gardeners. These daily entries preserved invaluable "seeds" of events and reflections, from which his literary masterpieces later grew. They also reflected the tragic moments of his personal life, such as the death of his first wife and his own fading in a painful battle with tuberculosis. Stylistically impeccable, Orwell's diaries absorbed the fullness of his life and thoughts over many years, serving as the experience of an autobiography that he would never write.