APRIL 21, 2014
The Annual Literature Issue / Time Interviews Haruki Murakami and Ian McEwan
Letters from
GEORGE ORWELL an intimate look at one of the most mysterious writers of the 20th century and his time at the BBC
time.com
About this Collection For two years, between 1941 and 1943, George Orwell — real name Eric Blair — was BBC staff member 9889, hired as a Talks Producer for the Eastern Service to write what was essentially propaganda for broadcast to India. From recruitment to resignation, this collection of documents reveals the high regard in which Orwell was held by his colleagues and superiors and his own uncompromising integrity and honesty. Internal memos explore working relationships with literary contributors, while letters written from the Hebridean island of Jura colour the background to the creation of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
George O Letters from
an intimate look at
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Orwell one of the 20th century’s most mysterious writers
Letter One, 1941 Memo from George Orwell to the Eastern Service Director This memo, written in June 1941, examines Orwell’s suitability for a role as a Talks Producer within the BBC’s Eastern Service and recalls Orwell’s interview for the job. Orwell’s experiences in Burma and India are discussed, as well as his political opinions and his time fighting for the Republican cause in Spain, which Orwell feels ‘may be held against him’. Although his employment at the BBC was seen as essential war work, Orwell had made strenuous efforts to join the army but was consistently rejected by medical boards because of his ill health. The tuberculosis which was to claim his life had first appeared in 1938 when he collapsed from a lesion in one of his lungs.
Two Four Three
Letter Two, 1941
Letter Three, 1942
Letter Four, 1942
Letter from Arthur Keith to D. Pearson-Smith
Letter from Orwell to T.S. Eliot
Arthur Keith, once he remembers that George Orwell is Eric Blair, heartily recommends him to Mr. Pearson-Smith. Keith was a friend of Orwell’s and asked to provide a reference for him on joining the BBC. Pearson-Smith was the Overseas Services Establishment Manager, 1940s jargon for Human Resources.
In this letter written to T.S. Eliot, care of his publishers, Faber and Faber, Orwell asks if Eliot will provide a reading for ‘Voice’, his magazine program, to be broadcast by the Indian Service in November, 1942.
Memo from George Orwell to the Eastern Service Director
In his wartime diary, Orwell described the atmosphere at the BBC as ‘something half way between a girls’ school and a lunatic asylum.’
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Orwell produced some high quality arts programs for the Eastern Service featuring some of the major literary figures of the time. Men such E.M. Forster, T.S. Eliot and Cyril Connolly were all regular contributors to Orwell’s productions, the only notable exception being George Bernard Shaw who when asked to quote from one of his works responded with the terse refusal “I veto it ruthlessly.”
Orwell discusses the potential effects of broadcasting under his pen-name and how this might affect his credibility to an Indian audience. It is also obvious that, although Orwell realizes his job is to broadcast what is essentially propaganda, he refuses to compromise his integrity and wishes to make this clear at the outset. Unfortunately, none of Orwell’s broadcasts survive in the BBC’s archives. Wartime shortages and a lack of storage space, together with the fragile nature of the shellac discs used to make recordings, meant that development of the fledgling archive was very much on hold during the war years, although a collection of some two thousand discs had been established by 1939.
T.S. Eliot, 1951 T.S. Eliot (1881-1965) was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and “one of the twentieth century’s major poets.” Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930) and Four Quartets (1945). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, “for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.”
“I would therefore like to be sure in Five (front & back) Seven Six
Letter Five, 1942 Memo from the Assistant Controller, Overseas Services In this memo, RA Rendall addresses concerns that the Indian government might object to broadcasts by George Orwell, a man whose books they have banned. A handwritten amendment by L.F. Rushbrook Williams recommends keeping silent on the matter, rather than actually raising the issue with the government of India. Unfortunately, it was discovered that the target audience of Indian students at whom Orwell’s broadcasts were aimed did not in the main possess radio sets. Even those lucky enough to be able to tune in would have found the signal so weak as to render the broadcasts virtually unintelligible.
