George Orwell: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Orwell's map runs from eighteenth-century satire through Russian dystopia and Spanish trenches to the pamphlet wars of 1940s London. He was a reviewer as much as a novelist, so many of his influences are traceable to things he wrote about in print. The legacy branch shows how thoroughly Nineteen Eighty-Four escaped literature into film, pop music and political speech.

The Kynda mix for George Orwell

• Key Influence · Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726). Orwell called Swift one of the writers he could least do without, and devoted the 1946 essay 'Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels' to him — arguing Swift was a reactionary anarchist whose Houyhnhnms prefigure totalitarian conformity. The talking-animal satire of Animal Farm and the inverted-utopia structure of Nineteen Eighty-Four both descend from Swift's method of deadpan reportage from an impossible country.
• Influencia Obscura · We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924). Orwell hunted down a French edition and reviewed it in Tribune in January 1946, three years before Nineteen Eighty-Four appeared. He judged it superior to Brave New World for its intuitive grasp of the irrational in dictatorship — the leader-worship, the glass city, the surgical removal of imagination. The numbered citizens, the Benefactor and the forbidden diary all echo forward into Orwell's novel.
• Local Roots · Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly (1938). Connolly was Orwell's contemporary at St Cyprian's prep school and Eton, and his memoir's 'Theory of Permanent Adolescence' covers the same institutions Orwell savaged in 'Such, Such Were the Joys'. As editor of Horizon, Connolly published Orwell's essays through the war years, including 'The Art of Donald McGill', and his review of Nineteen Eighty-Four helped establish the book's reputation in London literary circles.
• Beyond the Medium · The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek (1944). Orwell reviewed Hayek in the Observer in April 1944, conceding 'a great deal of truth' in the claim that collectivism breeds tyranny and that state planning hands intellectuals a power the Inquisition would have envied — while rejecting Hayek's faith in unrestricted competition. The review was written while Animal Farm was being turned down by publishers, and its argument about planners becoming masters feeds Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• Peer · Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler (1940). Koestler became a close friend; the two spent Christmas 1945 together in Wales and planned a league for the rights of man. Orwell's essay on Koestler praises Darkness at Noon as the one English-language novel to render the Moscow trials from inside the mind of the accused. Rubashov's interrogation and confession stand directly behind the Winston–O'Brien sessions in the Ministry of Love.
• From the Canon · Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (1938). The Spanish Civil War memoir is the pivot of the whole career. Fighting with the POUM militia on the Aragon front, shot through the throat, then hunted in Barcelona as the communists suppressed their allies, Orwell learned that newspapers could report battles that never happened. Every later theme — the mutability of the past, the lie told in good faith, the decency of ordinary people — is already present and unsystematised here.
• Key Collaborator · An Occupation for Gentlemen by Fredric Warburg (1959). Warburg of Secker & Warburg published Homage to Catalonia when Gollancz would not touch its criticism of the communists, then Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. His publishing memoir recounts receiving the typescript of the last novel from a dying author on Jura and his own shaken reaction to reading it. The relationship made Orwell's most dangerous books publishable in a Britain still allied to Stalin.
• Legacy · The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985). Atwood has written repeatedly about Orwell's hold on her, recalling Animal Farm read as a child and Nineteen Eighty-Four as a formative shock. Her Gilead novel borrows his most consequential structural trick: the closing scholarly apparatus, the 'Historical Notes on The Handmaid's Tale' answering Orwell's appendix on Newspeak, which implies the regime eventually fell and someone lived to study it.

