Gothic Quarter – Arthur Hofn

Catalonia From The Past In The Present

Always one from a bit of exploration I decided that having never been to Andorra that I simply must visit. A few weeks ago the time had come and I disappeared off to the Iberian peninsular for the second time this year. To get to Andorra your options are a little limited and so the best solution for me was to fly to Barcelona and get the bus to Andorra-La-Vella. This is not a problem, I love Barcelona, and I quite like long journeys. Of course when planning a trip careful consideration needs to be taken to which books I would be taking with me and it suddenly struck me that for this venture there was one obvious choice. I’ve read all of George Orwell’s novels/ books (although not his essays) with the exception of one, Homage To Catalonia. What better reading material to have as I potter La Rambla and the Gothic Quarter?

I like Orwell as a writer (Eric Arthur Blair – second blog in a row about a literary Arthur, it wasn’t planned). He knows how to develop a concept and get you thinking. His lesser know novels have a real sense of frustration and melancholy. However, I try to keep out of politics as best as possible even if Orwell himself does have strong views on the matter. I state this as I don’t want people assuming I take similar views simply because I read the literature of a certain writer be it Orwell or anyone else.

It’s easy to understand why it wasn’t that popular, I know that sounds harsh, but it is very dry and opinion led. Orwell does his best to separate what he sees as the “facts” from his opinions by putting them in different chapters, but when even he says he gets confused by all the acronyms you wonder how you are supposed not to, although again to be fair he does explain most things as simply as possible. He also humbly admits he misunderstood things at the time.

Homage to Catalonia was published in 1938, a good while before his two really big hitters, and at the time it didn’t do that well. Rather like, at the time the already published, Down And Out In Paris And London and The Road To Wigan Pier, this is not a story but an account of events in the Orwell’s life, with a message. It was published shortly after he and his wife returned from Spain having been involved in the Spanish Civil War. Homage To Catalonia is his version of events, from his observations of serving on the front line to his account of the politics happening within the subsections involved in the conflict as well as the bigger picture.

It’s a interesting thing to read a passage of something in the location of which it is it set, especially when it really happened. Off the top of my head I can’t think of an occasion where I have done this before, although I’m sure I must have done. There are sections of the text referring to battles taking place on La Rambla, which I read on La Rambla. Hotel and cafe names are stated, for example Hotel Continental is there at the top of La Rambla with Cafe Moka further down the road. There are walls around the city still showing the results of gunfire or bombs.

Set in the Gothic Quarter is Plaça George Orwell. This square was created in the early 1980s and it was only in 1996 that it got a name, that of the English author. I came here for breakfast one morning, and sat at a cafe drinking tea I read more of Orwell’s book, obvious and cheesy (not my breakfast) but it had to be done. A man working at the cafe was outside watching the square and I got chatting to him about general things, and of course I asked if many people came here looking for a connection with the writer and he didn’t seem to think many did, he said the locals only really knew the square as the “Trip” due to all the drugs that the area was known for. Hmmm… Regardless I made a fuss of photographing my aged copy of Homage To Catalonia with the sign, and annoyingly a woman’s legs who just wouldn’t get them out of shot.

Reading this book was an interesting experience as I became uncomfortable with some of the ideas and statements in the text which as a writer Orwell obviously seem to think were acceptable for print back then. The world has vastly changed, and yes Fascism is still a terrible thing, but I still found it hard to read how openly Orwell said he had wanted to kill at least one person during his time on the front line; in Chapter Five for example: “When I joined the militia I had promised myself to kill one Fascist—after all, if each of us killed one they would soon be extinct—and I had killed nobody yet, had hardly had the chance to do so.” On several other occasions he feels that his need for cigarettes is worth risking his and other people’s lives for; as an example there was a situation where, he lightly says he wanted some to which a friend does bring them to him at a very high risk and he thinks this is great. Elsewhere, at times of severe food shortages leading to the guests at his hotel eating only one sardine each, Orwell comments they were having to drink “older and older wines a higher and higher prices”, and sill complains the lack of cigarettes, priorities seem to have changed a little.

This is a book that has troubled me. Orwell has strong opinions and in his other books, yet they are a record of what some of the world thinking was like back then, and at least nobody was getting hurt. In Down And Out In Paris And London he comes across as someone really willing to put himself in other people’s shoes to understand them, and I respect him for that. However I don’t agree with cruelty regardless of the political colour (no one in their right mind does) but I guess my problem was I was expecting Orwell to be more of an onlooker wishing for, and understanding there needed to be a better way for all sides involved to improve conditions, rather than him becoming a part of the violence itself.

“The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting and I think worth describing in detail.”
― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

This was the last full book I had to read by Orwell and I’m kind of glad it was the last it meant I read the others with a sense of naivety I’ve lost now. It’s still worth reading this book and I’m pleased I did, it puts in context a writer who would adjust his views to degrees over time and go on to create Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four, but in the horror that was going on around him in Barcelona it’s just a shame he couldn’t see a better way.

Buy Homage To Catalonia – by George Orwell