Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-85842-7 - The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell Edited by John Rodden Frontmatter More information
t h e c a m b r i d g e c o m pa n i o n to g e o r g e o rw e l l George Orwell is regarded as the greatest political writer in English of the twentieth century. The massive critical literature on Orwell has not only become extremely specialised, and therefore somewhat inaccessible to the non-scholar, but it has also contributed to and even created misconceptions about the man, the writer, and his literary legacy. For these reasons, an overview of Orwell’s writing and influence is an indispensable resource. Accordingly, this Companion serves as both an introduction to Orwell’s work and furnishes numerous innovative interpretations and fresh critical perspectives on it. Throughout the Companion, which includes chapters dedicated to Orwell’s major novels, Nineteen EightyFour and Animal Farm, Orwell’s work is placed within the context of the political and social climate of the time. His response to the Depression, British imperialism, Stalinism, the Second World War, and the politics of the British Left are all examined. Chapters also discuss Orwell’s status among intellectuals and in the literary academy, and a detailed chronology of Orwell’s life and work is included. John Rodden has taught at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin. He has authored or edited several books on George Orwell, including The Politics of Literary Reputation: the Making and Claiming of ‘St George’ Orwell (1989), Understanding Animal Farm in Historical Context (1999), Scenes from an Afterlife: the Legacy of George Orwell (2003), George Orwell Into the Twenty-First Century (2004), and Every Intellectual’s Big Brother: George Orwell’s Literary Siblings (2006).
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