More than 25 years after the year 1984 and 60 years since his death, George Orwell remains one of the world's most important public intellectuals, defined as a smart, literate person engaged in the problems of everyday people and society. His willingness to see through pious rhetoric on all sides has made him the contested hero of left and right; his “Orwellian” concepts on the abuse of language remain the strongest tool for breaking open the half-truths, distortions and spin of politics and advertising. Orwell scholar John Rodden has written a book of many parts, including a fascinating overview of American intellectuals, from Lionel Trilling to Christopher Hitchens, who saw themselves as Orwell's heirs. Rodden finds them admirable but wanting in comparison to their hero. The author examines the literary power behind Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm and the sharp similarities between Orwell's dystopia and the former East Germany, where his books were banned.
The Unexamined Orwell
(University of Texas Press) by John Rodden
