Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography
In 2012 writer John Sutherland permanently lost his sense of smell. At about the same time, he embarked on a rereading of George Orwell and—still coping with his recent disability—noticed something peculiar: Orwell was positively obsessed with smell. In this original, irreverent biography, Sutherland offers a fresh account of Orwell’s life and works, one that sniffs out a unique, scented trail that wends from Burmese Days through Nineteen Eighty-Four and on to The Road to Wigan Pier.
           
Sutherland airs out the odors, fetors, stenches, and reeks trapped in the pages of Orwell’s books. From Winston Smith’s apartment in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which “smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats,” to the tantalizing aromas of concubine Ma Hla May’s hair in Burmese Days, with its “mingled scent of sandalwood, garlic, coconut oil, and jasmine,” Sutherland explores the scent narratives that abound in Orwell’s literary world. Along the way, he elucidates questions that have remained unanswered in previous biographies, addressing gaps that have kept the writer elusively from us. In doing so, Sutherland offers an entertaining but enriching look at one of the most important writers of the twentieth century and, moreover, an entirely new and sensuous way to approach literature: nose first.
 
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Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography
In 2012 writer John Sutherland permanently lost his sense of smell. At about the same time, he embarked on a rereading of George Orwell and—still coping with his recent disability—noticed something peculiar: Orwell was positively obsessed with smell. In this original, irreverent biography, Sutherland offers a fresh account of Orwell’s life and works, one that sniffs out a unique, scented trail that wends from Burmese Days through Nineteen Eighty-Four and on to The Road to Wigan Pier.
           
Sutherland airs out the odors, fetors, stenches, and reeks trapped in the pages of Orwell’s books. From Winston Smith’s apartment in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which “smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats,” to the tantalizing aromas of concubine Ma Hla May’s hair in Burmese Days, with its “mingled scent of sandalwood, garlic, coconut oil, and jasmine,” Sutherland explores the scent narratives that abound in Orwell’s literary world. Along the way, he elucidates questions that have remained unanswered in previous biographies, addressing gaps that have kept the writer elusively from us. In doing so, Sutherland offers an entertaining but enriching look at one of the most important writers of the twentieth century and, moreover, an entirely new and sensuous way to approach literature: nose first.
 
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Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography

Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography

by John Sutherland
Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography

Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography

by John Sutherland

eBook

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Overview

In 2012 writer John Sutherland permanently lost his sense of smell. At about the same time, he embarked on a rereading of George Orwell and—still coping with his recent disability—noticed something peculiar: Orwell was positively obsessed with smell. In this original, irreverent biography, Sutherland offers a fresh account of Orwell’s life and works, one that sniffs out a unique, scented trail that wends from Burmese Days through Nineteen Eighty-Four and on to The Road to Wigan Pier.
           
Sutherland airs out the odors, fetors, stenches, and reeks trapped in the pages of Orwell’s books. From Winston Smith’s apartment in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which “smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats,” to the tantalizing aromas of concubine Ma Hla May’s hair in Burmese Days, with its “mingled scent of sandalwood, garlic, coconut oil, and jasmine,” Sutherland explores the scent narratives that abound in Orwell’s literary world. Along the way, he elucidates questions that have remained unanswered in previous biographies, addressing gaps that have kept the writer elusively from us. In doing so, Sutherland offers an entertaining but enriching look at one of the most important writers of the twentieth century and, moreover, an entirely new and sensuous way to approach literature: nose first.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781780236964
Publisher: Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date: 09/15/2016
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

John Sutherland is the author of many books, including Lives of the Novelists and How to Be Well Read. He is the Lord Northcliffe Professor of English emeritus at University College London.
 

Table of Contents

A Note on Notes
Foreword
Preface
The Life

Appendix I: Blair/Orwell's Smoking Diary
Appendix II: The Smell Narrative of A Clergyman's Daughter
Appendix III: The Smell Narrative of The Road to Wigan Pier

References
Acknowledgements and Photo Acknowledgements
Index

What People are Saying About This

Jay Parini

"It’s difficult to describe this odd, wonderful, and exhilarating book. Sutherland is without doubt one of the best minds at work in literary studies, and one expects from him the unexpected. Orwell’s Nose is certainly one of his most unexpected books, and might well be his best to date. He’s a first-rate critic, a writer of enviable skills. This shrewd and riveting book deserves a wide audience."

David Lodge

“Do we need another biography of George Orwell? The answer is yes, if it is as racily readable as Orwell’s Nose. Orwell’s obsession with smells, agreeable and (more often) offensive, has been noted before, but never explored to such effect, not excluding the smells of shag tobacco and BO he emitted himself. Sutherland combines admiration for Orwell’s ‘perfect prose’ with a candid registration of his imperfections as a man, and his almost masochistic tendency to make life difficult for himself—which often however inspired his finest work.”

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