Reading Orwell

Reading Orwell is an educational podcast featuring a mixture of interviews and chapter-by-chapter and topic-led commentaries on George Orwell’s fictional and non-fictional works. The goal of the commentary episodes is to describe and to show connections within his books; they’re not exhaustive and they’re not meant to be read or listened to unquestioningly. I’m interested in how Orwell’s books are internally structured—in how their ideas, motifs, styles, themes, and registers have a conceptual and formal logic. Read them in or out of sequence—whatever works for you. And do get in touch if you have any questions.

1. The Physical Texture of Life: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 1 (27 April 2020)
2. Not Death but Annihilation: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 2 (4 May 2020)
3. Melting into Mist: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 3 (11 May 2020)
4. Water Imagery in Nineteen Eighty-Four (18 May 2020)
5. One Piece of Nonsense for Another: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 4 (25 May 2020)
6. A Sort of Saving Stupidity: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 5 (1 June 2020)
7. Dirtying the Sex Instinct: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 6 (8 June 2020)
8. Resurrected from the Ashes: Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I, Chapter 7 (16 December 2020)
9. Orwell’s Voice: A Brief Introduction to the Man and his Work (14 January 2021)
10. Poverty and Genre in Down and Out in Paris and London (25 January 2021)
11. Civilization, Death, and Money in Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1 February 2021)
12. Emptiness, Racism, and Fat Shaming in Burmese Days (11 February 2021)
13. Normality and Stickiness in A Clergyman’s Daughter (17 February 2021)
14. The Question of Poverty Tourism in The Road to Wigan Pier (1 March 2021)
15. Beastly Men and Humanlike Beasts in Animal Farm (16 March 2021)
16. War, Confusion, and Mud in Homage to Catalonia (18 March 2021)
17. Nostalgia, Misogyny, and the Future in Coming Up for Air (20 April 2021)
18. Love in Nineteen Eighty-Four (5 May 2021)
19. A conversation (about Homage to Catalonia) with Dr Lisa Mullen (9 September 2021)
20. A conversation (about Nineteen Eighty-Four) with Professor John Bowen (12 December 2022)
21. A conversation (about ‘endotextuality’ and Nineteen Eighty-Four) with Liam Knight (11 June 2023)—also available via DystopiaJunkie (YouTube)
22. Thoughts on Nineteen Eighty-Four: Part I (6 November 2023)
23. Thoughts on Nineteen Eighty-Four: Part II (8 November 2023)
24. Thoughts on Nineteen Eighty-Four: Part III (14 November 2023)
25. A conversation (about Animal Farm) with Professor David Dwan (3 May 2024)