What influenced George Orwell

• Jack London. Orwell imitated London while investigating poverty in London. (also via The People of the Abyss) “In imitation of Jack London , whose writing he admired (particularly The People of the Abyss ), Blair started to explore the poorer parts of London.” (Wikipedia)
• The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. Orwell adapted Andersen's fairy tale for broadcast. “Just like the earlier adaptation of Andersen’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ for the BBC’s Eastern Service, this reflects Orwell’s deep interest in the fairy story genre – which finds its most famous flowering in Animal Farm – A Fairy Stor…” (The Orwell Society)
• The People of the Abyss by Jack London (1903). The People of the Abyss (Jack London) — titan for George Orwell “In imitation of Jack London , whose writing he admired (particularly The People of the Abyss ), Blair started to explore the poorer parts of London.” (Wikipedia)
• Aldous Huxley. Huxley taught Orwell French at Eton. (also via Brave New World) “Blair was taught French by Aldous Huxley . Steven Runciman , who was at Eton with Blair, noted that he and his contemporaries appreciated Huxley's linguistic flair.” (Wikipedia)
• Assignment in Utopia by Eugene Lyons (1937). Assignment in Utopia (Eugene Lyons) — ghost for George Orwell “Lyons' writing directly influenced George Orwell.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Managerial Revolution by James Burnham (1941). The Managerial Revolution (James Burnham) — ghost for George Orwell “James Burnham's theory has been much discussed, but few people have yet considered its ideological implications—this is, the kind of world-view, the kind of beliefs, and the social structure that would probably prevail in a State which w…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin) — culture for George Orwell “I think his feeling [was] that even the inanimate world was against him." At the BBC in the 1940s, "everybody would pull his leg" and Spender described him as having real entertainment value "like, as I say, watching a Charlie Chaplin mo…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850). David Copperfield (Charles Dickens) — titan for George Orwell “Orwell spent time in Wallington and Southwold working on an essay about Charles Dickens.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• A. S. F. Gow. Gow was Orwell's principal tutor and later advised him. “His principal tutor was A. S. F. Gow , Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge , who gave him advice later in his career.” (Wikipedia)
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726). Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift) — titan for George Orwell “Swift has also influenced several notable authors over the following centuries, including John Ruskin and George Orwell.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky (1937). The Revolution Betrayed (Leon Trotsky) — culture for George Orwell “== In popular culture == The characters Snowball in George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) and Emmanuel Goldstein in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) are based on Trotsky.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek (1944). The Road to Serfdom (Friedrich Hayek) — culture for George Orwell (wikidata.org)
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924). We (Yevgeny Zamyatin) — ghost for George Orwell “Other writers Orwell admired included Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Gissing, Graham Greene, Herman Melville, Henry Miller, Tobias Smollett, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, and Yevgeny Zamyatin.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin (1937). Swastika Night (Katharine Burdekin) — ghost for George Orwell (openlibrary.org)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Rayner Heppenstall. Orwell and Heppenstall worked together on broadcasts. (also via Four Absentees) “For through his friendship with Rayner Heppenstall, a producer at the corporation, he goes on to write two fine dramatic adaptations – of Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle , for the Home Service on 29 March 1946 ( CWGO XIII: 179-201).” (The Orwell Society)
• Fredric Warburg. Warburg and Orwell planned the Searchlight Books series together. (also via An Occupation for Gentlemen) “The relationship Orwell went on to develop with Warburg and Senhouse was to prove one of the most important and fruitful of his writing life.” (The Orwell Society)
• Home Guard. Orwell joined the Home Guard. “any spare time I had was taken up by the Home Guard, which was still an amateur force and demanded an immense amount of work from its members.” (Tribune)
• British Pamphleteers. Orwell co-edited the named collection. “After the Second World War Reynolds -doing most of the library research – and Orwell collaborated on a planned series of anthologies of political ephemera, to be published by the Allan Wingate publishing house and called British Pamphlet…” (The Orwell Society)
• Tosco Fyvel. Fyvel and Orwell planned the Searchlight Books series together. “The Searchlight Books series was edited by T. R. Fyvel and George Orwell and published by Secker & Warburg during 1941-1942.” (Darcy Moore)
• Workers' Party of Marxist Unification. Orwell joined the POUM during the Spanish Civil War. “He was recommended to Orwell by Fenner Brockway, a leader of the Independent Labour Party, who had earlier given him the accreditation to serve with the POUM militia.” (The Orwell Society)
• Reginald Reynolds. Orwell and Reynolds co-edited British Pamphleteers. “In 1948 British Pamphleteers Volume I: From the 16th Century to the 18th Century was published with an introduction by Orwell, and a head-note to each item by Reynolds.” (The Orwell Society)
• BBC. Orwell worked full-time for the BBC's Eastern Service. “However, towards the end of 1943 I decided to give up my job in the B.B.C., and I was asked to take over the literary editorship of Tribune” (Tribune)
• Tribune. Orwell served as Tribune's literary editor. “I was asked to take over the literary editorship of Tribune , in place of John Atkins, who was expecting call-up. I went on being literary editor, as well as writing the ‘As I Please’ column, until the beginning of 1945.” (Tribune)
• Secker & Warburg. The publisher issued a book series co-edited by Orwell. (also via Animal Farm) “The Searchlight Books series was edited by T. R. Fyvel and George Orwell and published by Secker & Warburg during 1941-1942.” (Darcy Moore)
• Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly (1938). Enemies of Promise (Cyril Connolly) — geography for George Orwell “At St Cyprian's, Blair first met Cyril Connolly, who became a writer and who, as the editor of Horizon, published several of Orwell's essays.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Eton College. Orwell attended Eton College. “Blair remained at Eton until December 1921, when he left midway between his 18th and 19th birthdays.” (Wikipedia)
• Roger Mynors. Orwell and Mynors produced a college magazine together. “Blair's performance reports suggest he neglected his studies, [ 26 ] but he worked with Roger Mynors to produce a college magazine, The Election Times” (Wikipedia)
• Frays College. Orwell became a teacher at Frays College. “In mid-1933 Blair left Hawthorns to become a teacher at Frays College , in Uxbridge , west London.” (Wikipedia)
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) — peer for George Orwell “Blair was taught French by Aldous Huxley.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Searchlight Books. Orwell was among the planners of the publishing series. “In mid-1940, Warburg, Fyvel and Orwell planned Searchlight Books . Eleven volumes eventually appeared” (Wikipedia)
• An Occupation for Gentlemen by Fredric Warburg (1959). An Occupation for Gentlemen (Fredric Warburg) — collaborator for George Orwell “Orwell was also able to find a more sympathetic publisher for his views in Fredric Warburg of Secker & Warburg.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Hawthorns High School. Orwell taught at The Hawthorns High School. “In April 1932 Blair became a teacher at The Hawthorns High School, a school for boys, in Hayes , west London.” (Wikipedia)
• The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (1914). The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Robert Tressell) — geography for George Orwell “He returned to England where he continued to work as a painter and decorator in Hastings and wrote his novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, probably between 1906 and 1910, 'about exploitative employment when the only safety nets a…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• George Orwell Productions Ltd. Orwell established a company to hold his copyright and receive royalties. “The firm advised Orwell to establish a company to own his copyright and to receive his royalties and set up a "service agreement" so that he could draw a salary; "George Orwell Productions Ltd" (GOP Ltd) was set up on 12 September 1947.” (Wikipedia)
• Four Absentees by Rayner Heppenstall (1960). Four Absentees (Rayner Heppenstall) — collaborator for George Orwell “In August, he moved into a flat, at 50 Lawford Road, Kentish Town, which he shared with Michael Sayers and Rayner Heppenstall.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler (1940). Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) — peer for George Orwell “Wells he wrote: "The minds of all of us, and therefore the physical world, would be perceptibly different if Wells had never existed." Orwell was an admirer of Arthur Koestler and became a close friend during the three years that Koestle…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934). Tropic of Cancer (Henry Miller) — peer for George Orwell “=== Spanish Civil War === Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with Henry Miller in Paris on the way.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood (1933). Love on the Dole (Walter Greenwood) — geography for George Orwell (openlibrary.org)
• George Orwell: A Personal Memoir by T. R. Fyvel (1982). George Orwell: A Personal Memoir (T. R. Fyvel) — collaborator for George Orwell “Fyvel first met George Orwell in January 1940 when their mutual publisher, Fredric Warburg, introduced the two men.” (en.wikipedia.org)