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advance that I can have reasonable freedom of speech.” — Orwell on broadcasting at the BBC Eight
Letter Six, 1943
Letter Seven, 1943
Letter Eight, 1943
Memo criticizing Orwell’s voice
Letter to Orwell from A.L.C. Bullock
Reply from Orwell to A.L.C. Bullock
J.B. Clark, the Controller of Overseas Services, is the author of this memo wondering whether Orwell should be kept on the air due to the unattractive nature of his voice. Clark feared not only that the talks might be compromised by Orwell’s vocal delivery, but also that the BBC could be criticized for giving airtime to somebody with such an unsuitable way of speaking. Old Etonian Orwell would certainly have had an upper-class accent, but contemporaries recall that he had a somewhat strangulated delivery even before the bullet wound to his neck that he received fighting in the Spanish Civil War. The injury was such that it was not thought possible for Orwell to recover his voice, yet recover he did, and there is no evidence of his being taken off air as a result of this memo.
This letter is George Orwell’s reply to A.L.C. Bullock’s invitation to talk about social change in Britain on the European Service. He makes it quite clear that despite the demands of his job his first commitment is always to the truth.
The BBC annual staff report found George Orwell to be an individual of high moral worth, incapable of subterfuge and one whose literary abilities make his work ‘distinguished.’ The document also warns that Orwell’s scripts require close attention, as they can shock the more ‘Conservatively minded’ on occasion.
Orwell had tried to join the army in 1941, but was rejected on the grounds of his ill health. Instead, he became a member of the Home Guard, hoping - somewhat optimistically - that it could evolve into a Catalan-style revolutionary militia. His time working at the BBC has been described by biographer Bernard Crick as ‘a period of painful underemployment.’
Orwell was astonishingly prolific. As well as spending long hours working at the BBC and attending to his Home Guard duties, he found time to write several long essays and regularly contribute to ‘The Observer.’ In addition, he wrote articles for ‘Tribune’ magazine, where he was to become literary editor later in the year.
George Orwell Official portrait for the BBC, 1942 At the BBC, Orwell supervised cultural broadcasts to India to counter propaganda from Nazi Germany designed to undermine Imperial links. This was Orwell’s first experience of the rigid conformity of life in an office. However it gave him an opportunity to create cultural programmes with contributions from T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, E. M. Forster, Ahmed Ali, Mulk Raj Anand, and William Empson among others. At the BBC, Orwell introduced ‘Voice,’ a literary program for his Indian broadcasts, and by now was leading an active social life with literary friends, particularly on the political left. Late in 1942, he started writing regularly for the left-wing weekly Tribune directed by Labour MPs Aneurin Bevan, and George Strauss. In March, 1943 Orwell started work on a new book, which would turn out to be Animal Farm.
Nine (front & back)
Ten Eleven (front & back)
Letter Nine, 1943
Letter Ten, 1943
Letter Eleven, 1943
Orwell’s BBC Annual Report
Orwell’s resignation letter
Memo on the resignation of Eric Blair
This memo, written in June 1941, examines Orwell’s suitability for a role as a Talks Producer within the BBC’s Eastern Service and recalls Orwell’s interview for the job. Orwell’s experiences in Burma and India are discussed, as well as his political opinions and his time fighting for the Republican cause in Spain, which Orwell feels ‘may be held against him.’
Orwell’s resignation letter, sent to L.F. Rushbrook Williams, the Eastern Service Director, outlines the reasons behind his decision to leave the BBC in 1943. He makes it clear that he has no disagreement with the Corporation and has been well treated. He does, however, feel that the task of broadcasting propaganda to India is completely pointless, stating that he prefers to concentrate his efforts on journalism and may be traveling to North Africa on behalf of ‘The Observer.’
Rushbrook Williams, the Eastern Service Director, praises Orwell’s professional integrity as well as his contribution to the BBC, and suggests that he be allowed to forego the obligatory two months’ notice if it will help him to continue with his journalism.
