Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked on propaganda for the BBC. In 1943, he became literary editor of the Tribune, a weekly left-wing magazine. He was a prolific polemical journalist, article writer, literary critic, reviewer, poet, and writer of fiction, and, considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture. On the bright side, our sense of togetherness saves us from overt hostility. It also means that we’re mostly tolerant of others, and that differences of opinion don’t have to carry too much resentment at the end of the day. Lenny is a young boy living alone with his mother in London, his father having gone off to fight. One day to protect him from the bombing, Lenny's mother sends him to the countryside, to a big house with other children. As I write, highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.” Beat that for an opening line.

The Lion and the Unicorn by Shirley Hughes | Goodreads The Lion and the Unicorn by Shirley Hughes | Goodreads

dünya savaşı üzerine bir araştırma yapsanız ve "acaba 1941 yılında İngiltere'nin halet-i ruhiyesi nasıl acaba?" diye bir soruya meraklansanız direk başvuracağınız bir kitap Aslan ve Unicorn. Bazı tartışmalı noktaları yok değil, tüm dünyanın kaos içerisinde olduğu ve de geleceğin pek belirsiz olduğu bir tarih döneminde yazıldığı unutulmamalı. Enternasyonalizm eleştirisi, yurtseverlik övgüsü ve İşçi Partisi'nin aslında kapitalizmle uzlaşmak için var olduğu yönündeki tespitleri radikal solcuları rahatsız edebilir. İşçi Partisi hakkındaki tespiti sanırım 50 sene sonra Blair yönetimi ile ispatlandı. Enternasyonalizm- Yurtseverlik konusu ise hiç bitmeyen bir tartışma. Even small characteristics can be telling of common mentality. Cruelty to animals is a distinct difference between nations that Orwell downplays, but probably seems more significant to the modern reader. His point about the English as hobbyists is true – crosswords specifically are still very popular. We resist regimentation, unlike the French and Germans (although the common dilemma of the acceptability of murder ‘for your country’ still applies to us). ‘Gentleness’ gets a mention, and I think this is a valid point. We still don’t learn foreign languages, and lean towards the old comfort of ‘splendid isolation’. I think that, as Orwell says on p.12, it’s fine and warranted to identify general differences between countries – we are very distinct, especially in Europe. However, Orwell’s view makes Englishmen at large seem simple-minded, which is not the case – even where we’re overly concerned with the trivial over the practical, it’s still better to be engaged than idle, and doesn’t match up with our merits and achievements on paper. Leading on to the relationship between the economy and the war effort, there’s much focus on weapons manufacturing and how to stimulate it: however, I feel like Orwell slightly twists the narrative again for his own argument. We were undeniably old-fashioned in our tactics in 1914, especially in the use of horses, bayonets, and the like, but by the end of the war we’d progressed remarkably, inventing tracer bullets, aircraft carries, and the tank. (This is not to mention perhaps the most significant invention, radar, which was not conceived until the Second World War.) There was a big difference between 1914 and 1918: we learned our lesson, although we would have to learn it again in the Second World War. Orwell’s criticism is fair, but I feel he was neglectful on the point of adaptation.

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This book is entitled "The Lion and the Unicorn". It was written by Shirley Hughes and it was published in 1998. Shirley Hughes ( 1927 – 2022)was born and grew up in West Kirby, near Liverpool. She studied at Liverpool Art School and at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, before embarking on a career as a freelance illustrator. At first she worked as an interpretive illustrator, but she began to write and design her own picture books when her children were very young. Her first book, Lucy and Tom's Day, was published in 1960. lı yıllarda İngiltere'de yaşamış biri olarak Orwell'in Britanyalı/İngiliz toplumunu çok iyi analiz ettiğini ve toplumsal yapı ile ilgili öngörülerinin tutarlı olduğunu düşünüyorum. Arzuladığı; büyük stratejik sanayi kuruluşlarının ve arazilerin ulusallaştırıldığı, minimum ile maksimum gelir farkının 10 katı aşmadığı, eğitim sisteminin devletleştirildiği demokratik sosyalist sistem gerçekleşmese bile savaş sonrası iktidar olan İşçi Partisinin sosyal güvenlik ve sağlık sistemini güçlendirdiğini ve eğitim sistemini bir nebze iyileştirdiğini 1950'deki ölümünden önce kendisi de görmüş oldu. Lakin, sömürgeleri olan Hindistan, Güney Doğu Asya ve Afrika ülkeleri bağımsızlıklarına kavuşmasına rağmen, ne yazık ki kapitalizm odaklı emperyalist muhafazakar yönetim aynı elitler tarafından hala devam ettirilmektedir.

The Lion And The Unicorn by Shirley Hughes | Waterstones The Lion And The Unicorn by Shirley Hughes | Waterstones

Lenny doesn't trust himself but he holds on thanks to the badge his father has given him and the letters his mother sends him. No one can match Shirley Hughes in the simple mastery of both words and pictures Times Educational Supplement

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She also collaborated with her daughter, Clara Vulliamy, on the Dixie O'Day series; which saw Shirley with an illustrator for the first time with Shirley writing the text and Clara creating the illustrations. I find this book rather good because it explains the pain of children who leave their parents. Even though this book is for children between 5 and 7 years old, but it's also interesting even for older children. This book is not full of action but it makes you want to help children who have lived through the war and nowadays find it difficult to live without their parents.

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius - Goodreads The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius -

This is an excellent long essay on Orwell's solution for making England / the UK a more decent place to live for everyone, a fairer place, a more equal place. The ideas still need to be implemented and it says a lot about the political development in the UK that the suggested reforms are further away than ever. Shopkeepers at War - He makes the case for a socialist system in England and declares that the old ruling class and their capitalism must be overthrown for the simple reason that private capitalism, that is, an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit- does not work.Orwell's analysis of the state of India (and other colonies) and how we should leave colonialism was spot on. If only we had had the self-confidence to do this. Shirley began to write and draw her own picture books when her children were young. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger, and the Alfie series. Her books include the wordless picture book Up and Up, collection of rhymes and poems Out and About, and for the very young The Nursery Collection. The story is written through the eyes of a young boy. It's a story of a child who went to boarding school because, during the war, his dad went to the frontline and his mom could not take care of him. The name of the boy is Lenny. Lenny's dad gave him a badge with a lion and an unicorn. Lenny met a strange man and strange creatures... She wrote two novels for older children, Hero on a Bicycle, about a 13-year-old Italian boy during the occupation of Florence, and Whistling in the Dark, set during the Liverpool Blitz. Her memoir, A Life Drawing, was published in 2002. Orwell is right that one of our great weaknesses as a country is our anti-intellectual streak (pp.39-40), particularly in the working class: we’ve never had ‘room’ for intellectuals, in contrast with France, and we treat ‘cleverness’ as a cause for suspicion. I don’t think many would find this assessment surprising: the common culture is never intellectual, and intellectual life is inherently isolating (involving lots of quiet reading and lectures with only the like-minded in attendance). They have more in common with their European counterparts, although the latter are generally far less ostracised.