Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced view of a complex subject, 26 May 2003
Quite by chance I came across a pre-publication copy of this book (sans photographs, alas) on a 2nd-hand stall, and as a long-time reader of Orwell, picked it up at once.
There are two main dangers in writing a biography of Orwell, whose request in his will that none be written has inevitably been ignored. The first is hagiography - brilliant writer, courageous anti-Fascist volunteer, perceptive early critic of Soviet totalitarianism, conscience of an era, tragic early death etc. etc. - which is pretty much the image his wodow Sonia fought fiercely to fashion for him.
The second danger is to seek to co-opt Orwell in support of one's own political agenda. Thus left wing writers sieze on his self-proclaimed socialism, while right wingers stress his anti-Stalinist credentials and play down his left wing leanings as little more than a veneer concealing his solidly petit-bourgeois background. Neither of these viewpoints gives a fair picture of a complex man, and one whose political thought evolved over the course of his career.
Taylor has done well to avoid both these dangers, presenting a balanced view that pays due tribute to the greatness of Orwell's last two novels, among the few that have actually shaped twentieth century thinking, while recognising that in many of his early works he was still searching for a distinctive voice.
Taylor acknowledges Orwell's faults and contradictions, including his womanising, but does not sensationalise them unnecessarily. He gives much interesting background information on the Spanish Civil War experiences which hOrwell distilled into "Homage to Catalonia". He seems to have talked to or read widely from most of Orwell's contemporaries and associates. Finally, he draws a fair picture of the often controversial Sonia and her guardianship of Orwell's heritage.
All in all, barring new information coming to light, this is as good a life of Orwell as one could demand, and one which like all good literary biographies sends one back to the subject's own writings. All Orwell fans should read it.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most inadequate biographies I have ever read, 29 Mar 2008
DJ Taylor is an accomplished writer and writes well. But this is a very poor excuse for a biography of Orwell. Considering that Orwell was born in colonial India, attended Eton college, was the subject of Soviet and British secret service files and had two very successful books published within living memory, one might think there would be a fair amount of information about him. But Taylor has unearthed a pathetic amount of it.
He repeatedly resorts to feeble lines like "nothing is known about Orwell's life at this time" and seeks to fill in the gaps by rolling on a bunch of other literary figures, with lesser or greater attachment to Orwell. So instead of telling us what Orwell did or thought, Taylor chucks in a bit of opinion from people like Malcolm Muggeridge, Cyril Connolly or Evelyn Waugh. I didn't buy this biography to know what they thought. I bought it to know about Orwell. Taylor is caught up in the literary world of the time and he expects us to know who these people are. In one sentence, for example, he wheels on "Francis King" and "J.R. Ackerley's sister Nancy" without explaining who they are or ever mentioning them again.
Orwell's family, on the other hand, gets short shrift. His sister Avril barely features. Why not? Where was she? Had she fallen out with him? At one point Taylor tells us that Orwell's father has been "four years dead" - er... did this event not merit a mention at the time? If not, why not? Had Orwell fallen out with his father so badly that his death made no impact? If so, shouldn't we be told? What kind of biography can leave out the death of the author's father, especially a father whose class, career and temperament provide interesting insights into the subject?
The biography also fails us in its photographs. The collection of photographs is pretty inadequate. There are not enough illustrating the people and events of Orwell's life, and too many mugshots of people with walk-on parts who we don't really need to see. Peter Vansittart, for example. He barely features in the book. Do we need his pic? I would have preferred a bit more on Orwell. One of the Orwell pictures is a blurred, cropped, it's-probably-him snap of people doing exercises in the park. What a waste.
Taylor also shoots himself in the foot about motion pictures. He bangs on about how there is no surviving motion picture of Orwell, but lo! in an appendix he describes how one has now been found. Oops.
I could go on.
There must be a better Orwell biography than this. Actually, this is written in a nice enough style, it's just that it's almost completely devoid of any facts and very thin on enlightening research, despite the fact that Taylor says he spent four years on it. The only thing that got me to the end was the fact that his biggest successes (Animal Farm and 1984) came right at the end of his life, coupled with my curiosity to see if Taylor would redeem himself at the last minute. Take my advice, and don't bother with this book. You'll find out a lot more from Wikipedia.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A strange literary world, 3 Sep 2003
As you would expect from such an experienced biographer, DJ Taylor has brought a detailed insight to Orwell the man, possibly more accurately and comprehensively than others have done before. However, for me, what separates Taylor's book from his predecessors is his lifting the lid on the political positions taken by members of the pre war literary world in London. Orwells own excursion to fight in Spain was marred by internicene rivalry between various parts of the radical left, and the overtly political stance of publishers of the day just goes to show that nothing has changed.DJ Taylor's style drew me easily into Orwell's world of contradictions and predjudices and I'm left with the feeling that he would have been a very uncomfortable man to know. A compelling, if sometimes challenging, read.
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