George Orwell: A Literary Life

204 Pages·1996·11.632 MB·English

by  Peter Davison

George Orwell
ALiteraryLife
Peter Davison
GEOR.GEORWELL
Literary Lives
General Editor: Richard Dutton, Professor of English
Lancaster University
This series offers stimulating accounts of the literary careers of
the most admired and influential English-language authors.
Volumes follow the outline of writers' working lives, not in
the spirit of traditional biography, but aiming to trace
the professional, publishing and social contexts which
shaped their writing.
A list of the published titles in this seriesfoHouls overleaf.
Publishedtitlesinclude
CedricC.Brown MichaelO'Neill
JOHN MILTON PERCYBYSSHESHELLEY
PeterDavison LeoneeOrmond
GEORGE ORWELL ALFREDTENNYSON
Richard Dutton GeorgeParfitt
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE JOHNDONNE
Jan Fergus GeraldRoberts
JANE AUSTEN GERARD MANLEYHOPKINS
JamesGibson FelicityRosslyn
THOMASHARDY ALEXANDERPOPE
KennethGraham Tony Sharpe
HENRYJAMES T.S.ELIOT
PaulHammond GrahameSmith
JOHNDRYDEN CHARLESDICKENS
w. DavidKay GaryWaller
BEN JONSON EDMUNDSPENSER
MaryLago CedricWatts
E.M.FORSTER JOSEPH CONRAD
AlasdairD.F. Macrae JohnWilliams
W.B.YEATS WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
JosephMcMinn Tom Winnifrithand EdwardChitham
JONATHANSWIFT CHARLOTTEAND EMILY BRONTE
KerryMcSweeney JohnWorthen
GEORGE ELIOT (MARIANEVANS) D.H. LAWRENCE
JohnMepham
VIRGINIA WOOLF
George Orwell
A Literary Life
Peter Davison
* © PeterDavison1996
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Contents
Introduction ix
Chronology xv
1 Getting Started
The Family 1
The Buddicoms 8
St Cyprian's and Eton 12
2 Foreign Fields
Burma Days 15
Days in London and Paris 24
Down and Out: Financial Returns 30
3 The Profession of Author
Blair and Orwell 38
Burmese Days 45
The Rejected 'Pot-boilers' 54
4 The Turning-Point: Wigan and Spain
The Road to Wigan Pier 67
Homageto Catalonia 79
5 Orwell as Reviewer and Essayist 88
6 Events Leading Up to the War and the BBC Years 111
7 The Last Five Years
War Correspondent 121
Animal Farm 123
Nineteen Eighty-Four 129
8 Conclusion 140
Notes 148
Bibliography 164
Index 168
vii
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Introduction
Jacintha Buddicom first saw Eric Blair when he was 11: he was
standing on his head, the better to be noticed, he said.' If studies
and biographical accounts are anything to go by, for a man who
wishedno biographyto be writtenabouthim, he hasbeenwelland
variously remembered. In addition to two excellent biographies,
Bernard Crick's George Orwell: A Life (1980, 1982, and 1992) and
Michael Shelden's Orwell: TheAuthorisedBiography (1991),and ear
lier, PeterStanskyand WilliamAbrahams, TheUnknownOrwelland
Orwell: TheTransformation (1972and 1979),onmy shelves alone are
studies by Keith Aldritt, John Atkins, Laurence Brander, Jacintha
Buddicom, Tosco Fyvel, Bernard Gensane, J.R.Hammond, Rayner
Heppenstall, Christopher Hollis, Tom Hopkinson, Lynette Hunter,
Robert A. Lee, PeterLewis, Jeffrey Meyers, DaphnePatai, AlokRai,
Sir Richard Rees, Patrick Reilly, John Rodden, David Smith and
Michael Mosher, Alan Sandison, Ian Slater, William Steinhoff,
EdwardM.Thomas,John Thompson,W.J.West, RaymondWilliams,
Ian Willison (his VeL Librarianship Diploma Thesis (1953) is in
valuable), George Woodcock, David Wykes, and Alex Zwerdling,
plusessay-collectionsandmemoirseditedby AudreyCoppardand
BernardCrick, MiriamGross, IrvingHowe,ChristopherNorris, Peter
Stansky, Stephen Wadhams, Courtney T. Wemyss and Alexej
Ugrinsky. There are books I do not have and there are countless
essays (notably those by Maung Htin Aung, Elisaveta Fen, Robert
Pearce, and Nicolas Walter). One might conclude that standing on
one'shead does getone noticed. Moreto the point, it is obviousthat
Orwell has been and continues to be an abiding source of interest,
to friends, enemies and objective scholars. At the same time doubt
must arise as to whether there is very much more to be said.
This study is chiefly concerned with what influenced Orwell
people, reading, circumstance - and his relationship with publish
ers and editors. It is drawn from experience of editing TheComplete
Works of George Orwell.The first nine volumes of this edition give
correctedtexts ofnineofOrwell'sbooks.Intheirhardbackeditions,
published by Seeker &Warburg, 1986-87, textual notes and colla
tions record what happened in print to what Orwell wrote; how,
for example, A Clergyman'sDaughterwas savagely cut and Keep the
ix