A Life in Letters

by George Orwell

  I am getting on quite well & have felt distinctly better since being here. The only new treatment they have done to me is to make me lie all night & part of the day with my feet higher than my head. Sonia comes & sees me for an hour every day & otherwise I am allowed one visitor for 20 minutes. Sonia thinks that when I am a little better it would be a good idea for us to get married while I am still in hospital, which would make it easier for her to accompany me wherever I have to go afterwards. Someone, I think Fred Warburg, told the press about this & there was some rather nasty publicity.1

  I'm afraid I haven't a copy of Trilling's review of 1984.2 The only copy I had was among some press cuttings I sent up to Barnhill. I've just had back that picture that went to be restored.3 He's made a beautiful job of it, & it is almost like a new picture. Apparently they can lift a picture right off & stick it onto a new piece of canvas. I have another old picture which I thought was past praying for, as the canvas is sort of moth eaten, but perhaps this chap could do something with it. He also put the picture in a quite nice new frame, & only charged 12 guineas for the whole job.

  Things seem to be going O.K. at Barnhill. R[ichard] evidently hasn't started going to school yet, as Mrs Angus 4 was ill. He sent me a 'letter' which showed that he knows at any rate 12 letters of the alphabet. Unless I am out of England by then, I will have him down for the Xmas holidays, & then he can start getting to know Sonia a bit better. I do not think there need be any complications about his upbringing. We have agreed that if I should die in the near future, even if I were already married, Avril shall be his guardian. Beyond that I can't make plans at present.

  Yours

  Eric

  [XX, 3692, pp. 168-9; handwritten]

  1.In The Star (one of the then three London evening papers) and Daily Mail, 17 September 1949.

  2.The review by Lionel Trilling (1905-1975) appeared in The New Yorker, 18 June 1949. He praised the 'intensity and passion' of this 'momentous book' (Crick, p. 564).

  3.Mr Charoux, the picture-restorer recommended by Rees. (See 19.11.48.) 4.Presumably the teacher on Jura.

  Arthur Koestler* to Orwell

  24 September 1949

  My dear George,

  I thought that Mamaine had written to you and Mamaine thought that I had written to you, hence the delay. I was extremely happy to hear that you are going to marry Sonia. I have been saying for years that she is the nicest, most intelligent and decent girl that I met during my whole stay in England. She is precisely for this reason also very lonely in that crowd in which she moves and she will become a changed person when you take her out of it. I think I had a closer view of the Connolly set-up than you did; it has a steady stultifying effect which left its mark even on a tough guy like me. If a fairy had granted me three wishes for Sonia, the first would have been that she should be married to you, the second some dough for her, and the third a child - adopted or not makes little difference.

  If you don't resent the advice of a chronically meddlesome friend, get through with it, the sooner the better, without waiting until your health is entirely restored. Delay is always a bore and as an amateur psychologist I have a feeling that having this settled will to a surprising extent speed up your recovery.

  I hardly dare to hope of having you both down here in the near future, but whenever it is feasible it will be a great treat for me to see you both again and pop champagne corks into the Seine.

  [No valediction or signature]

  [XX, 3695A, p. 329; typewritten carbon copy]

  Nancy Heather Parratt, Orwell's secretary at the BBC, wrote from Geneva. As she says in her letter, she had telephoned Orwell early in November, and he apparently asked her for a photograph, which she was now enclosing. This shows her rowing and is dated August 1949. Her description of life in the United States has been omitted here. Despite many inquiries, and the help of the Ministry of Defence and Navy News, it was not possible to trace her.

  Nancy Parratt* to Orwell

  8 December 1949

  Dear George,

  Just a line to send you the enclosed [photograph]. I wonder which will amuse you most. It must be a pretty strange sensation to be quoted so approvingly by men who, a couple of years ago, would have been on very different ground from you. I must say I at least find it strange to see you turning up so often in such respectable places! You presumably know that the Philadelphia Inquirer is serializing 1984 in its Sunday supplement starting 4 December. I wonder if it is the only one or if a whole gang of them are doing it.

  Bill1 told me after I talked to you at the beginning of Nov. that he had sat next to a very pretty girl at a Hallow'endeg party who told him she was reading a v.g. book--1984, but it was too strong meat for her. She couldn't remember the name of the author but Bill happened to know it, and she said--Yes, he just got married recently. So Bill knew you were married before I did! And he forgot to tell me. . . .

