An Introduction to the Politics of George Orwell

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No prior knowledge is assumed or required.

Content of Course

Day 1: Servant of the Empire

1. Introduction: The life and times of Eric Blair. We will begin by looking at Orwell’s social background and education and how they shaped his political attitudes.

2. Burmese Adventures. We will examine Orwell’s career in the Imperial Police through the prism of his first novel Burmese Days and two short essay, A Hanging and Shooting an Elephant.

Day 2: A voice for the voiceless

3. Back in Britain. We shall consider the reasons behind Orwell’s decision to go ‘down and out’ and its consequences; we shall follow his journey to the North of England and examine the impact of his experiences there on his political thought via Road to Wigan Pier.

4. Fighting for revolution. We shall confront some key questions concerning Orwell’s participation in the Spanish Civil war and attempt to assess his responses to his experiences, through a consideration of Homage to Catalonia.

Day 3: The writer, the individual and the state

5. The scourge of totalitarianism.  We shall examine Orwell’s understanding of the nature of totalitarianism and how it might best be confronted.

6. Is Big Brother watching? Our final meeting will consist of an examination of the main themes of Orwell’s last novel Nineteen Eighty-Four: the nature of power; surveillance in the modern state; the decline of family; the end of civil society; politics and language.

Teaching method(s)

Three themes will be followed, each comprising two tutor-led discussion sessions, liking developments in Orwell’s life and times to the principal themes of his writing.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students should be able to:

• Understand the main events that shaped Orwell’s life and thought;

• Demonstrate knowledge of Orwell’s place in the development of twentieth-century socialism in Britain;

• Identify the distinctive contribution that a writer might make to political thought via analysis of four of Orwell’s works: Burmese Days, Road to Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Sources

Core Readings

Essential:

The following texts will be studied on the course. They are widely available in a variety of editions and formats (kindle, etc.). It is expected that students will familiarise themselves with these texts in advance of the course and will revisit them during and after the end of the course.

• Burmese Days (1934); The Road to Wigan Pier (1937); Homage to Catalonia (1938); Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948).

Recommended:            

For more background information on Orwell the following can be consulted:

• Orwell, G., 2000. Essays. London: Penguin.

• Bowker, G., 2003. George Orwell. London: Abacus Books.

• Ingle, S. 2006. The Social and Political Thought of George Orwell. London: Routledge.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.