The Newshound

A-level English board scraps Orwell and Capote for texts with a combined age of just 59 years

George Orwell's memoir 'Down and Out in Paris and London' has been dropped from Cambridge OCR's A-level non-fiction list, replaced by Anna Funder's 2023 portrait casting him as "sadistic and misogynistic.
George Orwell's memoir 'Down and Out in Paris and London' has been dropped from Cambridge OCR's A-level non-fiction list, replaced by Anna Funder's 2023 portrait casting him as "sadistic and misogynistic.
Solomon Northup's memoir is among the post-2018 texts that replaced classic authors on the revised A-level non-fiction syllabus.
Solomon Northup's memoir is among the post-2018 texts that replaced classic authors on the revised A-level non-fiction syllabus.

Cambridge OCR has axed nearly two centuries of non-fiction literature from its A-level English reading list, replacing classics including George Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London', Solomon Northup's 'Twelve Years a Slave' and Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' with titles published exclusively since 2018. The overhaul, due to take effect from September, has cut the combined age of set texts from 512 years to a mere 59, with Tara Westover's 2018 memoir 'Educated' now the oldest work on the list.

Orwell's place was already controversial — his memoir was swapped for Anna Funder's 'Wifedom' (2023), which portrays him as 'sadistic and misogynistic'.

The Orwell Society has challenged 'Wifedom's' accuracy, and Orwell's own son has objected to the removal.

Replacements include a 2022 lockdown portrait of London and a 2024 Richard Flanagan title — drawing accusations of 'dumbing down' over fears students find older language unfamiliar.

MoreThe TelegraphEnglish texts ‘dumbed down’ for A-level studentsGB NewsA-level English texts 'dumbed down' for students over older 'unfamiliar language'rugbyobserver.co.ukGeorge Orwell is down and out in A-level syllabus as biog... - The Observer
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