Political and Cultural Perceptions of George Orwell

British and American Views
Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-349-95775-0
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, 186 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 2653 g

Reihe: Political Philosophy and Public Purpose

This book analyzes George Orwell’s politics and their reception across both sides of the Atlantic. It considers Orwell’s place in the politics of his native Britain and his reception in the USA, where he has had some of his most fervent emulators, exegetists, and detractors. Written by an ex “teenage Maoist” from Liverpool, UK, who now lives and writes in New York, the book points out how often the different strands of opinion derive from “ancestral” ideological struggles within the Communist/Trotskyist movement in the 30’s, and how these often overlook or indeed consciously ignore the indigenous British politics and sociology that did so much to influence Orwell’s political and literary development. It examines in the modern era what Orwell did in his–the seductions of simplistic and absolutist ideologies for some intellectuals, especially in their reactions to Orwell himself.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Williams, Ian

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Journalismus & Presse
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Orwell: Good or Ungood?.......................................................................................... 2Section 1......................................................................................................................................... 9Chapter I     In Defense of Comrade Psmith: the Orwellian treatment of Orwell............................... 9Chapter II The Orwellian Method.................................................................................................. 21Chapter III Orwell the Socialist...................................................................................................... 25Chapter IV Tangential Criticisms................................................................................................... 34Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 35Section 2 -In Memoriam- retrospective views.......................................................................... 38Chapter V   Orwell's Own Airstrip One in 2014............................................................................... 38 Chapter VI  The Persistence of Pessimism, Oceania 20 years after Nineteen Eighty-Four............... 42Chapter VII Afterlife of An Atheist................................................................................................ 46Section 3 Beyond the Telescreen – Snitching, Snooping and Surveillance............................ 62Chapter VIII No bother about Big Brother...................................................................................... 62Chapter IX  Alexander Cockburn and "Snitching"........................................................................... 67 Chapter X The List......................................................................................................................... 73"The List".................................................................................................................................. 77Section 4 What Is Left?................................................................................................................ 82Chapter XI Disabusing Idiocy? Orwell & the Left............................................................................ 82 Chapter XII  Orwell and the Democratic Left.................................................................................. 84Chapter XIII Striking Back at the Empire......................................................................................... 90Interlude..................................................................................................................................... 106Chapter XIV  Revolution Is No Tea Party but It's Easier in a Salon: Reading the Leaves Afterwards 106Chapter XV Orwell and the Left in the United States –the Under-reported side of Oceania!........ 114 Chapter XVI Letters to Oceania?.................................................................................................. 139Chapter XVII Irving Howe, Orwell’s Prophet in the USA............................................................... 143Section 6  Cover Bards – Hitchens the Orwell Emulator And His Detractors............................. 158Chapter XVIII Orwell's Lives........................................................................................................ 158Chapter XIX Why Hitchens Matters............................................................................................. 164Chapter XX Christopher Hitchens and Orwell.............................................................................. 171Chapter XXI Antithesis Incarnate: Christopher Hitchens, A Retrospective Glance......................... 173Chapter XXII Hitchens and the Iraq War....................................................................................... 183Chapter XXIII Truth in Journalism................................................................................................ 190Selected Bibliography................................................................................................................ 194Notes............................................................................................................................................... 2

Über Autor(innen)

Ian Williams is Assistant Professor at Bard College Center for Global & International Affairs, USA. He is author of six other books on politics and history and speaks on international affairs and American foreign policy at venues and on media across the world.