To Orwell Today,

Hi,

I've been enjoying reading through all the information you have to offer on 1984 and Orwell in general.

I'm a second year student at Exeter University and currently composing a Literary Trail based on Orwell's 1984 for one of my modules: Literature and the Environment, and am looking at how the built environment affects its inhabitants through surveillance and more generally looking at the politics of space.

I was hoping that you could tell me where you got some of the information on Langford Court that you have, such as:

"It's the Langford Court flat Orwell has in mind when he describes the hallway smelling of boiled cabbage because during the time that Orwell lived there the building was comprised mainly of European immigrants escaping from war-torn Europe, and cabbage was a big part of their diet."

"It is also Langford Court that Orwell has in mind when he describes the elevator because his Canonbury Square flat didn't have an elevator. But his walk up the stairs, because the elevator didn't work, was based on Canonbury Square where he used to take a breath on each landing. I've been in that building and in Orwell's flat."

I was wondering if you found this out from a book that I could then potentially read and cite, or whether it was from a tour?

Please could you reply ASAP as what I'm working on is due this Thursday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Amber

Greetings Amber,

The passages you quote are part of my response to the owner of the flat at Langford Court, London who had contacted me for suggestions on how to promote the fact that Orwell had once lived in that building -- and perhaps even in the very flat she lived in and was putting up for sale. See ORWELLL'S 1984 FLAT FOR SALE & ORWELL'S 1984 LANGFOPRD FLAT

Through my years of reading and writing about Orwell -- knowledge compiled from biographies and his own journalism and books -- I was able to tell her the time and place Langford Court had played in Orwell's life and that some of its features made it into 1984 as Victory Square Mansions.

You may cite myself and my ORWELL TODAY website as the source in your paper.

All the best,
Jackie Jura, December 2019

ORWELL'S 1984 LONDON LOCATIONS

WINSTON'S DIARY IS ORWELL'S BOOK

ORWELL'S PERSONA

HOMAGE TO ORWELL

ORWELL'S OTHER BOOKS

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~