'Orwell' by Christin and Verdier
George Orwell continues to stand as one of the last century’s most remarkable and perceptive authors. As a socialist disappointed by many of the left turns he witnessed, Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm as indictments of totalitarianism in their Leninist-Stalinist incarnation. They have endured the passage of time and tyrants.
Pierre Christin’s graphic biography (illustrated by Sebastien Verdier) follows Orwell’s life from childhood—his family maintained upper middle class appearances despite reduced circumstances—through the composition of his great essays and novels. He was uniquely awake to the unpleasant reality of the world, especially the distortion of language by all parties. Christin’s writing goes well beyond caption level and—taken together with the visuals—forms an engaging essay on the life and meaning of Orwell. Verdier’s well-wrought black and white drawings include occasional color swatches that draw the eye to the objects at hand.
The final chapter, “After Orwell,” is especially important. One expected the author’s star to fade as the Soviet Bloc disintegrated, but as Christin writes: “Today, Newspeak now reigns—though not quite as he imagined,” in a world of fake news and such insidious catch phrases as “let go” for “sacked” and “collateral damage” for killing civilians.