  You see I have one of these new fangled ball point pens--I only just succumbed to the fashion last week--it seems quite good, only cost $12 but sometimes I get carried away by it and it writes funny things!

  I hope you are getting on well and not finding the time goes too slowly. If you are allowed visitors being in London must have its compensations I should think. Next time we come we hope to stay at least twice as long. By that time I am sure you will be moved on to the country or to some mountains or other.

  All the best

  Nancy

  I don't really talk American but it was such a lousy line I had to talk loudly & then I do sound a bit peculiar! If I can mutter I can usually get away with it!

  [XX, 3713, pp. 183-4]

  1.Nancy's husband.

  2.Orwell had started using a Biro early in 1946. He found it particularly useful when writing in bed where liquid ink was not allowed. Even by the end of 1947 he was paying PS3 for a new pen.

  Sonia Orwell* to Yvonne Davet*

  6 January 1950

  18 Percy Street

  London W1

  Chere Madame Davet,

  I'm writing to you on behalf of my husband, George Orwell, who is rather ill at the moment and so isn't strong enough to write himself. He has asked me to apologise for his long delay in replying to your letter, but it only reached him two days ago.

  I think you will have heard about my husband from our friends Alexei and John Russell 1--he is still ill etc. We hope to go to Switzerland soon, as it really isn't possible to get over this disease in England.

  My husband asks me to thank you most sincerely for all the trouble you have taken on his behalf. He hopes as much for your sake as for his own that the translation of Homage to Catalonia will finally appear.2 As for your article, he has absolutely nothing interesting to say about his life, but in any case this letter will probably arrive too late to be of much help.

  He asks me to send you his best wishes for the New Year, and hopes very much to be able to come and see you when he is in Paris again.

  Je vous prie de croire, chere Madame, a l'expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs.

  Sonia Orwell

  [XX, 3716, pp. 185-6; handwritten; translation of French original]

  1.John Russell (1919-2008; CBE, 1975), art critic, then married to Alexandrine Apponyi (dissolved 1950), worked at the Ministry of Information, 1941-43, and for Naval Intelligence, 1943-46. He was art critic of the Sunday Times, 1949-74, and later for the New York Times. In 1958, he was a witness at Sonia's marriage to Michael Pitt-Rivers.

  2.Madame Davet's translation of Homage to Catalonia was published in 1955. It included Orwell's corrections and the re-arrangement of chapters as he had requested. The changes were only made in the English text in 1986 (see VI, pp. 251-61).

  Orwell's Death

  Having married Sonia Brownell on 13 October 1949, Orwell hoped to be well enough to recuperate in Switzerland, and friends (especially booksellers) raised funds to enable him to make the journey. However, early on Saturday 21 January 1950 he died, his beloved fishing rods standing in th
e corner of his hospital room. His funeral service was arranged by Malcolm Muggeridge at Christ Church, Albany Street, London, NW1. He had asked to be buried, not cremated, and David Astor arranged for that to take place at All Saints, Sutton Courtney, Berkshire. His headstone is inscribed simply: 'Here Lies Eric Arthur Blair' with his dates of birth and death.

  New Textual Discoveries

  Proof copy of A Clergyman's Daughter When I edited A Clergyman's Daughter in 1982-3, it was known that a proof copy of the novel existed but attempts to see it failed. It recently came to light and is now in the possession of Mr Richard Young. I am deeply grateful to him for allowing me to see it and for providing the following commentary and readings: The proof appears to be a late stage of the novel's development. It would seem that most of the re-writing of this work was done in manuscript prior to the production of the extant proof. Nevertheless the proof does contain a number of late changes. The most significant of these is to change the character of Mr Blifil-Gordon, the Conservative candidate, so as to remove any trace that he is a Jew who had converted to Roman Catholicism. This was undoubtedly for fear of libel. Below I give the location of this proof text by page and line (e.g. 13/19) followed by the proof's reading in bold; then after the square bracket the equivalent Collected Works reading. Pagination and lineation are the same for the Complete Works and Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics editions.

