Editing George Orwell (section)

==Biographies==
Orwell's will requested that no [[biography]] of him be written, and his [[widow]], Sonia Brownell, repelled every attempt by those who tried to persuade her to let them write about him. Various recollections and interpretations were published in the 1950s and 1960s, but Sonia saw the 1968 ''Collected Works''<ref name="autogenerated1968">{{cite book |title=The collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell |publisher=Secker & Warburg |year=1969 |location=London |author=Orwell, George |author2=Angus, Ian |author3=Orwell, Sonia |isbn=978-0436350153}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Rodden |first=John |date=1989 |title=Personal Behavior, Biographical History, and Literary Reputation: The Case of George Orwell |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23539417 |journal=Biography |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=189–207 |jstor=23539417 |issn=0162-4962}}</ref> as the record of his life. She did appoint [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] as official biographer, but later biographers have seen this as deliberate spoiling as Muggeridge eventually gave up the work.<ref name=autogenerated7>D.J. Taylor ''Orwell: The Life''. Henry Holt and Company. 2003. {{ISBN|0805074732}}</ref> In 1972, two American authors, Peter Stansky and William Abrahams, produced ''The Unknown Orwell'', an unauthorised account of his early years that lacked any support or contribution from Sonia Brownell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.darcymoore.net/2020/01/25/homage-stansky-abrahams-orwells-first-biographers/ |title=Homage to Stansky and Abrahams: Orwell's first biographers |date=24 January 2020 |access-date=23 July 2020 }}</ref>

Sonia Brownell then commissioned [[Bernard Crick]] to complete a biography and asked Orwell's friends to co-operate.<ref name="OrwellAndBiographers"/> Crick collated a considerable amount of material in his work, which was published in 1980,<ref name="OrwellAndBiographers"/> but his questioning of the factual accuracy of Orwell's first-person writings led to conflict with Brownell, and she tried to suppress the book. Crick concentrated on the facts of Orwell's life rather than his character, and presented primarily a political perspective.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1982/spring/meyers-wintry-conscience/ |title=VQR " Wintry Conscience |access-date=23 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208143658/http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1982/spring/meyers-wintry-conscience/ |archive-date=8 December 2008}}</ref>

After Sonia Brownell's death, other works on Orwell were published in the 1980s, particularly in 1984. These included collections of reminiscences by Audrey Coppard and Crick<ref name="autogenerated1984"/><ref name=":4" /> and Stephen Wadhams.<ref name=Wadhams/><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 January 2018 |title=Remembering Orwell Again |url=https://orwellsociety.com/remembering-orwell-again/ |access-date=27 March 2024 |website=The Orwell Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1991, [[Michael Shelden]] published a biography.<ref name=Shelden/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haley |first=P. Edward |date=1993 |title=Review of Orwell: The Authorized Biography |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20719210 |journal=Utopian Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=193–195 |jstor=20719210 |issn=1045-991X}}</ref> More concerned with the literary nature of Orwell's work, he sought explanations for Orwell's character and treated his first-person writings as [[autobiographical]]. Shelden introduced new information that sought to build on Crick's work.<ref name="OrwellAndBiographers">Gordon Bowker – ''Orwell and the biographers'' in John Rodden ''The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell'' Cambridge University Press 2007</ref>