Although his employment at the BBC was seen as essential war work, Orwell had made strenuous efforts to join the army but was consistently rejected by medical boards because of his ill health. The tuberculosis which was to claim his life had first appeared in 1938 when he collapsed from a lesion in one of his lungs.
By 1943, the continual grind of wartime bureaucracy and several tangles with the censor had plainly exhausted Orwell’s enthusiasm. He had also been moved to the smaller Tamil Service, which he may have found less challenging than the Indian Service. Orwell relished the idea of becoming a war correspondent, although problems with his health were ultimately to rule this out.
Although he resigned in September 1943, Orwell did not actually leave the BBC until November, when he took up the literary editorship of ‘Tribune’, a left-wing journal founded by Aneurin Bevan with a young Michael Foot as assistant editor. He also began working on the novel Animal Farm, a ferocious satire on communist tyranny that was to give him his first real taste of commercial literary success.
“I cannot speak too highly of his character or his his literary and artistic taste is unerring.” — L. Williams, Orwell’s head of department at the BBC, on Orwell Twelve Thirteen(front & back)
Letter Twelve, 1943
Letter Thirteen, 1946
Letter Fourteen, 1946
Orwell’s official leaving notice
Letter from Orwell to Rayner Heppenstall
Letter from Rayner Heppenstall to Orwell
Even on this short, official bureaucratic form, evidence is found of the affection and admiration felt for George Orwell at the BBC. His Head of Department praises him unreservedly and would re-employ him at the drop of a hat, even though Orwell had always made it clear that he wouldn’t adjust the content of his broadcasts to suit the current political climate.
Orwell turns down an offer of work from Rayner Heppenstall, a friend and BBC producer, as he needs to have a break and then concentrate on writing a book. The novel was, in fact, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell goes on to describe the somewhat basic living conditions in the house where he is staying on Jura.
Heppenstall accepts George Orwell’s offer to come and stay on Jura and enquires as to what food he should bring, as Orwell had requested supplies. Orwell had been in poor health, suffering from tuberculosis, and Heppenstall hopes to see him ‘very beefy.’
Williams, the writer of this document, was more widely known as L.F. Rushbrook Williams. He was an academic and civil servant with expertise in Indian affairs who played a major role in aiding the establishment of independence in the Indian subcontinent. He was also involved in the creation of the state of Israel when, as head of the Middle East Section of the Ministry of Information, he toured the region to reassure Arab leaders about British intentions regarding Palestine.
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Orwell moved to Barnhill on Jura, an island off the west coast of Scotland, in May 1946. David Astor, the editor of ‘The Observer,’ offered Orwell a loan of his remote house and estate so that the author could recuperate from his long illness and concentrate on writing his novel. Orwell had worked for Astor on ‘The Observer’ as a book reviewer and correspondent and the two men had become good friends.
Rayner Heppenstall was a BBC producer and a writer. He shared lodgings with Orwell and the Irish poet Michael Sayers in 1935, until one night Heppenstall came home drunk, caused a commotion and was beaten by Orwell with a shooting stick. Although Heppenstall left the lodgings, he and Orwell regained their friendship and retained it until Orwell’s death.
attainments. He is of a rare moral dignity: Fourteen Fifteen (front & back)
Letter Fifteen, 1946 Letter from Orwell to Rayner Heppenstall Orwell’s detailed instructions to Heppenstall give a sense of how remote Jura was. His advice to bring a raincoat and thick boots also indicates both the rainy climate of the island and the basic state of the roads around Barnhill. The name Jura is derived from the Norse word for ‘deer.’ The island currently has over 6,000 deer but fewer than 200 people inhabiting it. It still only has one road, on the east coast of the island. Jura is known for its rugged scenery, including ‘paps’ of volcanic-looking quartzite, and its wildlife, such as otters, seals and many varieties of birds.
