Orwell and the biographers

Bowker, Gordon; Rodden, John

doi:10.1017/ccol0521858429.002

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The only possible spies known to have been in the POUM's ranks probably worked for the Communists, such as was the case with David Wickes, who was with the ILP's medical services or the Germans Martin Schneider and Werner Schwarze. 84 One exception was the mysterious Vinzenz Eberle, who may have been with the POUM's Cavalry, who was later accused of being a Gestapo agent by the KPD Abwehr; but despite being arrested three times between 1937 and 1938 he was always released. 85…”

Section: Repression and Counterrevolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

With the POUM: International volunteers on the Aragon Front (1936-1937)

2018

Ebre38

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resum Mentre que la història de les Brigades Internacionals està ben documentada, es coneix poc sobre els centenars de voluntaris estrangers que van lluitar amb les milícies obreres. Aquest article proporciona un resum dels orígens i característiques dels mes o menys sis-cents milicians internacionals que lluitaven amb el POUM durant els primers deu mesos de la Guerra Civil. Es contrast seva experiència amb la versió trobada en Homenatge a Catalunya de George Orwell, examinant tant el seu paper militar com la seva subseqüent destí després de la il•legalització del partit al juny 1937 i la dissolució de les seves milícies. Calumniats com «agents del feixisme», dotzenes d'aquests voluntaris van ser detinguts. No obstant això altres seguien lluitant amb altres unitats, incloent les Brigades Internacionals. Finalment, l'article examina la sort d'alguns d'aquests voluntaris com a combatents i víctimes a la Segona Guerra Mundial.

show abstract

Section: Repression and Counterrevolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

With the POUM: International volunteers on the Aragon Front (1936-1937)

2018

Ebre38

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this respect there is continuity between his Tory anarchism and his ideas of ‘democratic socialism’ that incorporate his belief in such things as decency, common sense and respect for custom, tradition and heritage. 6 Contra biographers such as Gordon Bowker, Orwell did not keep his conservatism and his politics neatly separated (Bowker, 2003, p. 315). Second, Blair and ‘Orwell’ can be read as reflecting two parts of the man's character: the Tory anarchist and the democratic socialist.…”

Section: Eric Blair As George Orwellmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In similar vein the uneasy self-consciousness that Blair/Orwell possessed about his social class manifested itself in various eccentricities including his well-known mock working-class accent and his habit of drinking his tea from the saucer rather than the cup (Bowker, 2003, p. 298; Meyers, 2010, p. 189). This should not be seen as Blair/Orwell patronising the working classes, though, as some of his critics have charged (Campbell, 1989).…”

Section: Eric Blair As George Orwellmentioning

confidence: 99%

George Orwell: The English Dissident as Tory Anarchist

Wilkin

2012

Political Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the nature of George Orwell's Tory anarchism, a term that he used to describe himself until his experiences in Spain in 1936. The argument developed here says that the qualities that Orwell felt made him a Tory anarchist remained with him throughout his life, even after his commitment to democratic socialism. In fact, many of those qualities (fear of an all‐powerful state, respect for privacy, support for common sense and decency, patriotism) connect the two aspects of his character. The article explains what the idea of a Tory anarchist means, describing it as a practice rather than a coherent political ideology, and moves on to examine the relationship between Eric Blair, the Tory anarchist, and George Orwell, the democratic socialist. It makes the case for his Tory anarchism by drawing out recurring themes in his work that connect him to other Tory anarchist figures such as his contemporary Evelyn Waugh. Thus Tory anarchism is presented as a conservative moral critique of the modern world that can connect figures who hold quite radically different political beliefs.

show abstract

“…His biographer Gordon Bowker suggests that in preparing to write the torture scene involving Winston and O'Brien Orwell discussed some of the philosophical issues with Bertrand Russell (Bowker 2003). But he had no formal philosophical training, and does not appear to have made a point of reading philosophical texts.…”

Section: The Web Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“How could you tell how much of it was lies?” The controversy of truth in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Chapman

2009

Jlse

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article considers the controversial nature of truth in George Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four, both within the novel itself and in critical responses to it. It suggests a new account of the nature of the control exercised by the Party and the resultant schizophrenia induced by "doublethink"; the Party imposes two different and competing attitudes to truth on the people of Oceania. These might be described as "truth-committed" and "non truth-committed" attitudes (Routledge and Chapman 2003). When we are free to choose between these two attitudes, both can form part of our everyday, non-pathological encounters. The non truth-committed approach is typical of encounters with literary texts, and this article argues that such an approach can enable the reader to dispense with too strong a concern for the factual veracity of Orwell's apparent predictions, and to concentrate on the literary qualities of his novel.

show abstract

Orwell and the biographers

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

With the POUM: International volunteers on the Aragon Front (1936-1937)

With the POUM: International volunteers on the Aragon Front (1936-1937)

George Orwell: The English Dissident as Tory Anarchist

“How could you tell how much of it was lies?” The controversy of truth in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About