Unknown Orwell by Peter Stansky

by Peter Stansky

The Unknown Orwell introduces Eric Blair, of Eton, the Indian Imperial Police, the Portobello Road, and the Rue du Pot de Fer, who, at the age of 30, on the publication of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, became George Orwell. It is divided into five parts, and features studies of Blair's time at Eton, his years in Burma, the phase when he became a writer, and how he became Orwell. Always a fascinating subject, Orwell.

Genres: Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Peter Stansky was educated at Yale University, King's College, Cambridge and Harvard University. He taught at Harvard and then at Stanford University, retiring in 2005 as the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History. At Stanford he taught modern British history, directed PhD dissertations, chaired his department as well as holding various administrative posts and in the course of his career was awarded several outside fellowships. He is also former President of the North American Conference on British Studies.

Reviews

[Susan Paxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the early biographers of George Orwell had a major problem: Orwell's second wife would not permit biographers to quote from Orwell's works, at all. That stricture wasn't lifted until Bernard Crick was allowed to quote in his groundbreaking 1980 biography George Orwell: A Life.

Yet not all was lost. Forbidden to quote, Peter Stansky and William Abrahams performed a service that has informed all succeeding Orwell biographers; they went out and did basic research. They leafed through archives, they read through the writings of others, and, best of all, they were working at a time when many of the people who knew Orwell were still alive and could be interviewed.

This, the first volume of their two-volume biography, originally published in 1972, covers the life of Eric Arthur Blair from his birth in Bengal in 1903 to January 1933, when his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, was published under the pen name he selected for himself: George Orwell. I think the authors try a bit too hard to suggest that Blair and Orwell were really almost two people; you might as well pull a snail out of its shell as to separate the man from the pen name, in my view. That said, there's a great deal of interest for students of Orwell to find here, particularly covering Orwell's ancestry, his time at prep school and at Eton, and his experiences in Burma. The newer biographies have more "stuff" and copious quotes from the man himself, but the background provided is very valuable in and of itself, often quoted and used by later writers, but here in the full and uncut original.

[Donn Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting bio of Orwell (Eric Blair, his real name), from his youth through school days, through his career as a policeman in Burma, through his struggle in becoming a published writer, his first “real” book being “Down and Out in London and Paris” published in 1933, under the name George Orwell. One annoying thing (to me) in this book was the authors’ insisting on calling the subject Blair and Orwell as though they were two different people. Interesting read, though.

[Natasha Anastasiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το βιβλίο «Ο άγνωστος Όργουελ» με γοήτευσε, γιατί φωτίζει με ευαισθησία τα πρώτα, λιγότερο γνωστά βήματα του Eric Blair πριν γίνει ο George Orwell. Οι Stansky και Abrahams, με επιμονή και σεβασμό, ξεδιπλώνουν τον άνθρωπο πίσω από τον συγγραφέα, μέσα από αρχεία και ζωντανές μαρτυρίες. Ίσως επιμένουν λίγο παραπάνω στη διάκριση ανάμεσα στον Blair και τον Orwell, όμως αυτό δίνει βάθος στην αφήγηση. Ένα βιβλίο γεμάτο αλήθεια, νοσταλγία και ανθρώπινη παρουσία.

[Kathleen Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first volume of a two part examination of Orwell’s development as a writer. This volume covers his early life (he was born in 1903 as Eric Blair), up until the publication of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, in January of 1933. Throughout his self-described lower-upper-middleclass upbringing, education at Eton, and five year stint in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he remained Eric Blair. But he returned to England at age 24 with a hatred for imperialism and a sympathy for the oppressed that had its first expression in Down and Out in Paris and London, published five years later under the name George Orwell. This pen name was initially adopted because he feared the book would upset his parents, but ironically, its success was such that he was more or less forced to continue writing as Orwell.

This book is an exhaustive and scholarly study of the various influences that played a role in the early life of Orwell. It is as fascinating as it is comprehensive, and highly recommended for all his admirers.

[Jo Scoble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book and so well written. So many interesting titbits about one of my favourite authors. It really is about how Eric Author Blair became Orwell, which was quite an unconscious decision in the end. Fascinating read on so many levels. I recommend this book very much to Orwell enthusiasts, historians and writers alike. :-)