Read George Orwell On Line

A site dedicated to all things Orwellian has all the information anyone might need for projects or out of curiosity. The site also contains George Orwell's books in pdf format.

There is still lots of time to enter the Banned Book Challenge. Choose a goal for the number of challenged or banned books you can read between now and June. Let us know about your goal on our form, so we can keep track. Not sure what to read? Check out our suggested reading and the many links on the right side bar.

1984

Photograph: George Orwell (Public Domain)






George Orwell's 1984 was challenged in Jackson County, FL in 1981, because Orwell's novel was "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter," according to the American Library Association.

Now a recent Guardian article by Robert McCrum tells "the compelling story of Orwell's torturous stay on the island where the author, close to death and beset by creative demons, was engaged in a feverish race to finish the book."

According to the article, Orwell was very ill, as he grappled with the "demons of his imagination" in a borrowed cottage in Scotland. The idea for the story had been percolating in Orwell's head since the Spanish War but he claimed that he was inspired by the Tehran Conference of 1944 where he believed, "Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt consciously plotted to divide the world," according to a colleague at "The Observer" Isaac Deutscher. 1984 is a much darker novel than Animal Farm, a novel which brought him much fame but also unwelcome attention.

A random act of violence in his flat and later, the death of his wife during a routine operation and his own poor health, as well as the bleak period that was post-war Britain, were circumstances which he faced prior to the writing of 1984. The publisher of "The Observer" offered Orwell a holiday at his cottage which Orwell agreed to with enthusiasm, craving the isolation so that he could concentrate on writing.

He struggled from 1947 until his death in 1950, explaining to his publisher in May 1947 that he was in "wretched health." By October he had completed a rough draft when Owell, his son Richard, and others who were returning from exploring the coast in a small boat almost drowned in a whirlpool. Orwell, a heavy smoker whose cough worried his friends, became seriously ill. He began to write at a feverish pace until November 1947 when he was hospitalized with TB, a condition for which there was no cure at that time. The publisher of "The Observer" arrange for an experimental drug -- streptomycin -- to be sent from the US. While the TB symptoms disappeared, Orwell suffered horrible side effects like throat ulcers, blisters in the mouth, hair loss, peeling skin and the disintegration of toe and fingernails.

As he was completing his hospital stay, he received a letter from his publisher, urging him to complete the novel by the end of the year, if not earlier, so he promised to deliver the manuscript in early December 1948. He ended up writing from his bed. When it came to retyping the completed but almost unreadable manuscript, it fell to Orwell, despite being too weak to walk in mid-November. According to the writer of the article, Orwell, "Sustained by endless roll-ups, pots of coffee, strong tea and the warmth of his paraffin heater, with gales buffeting Barnhill, night and day, he struggled on."

Once he had forwarded the manuscript, he checked into a sanatorium saying, ""I ought to have done this two months ago but I wanted to get that bloody book finished."

Nineteen Eighty-Four was published on June 8, 1949 in Britain.

Orwell died on January 21, 1950 at the age of 46.

Join us in reading banned and challenged books. The Banned Book Challenge continues until June 30. Set your own goal.

George Orwell

Read any of George Orwell's works online for free, including 1984 and Animal Farm at "The Complete Works of George Orwell." The books and other writings are searchable. Also included are Orwell's biography, photographs, and quotations. Both books have faced censorship.

The Forbidden Library reports that 1984, was challenged in Jackson County, Fla. (1981) because the novel is "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter."

E-notes explains of Animal Farm,

Completed in 1944, the book remained unpublished for more than a year because British publishing firms declined to offend the country's Soviet allies. Finally the small leftist firm of Secker & Warburg printed it, and the short novel became a critical and popular triumph. It has been translated into many languages but was banned by Soviet authorities throughout the Soviet-controlled regions of the world because of its political content.

Wikipedia adds,

Orwell originally prepared a preface which complains about British government suppression of his book, self-imposed British self-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally. "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... [Things are] kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most copies of the book.

Newspeak - Book not "Banned" but "Pulled"

George Orwell's 1984, made use of the term Newspeak. Newspeak limited the vocabulary of the society and also removed any words that might lead to free thought, free speech, or any other rebellious ideas from the vocabulary of the people.

Newspeak was brought to mind when I read this story. According to the Daily Press & Argus, Howell Public Schools administrators are not 'banning' a book, but 'pulling' it. Well, that's a relief!

Deputy Superintendent Lynn Parrish, Deputy Superintendent stated that The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and The World Around Them is being reviewed by a committee. It contains controversial material which includes drug use, sex, and profanity.

However, one needs to hear the whole story of the Freedom Writers before making a call that their story should not be told.

In their own words,

The Freedom Writers Diary is the amazing true story of strength, courage, and achievement in the face of adversity. In the fall of 1994, in Room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, an idealistic twenty-four-year-old teacher named Erin Gruwell faced her first group of students, dubbed by the administration as "unteachable, at-risk" teenagers. The class was a diverse mix of African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian students, many of whom had grown up in rough neighborhoods in Long Beach. In the first few weeks of class, the students made it clear that they were not interested in what their teacher had to say, and made bets about how long she would last in their classroom.

Read more about the teacher hero who helped them see how they could turn their lives around.



This inspiring story has been made into a movie which is due to be released in January 2007.

Wild Swans and Chairman Mao

I recently finished reading Wild Swans by Jung Chang. This memoir has been banned in China since 1994 and apparently even pirated versions omit references to Mao.

Chang looks back over three generations of women in her family and the upheaval in their lives as they endured the Japanese occupation; the Civil War; Mao's rise to power; and the Cultural Revolution. It is a fascinating look at history and its effect on one family. From her grandmother, whose bound feet were an outward sign of her lack of freedom as a concubine to a powerful man, to Chang herself, who worked towards Mao's goals with a passion, the book describes the turmoil the Chinese have endured. It also is a tribute to their strength of character. It sold more than 10 million copies and was translated into 30 languages.

Chang has just published a controversial biography of Mao which is banned in China, but she hopes the first Chinese translation will break through. The book took 12 years to complete.

Ironically, the book 1984 made her wonder, "in a naive way, if Orwell had ever been in China. I was reading about the society I'd been living in. How did he know?"