Editing Homage to Catalonia (section)

===Writing===
Orwell wrote diaries, made press-cuttings, and took photographs during his time in Spain, but they were all stolen before he left. In May 1937, he wrote the publisher of his previous books saying, "I greatly hope I come out of this alive if only to write a book about it."<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Orwell to Victor Gollancz, 9 May 1937 {{!}} The Orwell Foundation|url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/george-orwell-to-victor-gollancz-9-may-1937/|access-date=2021-10-17|website=orwellfoundation.com|date=30 January 2011 |language=en-GB|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017230058/https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/george-orwell-to-victor-gollancz-9-may-1937/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to his eventual publisher, "''Homage'' was begun in February [1937] in the trenches, written on scraps, the backs of envelopes, toilet paper. The written material was sent to Barcelona to McNair's office, where his wife [[Eileen Blair]], working as a volunteer, typed it out section by section. Slowly it grew into a sizable parcel. McNair kept it in his own room."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Warburg|first=Fredric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29GpDwAAQBAJ|title=An Occupation For Gentlemen|date=2019-08-17|publisher=Plunkett Lake Press|language=en|access-date=17 October 2021|archive-date=16 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316070016/https://books.google.com/books?id=29GpDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

Upon escaping across the French border in June 1937, he stopped at the first post office available to telegram the ''National Statesman'', asking if it would like a first-hand article. The offer was accepted but the article, "Eyewitness in Barcelona",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2010/01/08/eyewitness-barcelona-george-orwell|title=Eyewitness in Barcelona|author=Orwell, George|website= Workers' Liberty|access-date=14 August 2023}}</ref> was rejected by editor [[Kingsley Martin]] on grounds that his writing "could cause trouble"{{Sfn|Bowker|2004|pp=228-229}}<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-06-10|title=The Orwell wars|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/05/orwell-wars|access-date=2021-10-16|website=New Statesman|language=en-US|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017230057/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/05/orwell-wars|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Orwell|first=George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WE4AAAAQBAJ|title=George Orwell: A Life in Letters|date=2013-08-12|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-87140-462-6|pages=81|language=en}}</ref> (it was picked up by [[Controversy (magazine)|''Controversy'']]). In the months after leaving Spain, Orwell wrote a number of essays on the war, notably "[[Spilling the Spanish Beans]]" and a praiseful review of [[Franz Borkenau]]'s ''[[The Spanish Cockpit]]''.

Writing from his cottage at [[Wallington, Hertfordshire]], he finished around New Year's Day 1938.<ref name="newsinger">{{cite journal|author=Newsinger, John|author-link=Newsinger, John|date=Spring 1994|title=Orwell and the Spanish Revolution|url=http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj62/newsinger.htm|journal=International Socialism Journal|issue=62|access-date=23 February 2009|archive-date=17 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017022834/http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj62/newsinger.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />