# Things I Don't Want to Know

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/deborah-levy/things-i-dont-want-to-know/9780241146576

![Things I Don't Want to Know](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/deborah-levy/things-i-dont-want-to-know_978-02-4114-657-6.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2011%3A00%3A59)

- Book: [Things I Don't Want to Know](https://www.bookquiver.com/deborah-levy/things-i-dont-want-to-know) ([Things I Don't Want to Know.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/deborah-levy/things-i-dont-want-to-know.md))
- Authors: [Deborah Levy](https://www.bookquiver.com/deborah-levy)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-02-4114-657-6
- Published: 2014-02-06
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

Things I Don't Want to Know' is a response to George Orwell from one of our most vital contemporary writers. Taking Orwell's famous list of motives for writing as the jumping-off point for a sequence of thrilling reflections on the writing life, this is a perfect companion both to Orwell's essay and to Levy's own oeuvre. 'In her powerful rejoinder to Orwell, Deborah Levy responds to his proposed motives for writing -- 'sheer egoism', 'aesthetic enthusiasm', 'historical impulse' and 'political purpose' -- with illuminating moments of autobiography. A vivid, striking account of a writer's life, which feminises and personalises Orwell's blunt assertions' Spectator