George Orwell died in January 1950. The seventieth anniversary of his death has prompted members of the Orwell Society to reflect on Orwell and what his life and work have meant to them. Their thoughts will appear here over the coming days. * * Norman Bissell: The death of George Orwell 70 years ago was…Read more 70th Anniversary Thoughts
Late London
Jack London, the American author, was a figure to whom George Orwell repeatedly referred. Like Orwell, London had written both social investigative factual works (such as The People of the Abyss and The Road), and fiction on both political and natural subjects. His specifically political novel was The Iron Heel, while his novels about…Read more Late London
Christmas WWII
In his concluding paragraphs to his London Letters to Partisan Review magazine in the USA, written during the Second World War, George Orwell sometimes commented indirectly on the food situation . Here are his observations on two Second World War Christmases, Notice how Orwell is able to use the colour of the Christmas puddings,…Read more Christmas WWII
Rubashov’s Confession
Some background to Koestler's Darkness At Noon, and Orwell's later Nineteen Eighty-Four * In January 1941 the New Statesman published George Orwell's review of Arthur Koestler's recently published Darkness At Noon. In this review, as in his later essay on Arthur Koestler, Orwell is particularly concerned with one subject: it is not Rubashov, the…Read more Rubashov’s Confession
Richard Blair: Q&A 2019
* In the autumn of 2019 Victor Rosa and a group of his fellow students in Brazil asked Richard Blair to answer some of their questions. We are pleased to publish the exchange. * 1) Recently, in Brazil, the book "1984" surfaced when some people began to draw similarities between the current government and Orwell's…Read more Richard Blair: Q&A 2019
Retracing the Steps of George Orwell
Richard Lance Keeble reviews Sur Les Traces de George Orwell, by Adrien Jaulmes (Paris, Editions de Équateurs, 2019) * Adrien Jaulmes, chief reporter at Le Figaro and award-winning war correspondent, bases his new book on a great journalistic idea: retrace the steps of George Orwell across the globe (at Eton, in Burma, in Paris, amongst…Read more Retracing the Steps of George Orwell
Teacher-in-School Pilot Bursary
Scheme launches to promote Orwell studies * November 29 2019 The Orwell Society is to embark on a pioneering new project to educate young people about the life and works of George Orwell through a Teacher-in-School Bursary worth £1,250. Having received and judged applications from prospective bursary applicants, the Society selected teachers from schools in…Read more Teacher-in-School Pilot Bursary