  13/19: Catkin Palm ] Catkin and Palm 19/21: But Mr Blifil-Gordon the proprietor of the sugar beet refinery ] But Mr Cameron the Secretary of the Knype Hill Conservative Club 33/27: Even more Jewish in appearance than his father ] Given to the writing of sub-Eliot vers libre poems 38/29: And to think that that scum of the ghetto ] And to think that that low born hound 38/31: For the beastliest type the world has yet produced give me the Roman Catholic Jew ] And that suit he is wearing is an offence in itself 123/26: Lord Snowdon ] Lord Snowden 125/22: Consideration of your a ] Consideration, your a 232/2: Peg's Paper ] Get hold of - all these filthy (Peg's Paper goes between 'of' and 'all') 289/31: English Review ] London Mercury

  Proof Copy of Keep the Aspidistra Flying As for A Clergyman's Daughter, when editing the Complete Works in 1982-3, I was unable to inspect this proof and I am very grateful to Mr Richard Young, who now owns these proofs, for generously providing this commentary and information: It is both known and obvious that many changes were made to this novel at the proof stage (more so than for A Clergyman's Daughter - see 10.1.35). A large number of these changes were restored in the preparation of the Collected Works edition by examination of the files of Victor Gollancz. This proof reveals significant further changes relating mainly to the quoting of product names and contemporary advertisements in the novel which were obviously changed or omitted at a late stage. As Orwell was very sensitive to this 'mutilation' it would be good if these readings could be restored. Below I give the locations of this proof text by pages and lines (e.g. 19/22) followed by the proof's reading in bold; then after the square bracket the equivalent Collected Works reading. Pagination and lineation are the same for the Complete Works and Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics editions.

  19/22 and 21/19: Q.T. Sauce ] QT Sauce 25/1, 26/10, 57/6 and 26, 271/7 and 28: Rose of Sharon Toilet Requisites Co. ] Queen of Sheba Toilet Requisites Co.

  26/14 and 27/12: Kissprufe Naturetint ] Sexapeal Naturetint 144/32, 145/7 and 20, and 146/1: Riverside Hotel ] Ravenscroft Hotel 222/27: The shop was in the desolate stretch of road south of Waterloo Bridge ]

  The shop was in the Waterloo Road

  224/29: A cut-price undertaker ] A smartish undertaker 262/18: Have a Camel ] deleted after Flick, flick 263/1: the following paragraph appears after Flick, flick. Guinness is good for you!

  Night-starvation - let Horlick's be your guardian. She said 'Thanks awfully for the lift' but she thought 'Poor boy, why doesn't somebody tell him?' How a woman of thirty-two stole her young man from a girl of twenty. Silkyseam - the smooth sliding bathroom tissue. Halitosis is ruining his career. Now I'm schoolgirl complextion all over. Kiddies clamour for their Breakfast Crisps. Pyorrhea? Not me! Are you a Highbrow? Dandruff is the reason.

  This proof version contains the Horlick's night-starvation line and the other ads are in a different order to the CW text. I guess that the order given here is the original reading.

  Chronology

  7 January 1857: Orwell's father, Richard Walmesley Blair born at Milborne St Andrew, Dorset. His father, Thomas Arthur Blair, was Vicar of Milborne St Andrew.

  19 May 1875: Orwell's mother, Ida Mabel Limouzin, born at Penge, Surrey.

  15 June 1897: Richard Blair, an officer in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service and Ida Limouzin married at St John in the Wilderness, Naini Tal, India (Bowker, p. 8).

  21 April 1898: Marjorie Francis Blair born, Gaya, Bengal.

  25 June 1903: Eric Arthur Blair born, Motihari, Bengal.

  1904: Ida Blair returns to live in England with Marjorie and Eric at Henley-on-Thames.

  Summer 1907: Richard Blair spends three months' leave at Henley.

  6 April 1908: Avril Nora Blair born.

  1908-1911: Attends a Roman Catholic day-school run by Ursuline nuns, as did his sisters (Bowker, pp. 21-2).

  September 1911-December 1916: Boards at St Cyprian's private preparatory school, Eastbourne.

  1912: Richard Blair retires as sub-deputy agent in the Opium Department and returns to England. The family moves to Shiplake, Oxfordshire, probably early in December.

  Summer 1914: Makes friends with the Buddicom family, especially Jacintha.

