logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2023
52m 46s

Animal Farm and Other Allegories

David Runciman
About this episode
This week David talks to novelists Adam Biles and John Lanchester about the timeless appeal of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Why has it retained its hold far longer than other political allegories? Do readers need to know about the Russian history it describes? What makes the animals so relatable? Plus we discuss other favourite political allegories, from The ... Show More
Up next
Feb 1
What’s Wrong with Political Philosophy? Learning from Aristotle
Today it’s the first episode in a new series asking why contemporary political philosophy struggles to make sense of the deepest problems of politics and exploring how the history of ideas might help. David talks to political theorist Paul Sagar about why looking for justice migh ... Show More
1h 12m
Jan 28
Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson: The Weirdness of American Power Part 2
Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with Helen Thompson about what makes living in a world dominated by the United States so strange. What has changed about American power in the twenty-first century? Is Trump a deviation from the norm or is he simply an ex ... Show More
58m 38s
Jan 25
Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson: The Weirdness of American Power
The first of a two-part conversation in which David talks to Helen Thompson about how to understand the extraordinary and unlikely power of the United States, from its origins to its current incarnation. How strange would it once have seemed to live in a world dominated by a stat ... Show More
57m 29s
Recommended Episodes
May 2024
George Orwell Part 1 – From Eton to Barcelona
Back for season five, Origin Story continues to explore the misunderstood ideas and people that shape our politics today. With Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. In this opening two-parter Dorian bows to the inevitable and tells the story of the subject of his book, The Ministry of Tru ... Show More
1h 4m
Aug 2024
George Orwell: life of the week
From doublethink and thoughtcrime to coming face-to-face with our worst nightmares inside Room 101, few writers have had as much impact on the popular imagination as George Orwell. But what compelled the author of 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' to conjure up such dark, ... Show More
41m 38s
Oct 2022
ORWELL - LA FERME DES ANIMAUX
tail spinning
25 m
Feb 2025
George Orwell - Orwell Collection Animal Farm 1984
<p>Animal Farm and 1984</p> 
16h 10m
May 2025
In the Soviet Archives: a conversation with Sheila Fitzpatrick
When Sheila Fitzpatrick first went to Moscow in the 1960s as a young academic, the prevailing understanding of the Soviet Union in the West was governed by the ‘totalitarian hypothesis’, of a system ruled entirely from the top down. Her examination of the ministry papers of Anato ... Show More
1h 9m
Feb 2022
Chapter 2_Animal Farm
Ch. 2 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell, read by Anna Butterworth 
16m 42s
Nov 10
Truth in an age of doublethink
We use “Orwellian” to describe everything from campus dust-ups to authoritarian crackdowns. But what did George Orwell actually stand for, what did he get wrong, and what can we learn from him about our age of surveillance capitalism and distraction? Sean’s guest is Laura Beers, ... Show More
52m 16s
Feb 2022
Chapter 5_Animal Farm
Ch. 5 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell, read by Anna Butterworth 
20m 50s
Feb 2022
Chapter 4_Animal Farm
Ch. 4 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell, read by Anna Butterworth 
11m 26s
Feb 2022
Chapter 3_Animal Farm
Ch. 3 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell, read by Anna Butterworth 
14m 27s