Orwell’s War: Frozen In Time (1942-43)

About this episode

This episode explores George Orwell's perspective on World War II during the years 1942-43 and the evolution of his ideas leading to 1984.

Today’s episode in our series about how George Orwell tried – and failed – to make sense of WW2 looks at his response to the vast lurches of fortune from 1942-43 as Hitler’s plans for world domination started to fall apart. Why was Orwell convinced that the summer of 1942 was the last chance for revolution? What persuaded him that Stafford Cripps was the man of the hour? How did his hopes fall apart in 1943? And where did the ideas for 1984 first come from? Out tomorrow on PPF+: the final episode in this series exploring how Orwell tried to make sense of the end of the war, from a Labour election victory he didn’t see coming to a new ‘cold war’ that he anticipated before anyone else. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time – PPF+: Some Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 3) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: David Runciman

Topics covered

• George Orwell
• World War II
• political analysis
• historical events
• revolution
• literature

Keywords

• Orwell
• WW2
• Stafford Cripps
• revolution
• 1984
• historical analysis
• politics

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: 1984

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