Coming Up for Air

work by Orwell

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June 24, 2026

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Coming Up for Air (1939) is a novel by George Orwell that uses the nostalgic recollections of a middle-aged man to explore a past England and express fears about a future threatened by war and fascism. The novel contrasts the perceived decency of a bygone era with the anxieties of impending conflict.1

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George Orwell
From The Road to Wigan Pier to World War II
…paradoxically conservative strain in writing Coming Up for Air (1939), in which he uses the nostalgic recollections of a middle-aged man to examine the decency of a past England and express his fears about a future threatened by war and fascism. When World War II did come, Orwell was rejected…
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…paradoxically conservative strain in writing Coming Up for Air (1939), in which he uses the nostalgic recollections of a middle-aged man to examine the decency of a past England and express his fears about a future threatened by war and fascism. When World War II did come, Orwell was rejected…
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War Stories
13 Modern Writers Who Served in War: George Orwell
>Coming Up for Air (1939) and, most famously, the political fable Animal Farm (1945) and the harrowing novel Nineteen Eighty-four (1949).
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>Coming Up for Air (1939) and, most famously, the political fable Animal Farm (1945) and the harrowing novel Nineteen Eighty-four (1949).
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