Sixteen Eighteen
Seventeen
Letter Sixteen, 1946
Letter Seventeen, 1946
Letter Eighteen, 1946
Letter from Rayner Heppenstall to Orwell
Letter from Rayner Heppenstall to Orwell
Letter from Rayner Heppenstall to Orwell
In this letter, it seems that Heppenstall had not yet received Orwell’s correspondence dated two days previously, as he asks for directions to Jura. He is also still unsure about what to bring by way of provisions. It is likely that Heppenstall refers to Paul Potts, a Canadian poet, who had joined Orwell on Jura very soon after he arrived.
Rayner Heppenstall clarifies why he has decided not to visit Jura after sending a telegram informing Orwell of his change of mind. Clearly Avril, Orwell’s sister, was not alone in finding Paul Potts difficult to get on with. Heppenstall also congratulates Orwell on his critical success with ‘Animal Farm’ in the USA.
Having not heard anything from Orwell since his last letter, Heppenstall is concerned that he has upset him by not visiting Jura over the summer. Despite previously congratulating Orwell on his literary success and making the observation that he can now do less journalism, Heppenstall also chases Orwell about his promise to write a radio program for the autumn.
Despite Jura’s remoteness, many people stayed with George Orwell there. Paul Potts was one long-term guest, but he irritated Avril, Orwell’s sister, who had joined him shortly after he arrived. Orwell collected his son Richard and housekeeper Susan Watson from London in early July. His former secretary Sally McEwen and her child also visited the island shortly afterwards.
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Orwell finished writing Animal Farm in 1944, but had difficulties finding a publisher as it attacked communism under Stalin and the USSR was at that point a wartime ally of Britain. The novel was eventually published after the war by Fred Warburg in Britain and Harcourt Brace in the USA, where - as Heppenstall points out - it was selected by the ‘Book of the Month Club’ and sold over 250,000 copies.
Heppenstall produced a dramatized series called ‘Imaginary Conversations’ from the late 1940s to the 1950s. These often involved two protagonists on opposite sides of well-known disagreements meeting and conversing about their differences.
Rayner Heppenstall Pictured here in 1958 Rayner Heppenstall (1911-1981) was a British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer. Heppenstall’s first novel The Blaze of Noon (1939), was critically praised. In 1967, it received an Arts Council award. From 1945 to 1965, he worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on radio as a feature writer and producer, and then for two further years as a drama producer. One of his early adaptations was of Orwell’s Animal Farm in 1947.
Nineteen
“I really did need a another book. I have enough done before writing articles.”
Letter Nineteen, 1946 Letter from Orwell to Rayner Heppenstall A relaxed Orwell describes how he can’t get around to writing letters and goes on to suggest that a trip to Jura isn’t really that onerous a journey, the main difficulty being the five-mile walk at the end of the process. He mentions catching and shooting his own food and substituting oatcakes and porridge for bread. Significantly, he says he is ‘starting another book’. This would be Nineteen EightyFour, his last. While on Jura, Orwell and his son Richard survived a potentially disastrous boating accident. Rounding the island after an outing, Orwell miscalculated the tide and their small craft narrowly escaped being sucked into a notorious tidal whirlpool called the Corryvreckan. The boat capsized but they managed to scramble to the safety of a small, rocky island where, after some time, they were rescued by a passing lobster fisherman.
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rest and some fresh air. I am also starting hardly done anything to it, but I want to get coming back to give me courage to go on while — Orwell on Jura and writing Nineteen Eighty-four
Jura, today Jura, Scotland is where Orwell wrote the majority of Nineteen Eighty-Four The Isle of Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. Compared with its fertile and more populous neighbour, Jura is mountainous, bare and infertile, covered largely by vast areas of blanket bog, hence Jura its small population. In a list of the islands of Scotland Orwell ranked by size,the Juramajority comes eighth, George wrote of whereas by population comes thirtyNineteenranked Eighty-Four while in itJura first. It is in the council area of Argyll and The Bute.Isle of Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, adjacent and to the northeast of Islay. Compared with its fertile and more populous neighbour, Jura is mountainous, bare and infertile, covered largely by vast areas of blanket bog, hence its small population. In a list of the islands of Scotland ranked by size, Jura comes eighth, whereas ranked by population it comes thirty-first. It is in the council area of Argyll and Bute.