David Campion






Poster of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), Barcelona, 1936
MAIN PAGE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES COURSE REQUIREMENTS ASSIGNMENTS ORWELL ARCHIVE ORWELL FOUNDATION

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

FALL 2026

Week I Aug 31-Sep 4 Introduction
Week II Sep 7-11 Childhood and Schooling
Week III Sep 14-18 Prison of Empire
Week IV Sep 21-25 Burmese Days
Week V Sep 28-Oct 2 How the Poor Live
Week VI Oct 5-9 Battlefield Spain
Week VII Oct 12-16 Betrayal in Barcelona
Week VIII Oct 19-23 Northern Exposure
Week IX Oct 26-30 Orwell and Socialism
Week X Nov 2-6 England and War
Week XI Nov 9-13 Some More Equal Than Others
Week XII Nov 16-20 2+2=5
Week XIII Nov 23-27 Orwell and Big Brother
Week XIV Nov 30-Dec 4 Presentations
Week XV Dec 7-9 Conclusion: Orwell in Our Time



Week I: Introduction

Aug 31: Introduction to the course and participants


Sep 2: Lecture: Orwell on writing and language


Sep 4: Discussion

"Politics and the English Language" (1945)
"Why I Write" (1946)
"Some Thoughts on the Common Toad" (1946)



Week II: Childhood and Schooling

Sep 7: No class (Labor Day)


Sep 9: Lecture: St. Cyprian's and Eton: education and Britain's class system

Christopher Hitchens, "The Eton Empire" Vanity Fair (2008)
Jeffrey Meyers, "Orwell the Old Etonian" The Article (2021)

Sep 11: Discussion

"Such, Such Were the Joys" (1948)



Week III: Prison of Empire

Sep 14: Lecture: The British in India


Sep 16: Discussion

"A Hanging" (1931)
David Campion, "The Dilemmas of the Colonial Policeman in British India," Historical Research (76:2) May 2003

Sep 18: Discussion

"Shooting an Elephant" (1936)
"Reflections on Gandhi" (1949)



Week IV: Burmese Days

Sep 21: Discussion

Burmese Days (chaps. I-VII), first edition (1934)

Sep 23: Discussion

Burmese Days (chaps. VIII-XVI)

Sep 25: Discussion

Burmese Days (chaps. XVII-XXV)



Week V: How the Poor Live

Sep 28: Lecture: Eric Blair becomes George Orwell

ESSAY #1 DUE SEP 28

Sep 30: Discussion

Down and Out in Paris and London (chaps. I-XXIII), first edition (1933)

Oct 2: Discussion

Down and Out in Paris and London (chaps. XXIV-XXXVIII)
"How the Poor Die" (1946)



Week VI: Battlefield Spain

Oct 5: Lecture: The Spanish Civil War


Oct 7: Discussion

Homage to Catalonia (chaps. I-V), first edition (1938)

Oct 9: No class (Fall Break)




Week VII: Betrayal in Barcelona

Oct 12: Discussion

Homage to Catalonia (chaps. VI-X)

Oct 14: Discussion

Homage to Catalonia (chaps. XI-XIV)
Harriet Sherwood, "How Soviet Spies targeted George Orwell during the Spanish Civil War" The Guardian (Oct 2020)

Oct 16: MIDTERM EXAMINATION




Week VIII: Introduction

Oct 19: Lecture: The Great Depression and England's industrial North


Oct 21: Discussion

The Road to Wigan Pier (Publisher’s Note, Foreward, chaps. I-III), first edition (1937)

Oct 23: Discussion

The Road to Wigan Pier (chaps. IV-VII)
"The Wigan of George Orwell in Pictures, 1939" The Guardian (Feb 2011)



Week IX: Orwell and Socialism

Oct 26: Discussion

The Road to Wigan Pier (chaps. VIII-X), Orwell's map from RWP (1936)

Oct 28: Discussion

The Road to Wigan Pier (chaps. XI-XIII)

Oct 30: Lecture: Orwell, the BBC, and the Second World War

ESSAY #2 DUE OCT 30




Week X: England and War

Nov 2: Discussion

"The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius" (Part I), first edition (1941)
Thomas Ricks, "Churchill, Orwell, and the Class War in Britain: 1941" in Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom (2017)

Nov 4: Discussion

"The Lion and the Unicorn" (Parts II-III)
"Notes on Nationalism" (1945)
Vincent Dowd, "Why George Orwell is Returning to the BBC" BBC News (Nov 2017)
Will Lloyd, "England's other Saint George," UnHerd (Apr 2021)

Nov 6: Lecture: Stalin’s Russia and Orwell’s satire: the fight for Animal Farm




Week XI: Some More Equal than Others

Nov 9: Discussion

Animal Farm (vii-xiv, chaps. 1-6), first editions: UK (1945), USA (1946)

Nov 11: Discussion

Animal Farm (chaps. 7-10)

Nov 13: Lecture: Orwell at Jura, the Cold War begins, and the genesis of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Susan Steinway, From the Archives: Orwell & HMH
Dorian Lynskey "How Orwell Wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four" The Guardian (May 2019)



Week XII: 2+2=5

Nov 16: Discussion

Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part I, first editions: UK & USA (1949)

Nov 18: Discussion

Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part II

Nov 20: Discussion

Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part III, Appendix



Week XIII: Orwell and Big Brother

Nov 23: Discussion: The legacy of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Ridley Scott/Apple Inc., "Why 1984 Won't be like 1984" Super Bowl television ad (Jan 1984)
Greg Diglin, "Living the Orwellian Nightmare: New Media and Digital Dystopia." E-Learning and Digital Media (Dec 2014)
Samantha Senn, "All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda." Journal of Strategic Security 8 (Fall 2015)
Jeffrey Williams, "Orwell isn't Quite the Way You Think he is" Inside Higher Ed (June 2017)
Journeyman.TV, Social Credit: China’s Digital Dystopia in the Making (Oct 2018)
George Packer, "Doublethink is Stronger Than Orwell imagined" The Atlantic (July 2019)

Suggested films:
Nineteen Eighty-Four (Director: Rudolph Cartier, BBC TV, 1954)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (Director: Michael Radford, Virgin Films, 1984)

Nov 25-27: No class (Thanksgiving Break)




Week XIV: Presentations

Nov 30: Presentations


Dec 2: Presentations


Dec 4: Presentations




Week XV: Conclusion: Orwell in Our Time

Dec 7: Presentations

ESSAY #3 DUE DEC 7

Dec 9: Discussion

Timothy Garton Ash, "Orwell for Our Time" The Guardian (May 2001)
Thomas Ricks, "Orwell’s Extraordinary Ascension" in Churchill & Orwell (2017)
Channel Four, George Orwell: A Life in Pictures (2003)

FINAL EXAMINATION: MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1:00-4:00 pm



Created by campion@lclark.edu | Updated August 2026