Animal Farm - Couverture souple

George Orwell's chilling fable of Soviet Russia's brutal dictatorship, Animal Farm brings to life in lucid, uncomplicated language the disastrous project of Russian Communism. This Penguin Modern classics edition includes an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury. 'All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others' When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. 'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine,' wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote the novel at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished; its savage attack on Stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to the book being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fable has since become a world-famous classic.If you enjoyed Animal Farm, you might like Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'It is the book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years'Ruth Rendell, Daily Telegraph Books of the Century

“Animal Farm remains our great satire on the darker face of modern history.” –Malcolm Bradbury

“As lucid as glass and quite as sharp...[Animal Farm] has the double meaning, the sharp edge, and the lucidity of Swift.” –Atlantic Monthly

“A wise, compassionate, and illuminating fable for our times.” –New York Times

“Orwell has worked out his theme with a simplicity, a wit, and a dryness that are close to La Fontaine and Gay, and has written in a prose so plain and spare, so admirably proportioned to his purpose, that Animal Farm even seems very creditable if we compare it with Voltaire and Swift.” –Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker

“Orwell’s satire here is amply broad, cleverly conceived, and delightfully written.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“The book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years.” –Ruth Rendell

With an Introduction by Julian Symons