I Have Tried to Tell the Truth, 1943-1944

<p><b>Volume 16 of <i>The Complete Works of George Orwell</i></b> <p>Orwell served as Literary Editor of <i>Tribune</i> from 29 November 1943 until he went to Continental Europe as War Correspondent for the <i>Observer</i> and the <i>Manchester Evening News</i> in mid February 1945. He continued to write for <i>Tribune</i> until 4 April 1947, when his eightieth 'As I Please' appeared. This column is now, in this edition, printed without cuts. In these thirteen months Orwell reviewed 86 books and he wrote essays on Twain, Smollett, Thackeray, and <i>The Vicar of Wakefield</i>. It was a period in which several important essays appeared, but perhaps the most intriguing is one that has previously neither been accredited to him nor reprinted: 'Can Socialists Be Happy?', written under the pseudonym, John Freeman. Four 'London Letters' were contributed to <i>Partisan Review</i>. <i>The English People, </i>though not publlished until 1947, is included in this volume. Although this was one of his books that Orwell did not want reprinted, it still reads well.</p>