Who George Orwell influenced

• Kurt Vonnegut (1922). Vonnegut named Orwell as his favorite writer and an influence he tried to emulate. (also via Animal Farm) “Vonnegut called George Orwell his favorite writer and admitted that he tried to emulate Orwell.” (Wikipedia)
• Diamond Dogs. Diamond Dogs (David Bowie) — legacy for George Orwell “Diamond Dogs (1974), parts of which found him heading towards soul and funk, was the product of two distinct ideas: a musical based on a wild future in a post-apocalyptic city, and setting George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to music.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Brazil by Terry Gilliam (1985). Brazil (Terry Gilliam) — legacy for George Orwell “On 16 December 2010, Variety reported that Gilliam was to "godfather" a film called 1884, described as an animated steampunk parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with several former Pythons lending their voices to the project;…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• David Bowie (1947). Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell) — culture for David Bowie (via Nineteen Eighty-Four) “Diamond Dogs (1974), parts of which found him heading towards soul and funk, was the product of two distinct ideas: a musical based on a wild future in a post-apocalyptic city, and setting George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to music.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• 1984. placeholder (via Nineteen Eighty-Four) “Set in a dystopian future modelled after George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four , Scott's advertisement used its hero” (Wikipedia)
• Player Piano. Vonnegut stated Nineteen Eighty-Four heavily influenced Player Piano. (via Nineteen Eighty-Four) “Vonnegut also said that Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley heavily influenced his debut novel , Player Piano, in 1952.” (Wikipedia)
• Norman Pett. Pett drew cartoon strips promoting Orwell's book. (via Animal Farm) “To further promote Animal Farm , the IRD commissioned cartoon strips, drawn by Norman Pett , to be placed in newspapers across the globe.” (Wikipedia)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985). The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) — legacy for George Orwell (openlibrary.org)
• Charlie Brooker. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell) — culture for Charlie Brooker (via Nineteen Eighty-Four) (openlibrary.org)