ABOUT & PUBLICATIONS – Darcy Moore

Thanks for visiting my website.

My partner and I live with our two teenagers and a miniature schnauzer in sunny Kiama, NSW, Australia.

I have been blogging for over 20 years and this particular iteration has been live for 15 years. The focus has changed (and continues to change) as I find new interests to write about.

The site currently features my research into the life and writings of George Orwell. My book, Orwell in Paris: The Making of a Writer, has been delayed by the significance of new information I have uncovered, after it was drafted, needing further investigation.

I travel to India (and possibly Myanmar) later in the year and will decide after this trip if my book will be expanded to cover the entire period prior to Orwell publishing under his pseudonym in 1933. My research will be mainly in Motihari and Nainital where I hope to discover more about Orwell’s ayah, his Anglo-Indian ancestry and loathing of rats.

The site has also become a space to share my bibliomania and wide reading about Orwell and his context. You could spend many hours browsing my Orwell Studies Library.

Feel welcome to get in touch if you have a request, question or suggestion. I am always more than happy to collaborate.

You can contact me via Twitter (my DMs are open) or email: dfjmooreATgmail.com

George Orwell

During 2018, I first started to think about writing a book about George Orwell. For many years I had read extensively (books by and about Orwell) and had amassed a large collection. Spending several weeks in the British Library and Orwell Archive was a treat, as was spending time with Orwell’s son, Richard Blair, on trips to Jura (2018) and Spain (2019).

Richard signing my first editions at Barnhill

I continued to travel, read, research, speak and write about Orwell during 2019-20. Highlights included exploring Montparnasse in Paris, an intellectually stimulating trip to Spain where I met local experts and historians, including Nick Lloyd and Victor Pardo Lancina. It was great to hang out with Dennis Glover (after years of emailing) exploring Las Ramblas in Barcelona and the civil war trenches where Orwell fought (and almost died). Richard Blair read passages from Homage to Catalonia; which was a unique experience. Richard kindly signed my first edition of his father’s book at the Poliorama in Barcelona, where Orwell did guard duty while chain-smoking and reading Penguin paperbacks.

Sadly, COVID-19 prevented my research trip to Myanmar in January 2022 going ahead. Now, the terrible situation that continues to unfold for the people of that country makes a visit in the foreseeable future challenging. I was particularly looking forward to exploring Moulmein and Katha.

However, I did manage to do more research and travel during June-July 2022 visiting London, Paris and Shropshire, where the young Eric Blair spent his summer holidays at Ticklerton during his teens. This trip was particularly pleasing as I spent quality time with many Orwellian friends and colleagues (as well as in the British Library, Crick Archive at Birbeck College and the Orwell Archive).

I have presented my research locally and as far afield as University College, in London (and loved giving a “George Talk“, via Zoom to The Orwell Society about my research during a lockdown). My most recent talk was on George Orwell & Searchlight Books, on 18^th June 2023, which you can watch here and here.

It has been particularly exciting to publish academic papers and articles on my discoveries about Orwell’s time in Paris and his experiences in Burma.

My latest peer-reviewed paper, “Orwell and the Secret Intelligence Service”, was published June 2022 in George Orwell Studies. “The True Artist: Poverty, Networking and Literary Artifice” and “Orwell in Burma: The Two Erics”, were published during May and December 2021 in the same journal. I encourage you to consider subscribing to stay up to date with the latest Orwell scholarship.

In 2024, I have chapters being published in two major academic publications on Orwell. Cambridge University Press will release Orwell in Context (with my work on his time in Paris) and “Newspeak: A re-evaluation” will published in The Routledge Companion to George Orwell.

It is possible to read many of the formally published papers and articles at my Academia page and there are online versions of most my writing. You can read my tribute to the late Peter Davison here.

.ORWELL PUBLICATIONS

PEER REVIEWED PAPERS

“Orwell and the Secret Intelligence Service”, George Orwell Studies (2022) Vol. 6, No. 2 pp. 9-16

“The True Artist: Poverty, Networking and Literary Artifice”, George Orwell Studies (2021) Vol. 6, No. 1 pp. 7-31

“Orwell in Burma: The Two Erics”, George Orwell Studies (2021) Vol. 5, No. 2 pp. 6-24

“Orwell’s Scottish Ancestry and Slavery”, George Orwell Studies (2020) Vol. 5, No. 1 pp. 6-19

“Orwell’s Aunt Nellie”, George Orwell Studies (2020) Vol. 4, No.2 pp. 30-44

“Orwell and the Appeal of Opium”, George Orwell Studies (2018) Vol. 3, No.1 pp 83-102

ARTICLES

“Orwell in Cornwall”, George Orwell Studies (2023) Vol. 8, No. 1 pp. 142-158

“Dear Dione”, George Orwell Studies (2023) Vol. 8, No. 1 pp. 201-203

“Esteemed by Other Orwellians for his Readiness to Offer Help and Encouragement”, George Orwell Studies (2023) Vol. 7, No.2 pp. 9–16

“Orwell’s Rats”, George Orwell Studies (2022) Vol. 7, No.1 pp. 92–101

“Stansky and Abrahams: Orwell’s First Biographers”, George Orwell Studies (2020) Vol. 4, No.2 pp. 104–114

“Leon Gellert, George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four”, George Orwell Studies (2020) Vol. 4, No. 1 pp.105–112

“Orwell in Paris: Who was Ruth Graves?”, George Orwell Studies (2019) Vol. 3, No.2 pp. 55–70

“Collecting Orwell: A Kind of Compulsion”, George Orwell Studies (2018) Vol. 2, No. 2 pp.10-14

“George Orwell’s Legacy”, mETAphor (2018) Issue 3, pp. 22-24

REVIEWS

“Orwell and Empire by Douglas Kerr”, George Orwell Studies (2022) Vol. 7, No.1 pp. 102–106

“Orwell-inspired museum installation makes for uneasy viewing”, George Orwell Studies (2019) Vol. 3 , No. 1 pp. 135–137

“Tombs: Sharing Orwell’s Penchant for Puncturing Shibboleths”, George Orwell Studies (2019) Vol. 3, No.2 pp 89–94

CHAPTERS

“Paris”, Orwell in Context, Waddell, Nathan (editor), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming 2024)

“Newspeak: A re-evaluation”, The Routledge Companion to George Orwell, Keeble, Richard; Crook, Tim (editors), London: Routledge (forthcoming 2024)

“Homage to Stansky and Abrahams: Orwell’s first biographers”, George Orwell: His Enduring Legacy, Davidson, Russ (editor), New Mexico: University of New Mexico, 2019

PRESENTATIONS

“George Orwell & Searchlight Books“, The Orwell Society, George Talks, 18 June 2023

“Orwell and Lanti in Paris”, Un siècle d’espérantisme ouvrier – 1921-2021, Paris, 17 December 2021

“Orwell in Paris”, The Orwell Society, George Talks, 12 July 2020

“The Unknown George Orwell”, Friends of Kiama Library, 8 June 2019

“Orwell and the Appeal of Opium”, Rebel? Prophet? Relic? Perspectives on George Orwell Conference, University College London 24-25 May 2019

*It is possible to read many of the papers at my Academia page.