Too much irrelevant detail
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After reading this biography I feel that I really do know Orwell now. This book is an extremely detailed portrait of a highly intelligent and principled man. A maverick not afraid to do what he thought was right rather than what was expected of him. A good biography should be jam packed with details that enable us to get inside the mind and times of the subject and for me this book is only rivalled in this regard by Ian Kershaw's two volume biography of Hitler.
Yet unlike some of the biographies that I have most enjoyed only the character of Orwell really seems to come to life here. For me the joy of biography is not just finding out about the man or woman in the title but also all the people they were connected with during their life. Orwell was closely linked not just to the literary giants of his time such as Anthony Powell but also people who must have been fascinating such as anyone he fought with in the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately none of these people are portrayed very vividly. They are all foils for Orwell's story. These people are merely masks that enter the stage to give us some comment or other about Orwell and then move on.
In addition to the lack of detail given to others involved in the story is the overwhelming and at times trivial detail given to Orwell himself. At one point in the book Taylor takes time out to describe a stapler that he bought which was supposed to have belonged to Orwell himself. As if this were not tedious enough later on in the afterward the author tells us how mortified he was to learn that somebody else also claims to own Orwell's stapler. I suppose it never occurred to him that Orwell may have owned more than one during his life.
Observations such as this come mainly in the short essays which punctuate the main chapters of narrative. Some of these are very interesting such as Orwell and the Rats while others such as Orwell in View are very much less so. Who really cares that there is no film footage of Orwell?
Having said this the book does have its merits. You do learn a lot about Orwell. I never realised before how productive he was. Although I knew he was very ill when he wrote Nineteen Eighty-four I never comprehended how much the effort shattered his health and forced him into the final decline. He was obviously a man of principle who would even subordinate his own health for the welfare of his art.
Taylor does an extremely good job of describing what was going on in Orwell's life and mind when he was writing his novels. We get a good portrait of a growing artist going through trials and experiments before he finds his own distinctive voice.
Like many biographies I like, this one builds up to a climax at the end. We can feel Orwell racing against time to finish Nineteen Eighty-four and also the growing realisation of the people around him that the world was about to lose a writer in his prime.
This is the tragedy of Orwell that he shares with other artists as varied in stature and genre as Mozart, Jimi Hendrix and Heath Ledger. He died when he had so much more he could have given us.
Overall then this is a good book for the serious Orwell fan but for most people it probably contains too much detail that many would see as superfluous.
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One of the most inadequate biographies I have ever read
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DJ Taylor is an accomplished writer and writes well. But this is a very poor excuse for a biography of Orwell. Considering that Orwell was born in colonial India, attended Eton college, was the subject of Soviet and British secret service files and had two very successful books published within living memory, one might think there would be a fair amount of information about him. But Taylor has unearthed a pathetic amount of it.
He repeatedly resorts to feeble lines like "nothing is known about Orwell's life at this time" and seeks to fill in the gaps by rolling on a bunch of other literary figures, with lesser or greater attachment to Orwell. So instead of telling us what Orwell did or thought, Taylor chucks in a bit of opinion from people like Malcolm Muggeridge, Cyril Connolly or Evelyn Waugh. I didn't buy this biography to know what they thought. I bought it to know about Orwell. Taylor is caught up in the literary world of the time and he expects us to know who these people are. In one sentence, for example, he wheels on "Francis King" and "J.R. Ackerley's sister Nancy" without explaining who they are or ever mentioning them again.
Orwell's family, on the other hand, gets short shrift. His sister Avril barely features. Why not? Where was she? Had she fallen out with him? At one point Taylor tells us that Orwell's father has been "four years dead" - er... did this event not merit a mention at the time? If not, why not? Had Orwell fallen out with his father so badly that his death made no impact? If so, shouldn't we be told? What kind of biography can leave out the death of the author's father, especially a father whose class, career and temperament provide interesting insights into the subject?
The biography also fails us in its photographs. The collection of photographs is pretty inadequate. There are not enough illustrating the people and events of Orwell's life, and too many mugshots of people with walk-on parts who we don't really need to see. Peter Vansittart, for example. He barely features in the book. Do we need his pic? I would have preferred a bit more on Orwell. One of the Orwell pictures is a blurred, cropped, it's-probably-him snap of people doing exercises in the park. What a waste.
Taylor also shoots himself in the foot about motion pictures. He bangs on about how there is no surviving motion picture of Orwell, but lo! in an appendix he describes how one has now been found. Oops.
I could go on.
There must be a better Orwell biography than this. Actually, this is written in a nice enough style, it's just that it's almost completely devoid of any facts and very thin on enlightening research, despite the fact that Taylor says he spent four years on it. The only thing that got me to the end was the fact that his biggest successes (Animal Farm and 1984) came right at the end of his life, coupled with my curiosity to see if Taylor would redeem himself at the last minute. Take my advice, and don't bother with this book. You'll find out a lot more from Wikipedia.
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Don't waste your money
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One asks little of a literary biography except serious literary andhistorical research. This is more than simply reading some, not all, ofthe author's books and conjecturing some wild surmises. But this is allthat Taylor seems to have done in this so-called biography.
There have been books on Orwell before, and no doubt there will be othersin the future, and almost any would be better than this badly written,quickly thrown together, lazy piece of work. The worst thing in the worldis in Room 101. One can't help thinking that Room 102 might be reservedfor the worst book in the world, which is where you will find a copy ofOrwell: A Life.
Avoid like the plague.
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A strange literary world
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As you would expect from such an experienced biographer, DJ Taylor has brought a detailed insight to Orwell the man, possibly more accurately and comprehensively than others have done before. However, for me, what separates Taylor's book from his predecessors is his lifting the lid on the political positions taken by members of the pre war literary world in London. Orwells own excursion to fight in Spain was marred by internicene rivalry between various parts of the radical left, and the overtly political stance of publishers of the day just goes to show that nothing has changed. DJ Taylor's style drew me easily into Orwell's world of contradictions and predjudices and I'm left with the feeling that he would have been a very uncomfortable man to know. A compelling, if sometimes challenging, read.
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A solid account of a great writer.
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D.J. Taylor is not the first biographer of Orwell. This is a pity, as reading his new biography of the author of 'Animal Farm', you may rather wishe it was. Taylor seems to have built on the less than complete earlier books about Orwell. However, Taylor come across as a much better biographer and you are left feeling that he should have started from scratch rather than appearing to build on the work of others.
At times, certain major issues seem to be covered only briefly, whilst other (perhaps) more trivial factors are given a great degree of detail. For example, we read so little of the actual writing of 'Animal Farm' and so much more of seemingly trivial relationships that surround at the time. Simply because new material relating to the subject has been uncovered seems to be no good reason for inclusion, particularly if such material adds little or nothing to our understanding.
These are minor criticisms in a solid and readable account of Orwell and his life. The hype surrounding Orwell's centenary has perhaps indulged some books more than it should have, but this remains a good account of this influentioal and important writer.
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