[[Peter Davison (professor)|Peter Davison]]'s publication of the ''Complete Works of George Orwell'', completed in 2000,<ref>Davison, Peter. ''The Complete Works of George Orwell''. Random House, {{ISBN|0151351015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meyers |first=Jeffrey |date=2001 |title=Review of The Complete Works of George Orwell. With additional notes on George Orwell: A Bibliography |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24304724 |journal=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=121–124 |doi=10.1086/pbsa.95.1.24304724 |jstor=24304724 |issn=0006-128X}}</ref> made most of the Orwell Archive accessible to the public. Jeffrey Meyers, a prolific American biographer, was first to take advantage of this and published a book in 2001 that investigated the darker side of Orwell and questioned his saintly image.<ref name="OrwellAndBiographers"/> ''[[Why Orwell Matters]]'' (released in the UK as ''Orwell's Victory'') was published by [[Christopher Hitchens]] in 2002.<ref>Also see: {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Hitchens on Orwell |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/christopher_hit/ |work=[[EconTalk]] |publisher=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |author-link=Russ Roberts |date=17 August 2009 |access-date=14 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402194513/http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/christopher_hit/ |archive-date=2 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2003, the centenary of Orwell's birth resulted in biographies by [[Gordon Philip Bowker|Gordon Bowker]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Bowker|first=Gordon|url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/articles/gordon-bowker-the-biography-orwell-never-wrote/|title=The Biography Orwell Never Wrote|publisher=The Orwell Foundation|date=20 October 2010}}</ref> and [[D. J. Taylor (writer)|D. J. Taylor]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Bakewell |first=Sarah |date=26 August 2023 |title=One Biography Questions Orwell's Image, and Another Brings His First Wife Into Focus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/26/books/review/orwell-dj-taylor-wifedom-anna-funder.html |access-date=27 March 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref> Taylor notes the stage management which surrounds much of Orwell's behaviour<ref name=Taylor/> and Bowker highlights the essential sense of decency which he considers to have been Orwell's main motivation.<ref>Review: ''Orwell by DJ Taylor and George Orwell by Gordon Bowker'' Observer on Sunday 1 June 2003</ref> An updated edition of Taylor's biography was released in 2023 as ''Orwell: The New Life'', published by Constable.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/events/2023/june/06/orwell-new-life |title=Orwell: The New Life - lecture and Q&A with D.J.Taylor|last=Taylor|first=D.J.|date=6 June 2023 |publisher=Balliol College, Oxford University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=D J Taylor to write second Orwell biography for Constable |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/constable-signs-fresh-orwell-biography-award-winner-taylor-1109236 |date=4 November 2019|publisher=The Bookseller}}</ref>

In 2018, Ronald Binns published the first detailed study of Orwell's years in Suffolk, ''Orwell in Southwold''. In 2020, Richard Bradford wrote a new biography, ''Orwell: A Man of Our Time'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 2020 |title=Orwell: A Man of Our Time by Richard Bradford review – undone by its own premise |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/27/orwell-a-man-of-our-time-richard-bradford-review |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> while in 2021 [[Rebecca Solnit]] reflected on Orwell's interest in gardening in her book ''Orwell's Roses''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 October 2021 |title=Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit review – deadheading with George Orwell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/19/orwells-roses-by-rebecca-solnit-review-george-orwell-in-the-garden |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

Two books about Orwell's relationship with his first wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, and her role in his life and career, have been published: ''Eileen: The Making of George Orwell'' by Sylvia Topp (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |date=10 March 2020 |title=Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp – review |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/10/eileen-the-making-of-george-orwell-sylvia-topp-review |access-date=20 August 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and ''Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life'' by [[Anna Funder]] (2023).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Funder |first=Anna |date=30 July 2023 |title=Looking for Eileen: how George Orwell wrote his wife out of his story |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/30/my-hunt-for-eileen-george-orwell-erased-wife-anna-funder |access-date=20 August 2023 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> In her book Funder claims that Orwell was misogynistic and sadistic. This sparked a strong controversy among Orwell's biographers, particularly with Topp. Celia Kirwan's family also intervened in the discussion, believing that the attribution to their relative of a relationship with Orwell, as stated by Funder, is false. The publishing house of ''Wifedom'' was forced to remove that reference from the book.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Sadistic and misogynistic? Row erupts over sex claims in book about George Orwell's marriage |date=11 November 2023 |last=Brooks |first=Richard |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/11/row-sex-claims-book-george-orwell-marriage |access-date=14 November 2023}}</ref>