Daily: Will the real GEORGE ORWELL please stand up? DJ Taylor talks to Dorian Lynskey

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Few writers’ words and ideas are abused daily on the Internet as much as George Orwell’s – and now most of his work is out of copyright. On the anniversary of Eric Blair’s death, we present a champion Orwell-off. Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry Of Truth, talks to DJ Taylor, author of Orwell: The Life, about Blair’s underrated works and over-cited quotes, David Bowie’s 1984: The Musical, and why Orwell would have baulked at the modern misuse of “Orwellian”. “Orwell’s life and legend now fit perfectly the roles we’ve created for them.” – DJ Taylor “Words have been so redefined now that ‘Orwellian’ is routinely used as the opposite of everything that Orwell stood for.” – DJ Taylor “Orwell was an imperfect man of his time, and very good at dramatising his own life.” – DJ Taylor “Orwell hated writing film reviews so much that he paid his friend Inez Holden to go and watch the plays for him.” – DJ Taylor “Anthony Powell used to say ‘How George would have loved to be a poet killed in the war…’.” – DJ Taylor Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved
0:05.5	photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.
0:11.8	Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?
0:13.0	I loved going to college.
0:14.0	It's good you can retrain and do something.
0:16.0	Yeah, yeah.
0:17.0	Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.
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0:30.0	Pets brings so much joy.
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0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome to the bunker daily I'm Dorian Linsky.
1:11.1	21st of January is the 70th anniversary of Georgia
1:14.0	Wells death due to tuberculosis just months after he published 1984. This
1:18.0	means the copyright in his work has expired in the UK, already seeing a flood of
1:21.7	new editions and they doubt many people are working on new ways to adapt his books.
1:25.1	Why is or else still such a huge figure in the culture?
1:27.5	And will this free-for-all diminish or increase his reputation?
1:30.1	My guest today is a prolific novelist, critic and biographer,
1:32.8	DJ Taylor published what I think is the definitive biography of Orwell in 2003
1:38.0	is currently working on a new edition due out in 2023.
	...

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