George Orwell: A Life in Letters (97 page)

Balraj Sahni
(1913–1973), was educated at Harvard and worked with Gandhi in 1938. He was an Indian Programme Assistant when Orwell joined the BBC. His wife, Damyanti, who died in 1947, was working at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Orwell brought them together with Norman Marshall for the programme series, ‘Let’s Act it Ourselves’. On their return to India they worked for the Indian People’s Theatre Association. He then became an outstanding film actor. Damyanti starred in two films in 1946 and 1947. Did his work with Gandhi influence Orwell’s writing on Gandhi?

Brenda Salkeld
(1903–99), a clergyman’s daughter, and gym mistress at St Felix Girls’ School, Southwold. She met Orwell at Southwold and, although they did not agree on many issues – literary and personal – she remained a loyal friend to the end. She visited Orwell at Canonbury Square to see young Richard, on Jura, and at Cranham. Orwell sent her a dedicated copy of
Down and Out in Paris and London.
This has sixteen valuable annotations (see X, pp. 299–300). For her reminiscences of Orwell see
Orwell Remembered
, pp. 67–8, and
Remembering Orwell
, pp. 39–41.

John Sceats
(1912– ), an insurance agent who wrote articles for the socialist monthly,
Controversy
. Orwell admired these and asked Sceats to visit him at Preston Hall Sanatorium shortly after the publication of
Homage to Catalonia.

Roger Senhouse
(c.1900–65) joined Martin Secker Ltd in 1936 and remained a director until he retired in 1962. His last year at Eton overlapped with Orwell. He processed Orwell’s work at Secker. Warburg in
All Authors are Equal
describes him as ‘larger than life . . . His rages . . . were uninhibitedly magnificent . . . Physically brave as a lion, he was something of a moral coward. He had a real appreciation of literature, coupled with a fabulous memory. . . . one of the best copy-editors and proof readers I have ever known’ (pp. 2–3).

Sir Osbert Sitwell
(1892–1969), poet, essayist, novelist and a particularly engaging author of autobiography. He was brother to Edith and Sachaverell Sitwell and a fervent fighter against philistinism. He was educated at Eton and served in the Grenadier Guards from 1912 to 1919. In his review of
Great Morning
(XIX, 3416, 395–8) Orwell described Sitwell’s first three autobiographies as among ‘the best of our time’. The fourth,
Laughter in the Next Room
, as ‘not so good’(see 1.6.49).

Sir Sacheverell Sitwell
(1897–1988), poet and critic; younger brother of Edith and Osbert Sitwell; educated at Eton. He served in the Grenadier Guards in World War I. Orwell reviewed his book,
Poltergeists
in September 1940 (XII, pp. 246–8).

Hugh (Humphrey
) Slater (1905–58), painter and author. He was at one time a Communist and involved in anti-Nazi politics in Berlin in the early thirties. He fought for the Republicans in Spain, 1936 –38, becoming Chief of Operations for the International Brigade. He put this experience to practical use (with Tom Wintringham) at the unofficial Osterley Park Training School which they ran to instruct members of the Home Guard in guerrilla tactics and street fighting. Orwell’s lecture notes on street fighting, field fortifications, and smoke mortars survive (XII, pp. 328–40).

Sir Stephen Spender
(1909–95), prolific poet, novelist, critic and translator. He edited
Horizon
with Cyril Connolly, 1940 –41. He was co-editor of
Encounter
, 1953–65, remaining on the editorial board until 1967, when it was discovered that it was partially financed by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Orwell originally included him amongst the parlour Bolsheviks and ‘fashionable successful persons’ whom he castigated from time to time. After his letter of 15 April 1938 they became friends.

Gleb Struve
(1898–1985), born St Petersburg, very prolific author. Fought in the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army in 1918 and then fled to Finland and England. Studied at Balliol College and later taught at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London University, 1932–47. He then became Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature, University of California, Berkeley, until 1965. He was the author of
25 Years of Soviet Russian Literature, 1918–43
(1944) and
Soviet Literature
1917
–
50
(1951).

Julian Symons
(1912–94), editor of
Twentieth Century Verse,
1937–39, and
Anthology of War Poetry (
1942); author of critical books and biographies among them
Charles Dickens
(1951),
Thomas Carlyle
(1952), and
Horatio Bottomley
(1955). He is perhaps best remembered today for his detective stories for which he won several awards. His
Bloody Murder: from the Detective Story to the Crime Novel
(1972) won the Edgar Allan Poe Award. He took over from Orwell as guest critic of the
Manchester Evening News
, 28 November 1946 (and though inexperienced, was paid £9 per contribution compared to Orwell’s £8 8s). When Orwell died he wrote a personal memoir for
Tribune
, 27 January 1950.

Ihor Szewczenko
(1922– ; now as Ševcˇenko), very distinguished scholar of Byzantine and Slavic Studies. When he and Orwell corresponded he commuted between Munich, where members of his family were living as Soviet-Ukrainian refugees, and Quakenbrück in the British Zone of Germany, where he worked on a daily newspaper for the Second Polish, the Maczek, Division (he was born in Poland). He emigrated to the United States and became Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine History and Literature at Harvard University. His translation of
Animal Farm
stands out strangely from his many Byzantine and Slavic studies. He still has one link with Orwell: his hobby is trout fishing.

