Homenaje a Cataluña

I first listened to Homage To Catalonia in 2011 and chose to hear it again now mainly because I needed a 1930s book by the end of August to complete the Decade Challenge! The memoir is very much an account of the limited aspects of the Spanish Civil War that Orwell himself witnessed and, as such, I found I still don't really have much understanding of the many factions involved, the outbreak of acronyms and the full storyline of the conflict. This was a war with numerous armies fighting each other, not a simple 'people against fascism' as it is often portrayed. I was interested to learn that Orwell himself had little idea of the full politics when he first enlisted to fight, a naivete which nearly led to his arrest later on.

Jeremy Northam does an excellent job of the narration and his cultured tones suit the rather formal 1930s English language. Orwell has a minimalist writing style and comes across as an honest and earnest man, but I did often struggle to maintain my interest as parts of the book are quite dry. My having spent part of the last two winters in Catalonia was useful as I could easily envisage the landscapes and towns Orwell describes and I remembered seeing plaques and monuments commemorating some battles and events he mentions. I was saddened to realise that the fascist political ideas discussed in this book are rising again across Europe now, nearly eighty years later. And I saw the same 'Trotskyist' accusation as was leveled at the POUM and Orwell in the 1930s rolled out in a bout of name-calling against Jeremy Corbyn just last week. Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose!