I thought I’d provide you with some context for our essay author John Berger.  Berger is a person of many talents and diverse interests.  Born in London in 1928, he left school at the age of 16 to study art.  In the 1950s, he turned from painting to writing.  He is the author of a dozen novels, the most recent of which won the distinguished Booker Prize.  He is perhaps even better known for his writing about art and culture.  One of Berger’s most influential (and popular) books, Ways of Seeing (1972), was concerned with how we look at images.

In the essay you read for our class, he is also concerned with looking–in this case why (and how) we look at animals.  As you might be able to tell from the essay you read, particularly the final pages, Berger draws as a critic on concepts and ideas from Marxist criticism.  “Why Look at Animals?” was published in the leftest periodical The Guardian in 1977.

A recent interview with Berger, also published in The Guardian, provides more information about his life and work.

Sources for this post

Wroe, “John Berger:  A Life in Writing.”  http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/apr/23/john-berger-life-in-writing
Cuba, “John Berger–Ways of Seeing.”  http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2010/05/john-berger-ways-of-seeing.html