Geoffrey Trease
(1909–98), prolific author, most of whose 113 books were written for children. His study,
Tales Out of School
(1949) was an innovative survey of children’s literature. His stories, very different in style from those of G.A. Henty in the nineteenth century and Percy F. Westerman in the early twentieth, eschewed jingoism and appealed equally to girls and boys. In 1935 he and his wife, Marian, travelled for five months in Soviet Russia to benefit from his royalties frozen there. He was a member of the Labour Party and wrote ‘I myself never seriously considered joining the Communist Party . . . I noticed early what happened to individuals who left the Party on a sincere difference of opinion’. During the war he served in the Army Education Corps.

Richard Alexander Usborne
(1910–2006) was the author of a groundbreaking study,
Clubland Heroes: a nostalgic study of some recurrent characters in romantic fiction
(1953), which discussed such fictional characters as Bulldog Drummond and Richard Hannay. He also wrote much on, and adapted for radio, the stories of P.G. Wodehouse (e.g.
A Wodehouse Companion
, 1981). Like Orwell he was born in India and his father was also a member of the Indian Civil Service. The
Strand
(which he edited) ran from January 1891 to March 1950 when it was incorporated in
Men Only
.

Fredric Warburg
(1898–1980), Orwell’s second publisher. He began his career with George Routledge & Sons in 1922 when he came down from Oxford, ‘fit for practically nothing or, perhaps more accurately, for nothing practical’. He joined Martin Secker in 1936 and, as Harvill Secker, the house still flourishes. When Gollancz turned down
Homage to Catalonia
, he took it and then, when several publishers refused to publish
Animal Farm
he took that – and became Orwell’s publisher. He and his wife were very supportive of Orwell in his final illness. See
Orwell Remembered
, pp. 193–9. Warburg fought at Passchendaele in 1917. Though a commissioned officer, he was happy to serve in Orwell’s platoon in the Home Guard as a corporal in World War II. They are illustrated together in
The Lost Orwell
, plate 18.

Francis and Myfanwy Westrope
, Francis had been a conscientious objector in World War I; Myfanwy was an active suffragette and joined the ILP in 1905. Orwell’s employers at Booklovers’ Corner, Hampstead from the end of 1934 to January 1936. Gollancz’s lawyer was anxious lest the bookshop owner in
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
might lead to a libel or defamation action from the Westropes. Orwell reassured him he was very different in character and no action resulted. Orwell and Eileen ordered books from them when they were in Morocco.

Tom Wintringham
(1898–1949), served in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, and edited
Left Review
, 1934–36. He went to Spain as a war correspondent in 1936 and commanded the British Battalion of the International Brigade near Madrid in 1937. He was a founder member of the British Communist Party but left after his service in Spain. He wrote on weapons, tactics, and the new methods of warfare and was a founder, with Hugh Slater, of the Osterley Park Training Centre for the Home Guard.

George Woodcock
(1912–95), author, anarchist, editor of
Now
, 1940–47, and later Professor of English, University of British Columbia. After a controversy with Orwell in 1942 (XIII, pp. 393–400), they corresponded and became close friends. They worked closely together on The Freedom Defence Committee. His books include
The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell,
1967, and
Orwell’s Message: 1984 and the Present (
1984).

Index

This is an index chiefly of names. It is a selective index. Thus, ‘money’ is not indexed; if it were it, or a related word, would appear in almost one page in three. The brief biographical notes are indexed first, in
bold,
that page number being given immediately after the name; their contents are
not
indexed. Place names within addresses are not indexed. Because the great majority of letters were written by Orwell, they are not indexed under his name but are indexed under the recipient’s name with the page number(s) after the letter ‘L’ and a colon, e.g.: ‘L: 66’. Letters sent by Eileen and other correspondents are indicated by italic ‘
L’
and a colon
after the sender’s name
followed by the recipient’s name and page number(s); a semicolon follows the last page reference to a letter after which pages with significant references are indexed in roman; significant footnotes are indexed in italic. The Chronology and Reading List are not indexed. Mac, Mc, and M’ are indexed as ‘Mac’, the order thereafter being by the ensuing letter; St is indexed as ‘Saint’. Titles are not given in the index unless there is no first name. Orwell’s misspellings of names are ignored in the index.

Thus:
Blair, Eileen,
509;
L: 74;
L: to
Jack Common, 103; 221, 261
etc
.

‘Abide with me’,
409

Abingdon, 389, 434

Abyssinia, 53

Acasta
,
HMS,
71

Ackerley, J. R.,
110

Acland, Richard,
136
,
205

Adam, 52

Adam, Eugène,
67
,
111

Adam, Karl,
18

Adam and Eve
,
237

Adelphi
,
The
,
23
,
27
,
44,
53
,
57
,
58
,
64,
83
,
149
,
192
, 200, 201, 202, 236, 401,
402
, 408

Adelphi Forum
,
57
,
58

Adelphi
Summer School,
98

Affairs of the Heart
,
442

Africa
, 115, 152, 158, 166, 186, 212, 215, 216, 267,
310
, 369, 375, 393, 417,
418
, 422,
470
;
and see
Morocco

Agate, James,
169

A[ir] R[aid] [Precautions], 126, 127

air-raid shelters,
122
, 126,
188

A.J.A. Symons: His Life and Speculations
,
380
,
406

Albacete, 76,
78

Albatross Library, 170,
171
,
172,
173

Alexander Pope
,
90

Ali, Ahmed, 213,
215

Allan Wingate, 406

Allenby, Field Marshall, 186

Amato, Mr, 46

America, 64, 1
29, 174, 205, 206,
228
,
229
,
284
, 288,
330
, 332, 350, 352,
380, 386, 393, 394, 403;
and
see
USA

‘American Reverie, An’, 284,
285

Anand, Mulk Raj,
509
;
L: 207;
207