Two Wasted Years: 1943

Orwell described his time at the BBC as "two wasted years," yet this volume continues to show how much he achieved. Among the educational series in this period were those devoted to new developments in science, modern English verse, great dramatists, and psychology. Orwell continued to broadcast to Malaya, and wrote and read news commentaries for Indonesia. He wrote over a dozen reviews, several essays, and a long study, The Detective Story, printed here for the first time in its original French version and an English translation. The volume concludes with the devastating report by an Intelligence Officer on the ineffectiveness of the BBC's broadcasting service to India, as well as Orwell's preparatory notes for The Quick & the Dead and The Last Man in Europe.