LETTERS OF GEORGE ORWELL

Edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus

The remaining volumes in this set are as follows:

1: An Age Like This, 1920-1940

This first volume is drawn from the years when George Orwell began to explore the life of the poor and was struggling to establish himself as a novelist and factual reporter. Disillusioned with Communism in Spain, rejected for service in the war against Hitler, already ill, he faced hostilities in a mood of frustration.

3: As I Please, 1943-1945

For some eighteen months during the war Orwell was employed as literary editor of Tribune. The new freedom he experienced was expressed in the title and style of the regular feature he contributed — “As I Please.” Animal Farm, the book most likely to immortalize his name, was written during the period covered by this volume… and refused by three leading publishers. Briefly after the Second Front, he was a war correspondent.

4: In Front of Your Nose, 1945-1950

This last volume contains the letters, reviews and other pieces which Orwell wrote during the last five years of his life: they include “Such, such were the joys”, a reminiscence of his preparatory school. Animal Farm had eventually relieved him of financial worry, but during the drafting and writing of Nineteen Eighty-Four he was increasingly handicapped by the illness of which he died early in 1950.

Scan Notes, v3.0: For the most part, footnotes were placed at the bottom of the paragraph that refers to them and are in 10pt Times New Roman, while blockquotes are represented with 10pt Arial. In a few cases, I determined that the footnotes would look better after a line of verse that folowed the paragraph. Changed ‘British style quotes’ to “American style quotes”. Proofed carefully against DT, italics and special characters intact.