  2 October 1914: Poem: 'Awake! Young Men of England' published in Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard - Orwell's first appearance in print (as Eric Blair).

  1915-autumn 1917: The Blairs move back to Henley-on-Thames.

  1 July 1916: The Battle of the Somme was launched at 7.30 a.m. On that day 19,240 men were killed or died of wounds; 35,493 wounded; 2,152 missing; and 585 taken prisoner; Total: 57,470 for virtually no advance [Martin Middlebrook, The First Day of the Somme (1971; 2001), p. 263].

  21 July 1916: Poem: 'Kitchener' (which Orwell himself submitted) published in Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard.

  Lent Term 1917: At Wellington College as a scholar.

  May 1917-December 1921: At Eton as a King's Scholar. Contributes to The Election Times and College Days.

  13 September 1917: Orwell's father commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant; posted to 51st (Ranchi) Indian Pioneer Company, Marseilles. He soon became the youngest 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army. Orwell's mother starts work for the Ministry of Pensions in London.

  October-November 1917: Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) in which Fredric Warburg, Orwell's later publisher and member of his HG platoon, fought.

  9 December 1919: Orwell's father relinquishes his commission and returns to London.

  December 1921: The Blairs move to Southwold on the Suffolk coast.

  October 1922-December 1927: Orwell serves in the Indian Imperial Police, Burma.

  Autumn 1927: First expeditions into the East End of London whilst on leave from Burma.

  Spring 1928: About this time lives for a while as a tramp.

  Spring 1928 to late 1929: Lives in working-class district of Paris; five articles published in French journals; writes one or two novels (he gives both figures); he destroys both.

  March 1929: Admitted to Hopital Cochin, Paris with 'une grippe'. (See 'How the Poor Die', Now, 1946.) Autumn 1929: Works as kitchen porter and dishwasher, probably at Hotel Lotti or Crillon.

  1930-31: Lives with his parents at Southwold but goes off tramping with down-and-outs in London. Starts writing what will become Down and Out in Paris and London.

  April 1931: 'The Spike' published in The Adelphi.

  August 1931: 'A Hanging' published in The Adelphi.

  September 1931: Revised version of Down and Out rejected by Jonathan Cape.

  Autumn 1931: Picks hops in Kent (see A Clergyman's Daughter). Starts Burmese Days.


  17 October 1931: 'Hop-Picking' published in New Statesman & Nation.

  14 December 1931: Revised version of Down and Out (now called 'A Scullion's Diary') submitted to Faber & Faber but rejected by T.S. Eliot, 15 February 1932.

  26 April 1932: Orwell writes to Leonard Moore following submission to him of Down and Out by Mrs Mabel Fierz; Moore becomes his literary agent.

  April 1932-July 1933: Teaches at The Hawthorns, a private school at Hayes, Middlesex.

  Christmas 1932: Writes and directs a school play, Charles II.

  3 September 1932: 'Common Lodging Houses' published in New Statesman & Nation.

  19 November 1932: Submits pen-names under which his first book will be published; for a time writes both as Eric Blair (until December 1936) and George Orwell.

  January 1933: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (first use of the name) published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Published in New York on 30 June 1933.

  March 1933: Poem: 'Sometimes in the middle autumn days', The Adelphi.

  May 1933: Poem: 'Summer-like for an instant the autumn sun bursts out', The Adelphi.

  Autumn 1933: Teaches at Frays College, Uxbridge. Finishes Burmese Days.

  December 1933: In hospital with pneumonia. Gives up teaching.

  October 1933: Poem: 'On a Ruined Farm near His Master's Voice Gramophone Factory', The Adelphi.

  January-October 1934: Lives with his parents at Southwold; writes A Clergyman's Daughter.

  25 October 1934: Burmese Days published by Harper & Brothers, New York.

  October 1934 - March 1935: Takes a room at 3 Warwick Mansions, Hampstead.

  October 1934-January 1936: Part-time assistant (with Jon Kimche) at Booklovers Corner, 1 South End Road, Hampstead.

  11 March 1935: A Clergyman's Daughter published by Gollancz.

  May 1935: Down and Out published as La vache Enragee, translated by R.N. Raimbault.

  24 June 1935: Burmese Days published by Gollancz, London, with modified text.