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Tag Archives: George Orwell
The Egyptian Orwellian
I have written before about my long and sometimes emotional conversations with cab drivers. I love them and look forward to them. A Sikh told me he loved me and our drive had been so satisfying and DEEP that I … Continue reading
2010 Books Read
Round-up of the books I read this year, in the order in which I read them. I am nearly finished with one last book (a collection of stories by Miranda July, given to me by my sister Siobhan for my … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged A.S. Byatt, Andrei Tarkovsky, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Annie Proulx, books read, Dava Sobel, David O. Selznick, David Thomson, E.M. Forster, Elia Kazan, Ellen Terry, Emily Dickinson, Ernest Hemingway, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Bernard Shaw, George Orwell, George Washington, Gouverneur Morris, Ireland, Jane Langton, Jaws, Joan Blondell, John Banville, John McGahern, Mark Helprin, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Peter Bogdanovich, Rebecca West, Roman Polanski, Ron Chernow, Russia, Serbia, Shakespeare, Shirley Jackson, Stefan Zweig, Sylvia Beach, Tana French, Tennessee Williams, Warren Beatty
37 Comments
Rebecca West on Goering
I’ve got a couple of what I call “intellectual idols”, people who analyze and parse the world and its events, in a way that seems singular, important, and (in some cases) life-altering (for me). I was one way before I … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged George Orwell, Germany, Rebecca West, Robert Conquest, Robert Kaplan, Ryszard Kapuściński, war, WWII
19 Comments
Today in history, February 21, 1907
W.H. Auden was born in York, England. Two pieces of advice for writers from Mr. Auden: To keep his errors down to a minimum, the internal Censor to whom a poet submits his work in progress should be a Censorate. … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day, writers
Tagged Christopher Hitchens, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell, Hamlet, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Seamus Heaney, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, W.H. Auden
3 Comments
Kipling
“I woshipped Kipling at 13, loathed him at 17, enjoyed him at 20, despised him at 25, and now again rather admire him.” — George Orwell, 1936
Orwell: “By 30 November 1948 it was virtually done.”
The story of Orwell writing 1984. It brought me to tears. It was a desperate race against time. Orwell’s health was deteriorating, the “unbelievably bad” manuscript needed retyping, and the December deadline was looming. Warburg promised to help, and so … Continue reading
Today In History: November 7, 1917
One of the most seismic events of the 20th century: The Russian Revolution. Look at that gathering of rogues. I love the grainy old photographs of all of them – they always look so twinkly and jolly, don’t they? It’s … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day
Tagged Edvard Radzinsky, George Orwell, Lenin, Russia, Stalin, Trotsky, Victor Klemperer, war
4 Comments
The Books: “1984″ (George Orwell)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: 1984, by George Orwell. I covered much of my thoughts about this book in my post yesterday about Animal Farm. A bit more about Orwell the man (there’s so much there): Orwell himself wrote about … Continue reading
The Books: “Animal Farm: A Fairy Story” (George Orwell)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Animal Farm: Anniversary Edition, by George Orwell. Nothing like starting off the weekend with a little Orwell. And I am of the mind that we should never forget Why Orwell Matters … to borrow a … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Animal Farm, fiction, George Orwell, politics, Russia, Stalin, Trotsky
13 Comments
The Cycle
I worshipped Kipling at 13, loathed him at 17, enjoyed him at 20, despised him at 25, and now again rather admire him. — George Orwell, 1936