Memoirs of Professor Peter Davison

The Orwell Society is proud to publish the memoirs of Professor Peter Davison, editor of the Facsimile Edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the twenty-volume Complete Works of George Orwell.

Professor Peter Davison was asked to contribute an Introduction to a new selection of works by George Orwell, concentrating on his own ‘Road To George Orwell’ as his initial paragraph above makes clear. In 2017 the Folio Society published a single volume illustrated edition of the Orwell Diaries and Life in Letters, edited by Professor Davison.This introduction was not published, which has given the Orwell Society the opportunity and privilege to publish these memoirs.

This would have been the thirty-first volume devoted to the work of George Orwell that I have had the privilege of editing. I contributed a General Introduction to the twenty-volume Collected Works and a descriptive introduction to the Facsimile of the manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four but where there are introductions to the other volumes they have been contributed by distinguished scholars and authors such as my friend and colleague, the late Richard Hoggart. Other distinguished authors who introduced Penguin reprints include Dervla Murphy, Julian Symons, Malcolm Bradbury, and Ben Pimlott. Indeed, that contributed to the Italian edition of the Facsimile of Nineteen Eighty-Four was by no less than Umberto Eco. At the risk of stepping outside the role of editor, I am pleased to have this chance to express what will in effect show my gratitude for having had the opportunity to work on – and live with – the work of so great a writer. (Peter Davison)

The memoir is in five sections, covering all aspects of his life:-

Part One…….: Early Life and Military Service

Part Two……: Mature Student

Part Three….: Meetings With Remarkable Minds

Part Four (I).: English Academic Approached to Edit Orwell

Part Four (II): Regarding Orwell

Professor Peter Davison speaking to Professor Jean Seaton