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Becoming George Orwell: Life and Letters, Legend and Legacy
The remarkable transformation of Orwell from journeyman writer to towering icon
Is George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John Rodden’s provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth. Rodden does not argue that Orwell was the most distinguished man of letters of the last century, nor even the leading novelist of his generation, let alone the greatest imaginative writer of English prose fiction. Yet his influence since his death at midcentury is incomparable. No other writer has aroused so much controversy or contributed so many incessantly quoted words and phrases to our cultural lexicon, from “Big Brother” and “doublethink” to “thoughtcrime” and “Newspeak.” Becoming George Orwell is a pathbreaking tour de force that charts the astonishing passage of a litterateur into a legend.
Rodden presents the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in a new light, exploring how the man and writer Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, came to be overshadowed by the spectral figure associated with nightmare visions of our possible futures. Rodden opens with a discussion of the life and letters, chronicling Orwell’s eccentricities and emotional struggles, followed by an assessment of his chief literary achievements. The second half of the book examines the legend and legacy of Orwell, whom Rodden calls “England’s Prose Laureate,” looking at everything from cyberwarfare to “fake news.” The closing chapters address both Orwell’s enduring relevance to burning contemporary issues and the multiple ironies of his popular reputation, showing how he and his work have become confused with the very dreads and diseases that he fought against throughout his life.
Is George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John Rodden’s provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth. Rodden does not argue that Orwell was the most distinguished man of letters of the last century, nor even the leading novelist of his generation, let alone the greatest imaginative writer of English prose fiction. Yet his influence since his death at midcentury is incomparable. No other writer has aroused so much controversy or contributed so many incessantly quoted words and phrases to our cultural lexicon, from “Big Brother” and “doublethink” to “thoughtcrime” and “Newspeak.” Becoming George Orwell is a pathbreaking tour de force that charts the astonishing passage of a litterateur into a legend.
Rodden presents the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in a new light, exploring how the man and writer Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, came to be overshadowed by the spectral figure associated with nightmare visions of our possible futures. Rodden opens with a discussion of the life and letters, chronicling Orwell’s eccentricities and emotional struggles, followed by an assessment of his chief literary achievements. The second half of the book examines the legend and legacy of Orwell, whom Rodden calls “England’s Prose Laureate,” looking at everything from cyberwarfare to “fake news.” The closing chapters address both Orwell’s enduring relevance to burning contemporary issues and the multiple ironies of his popular reputation, showing how he and his work have become confused with the very dreads and diseases that he fought against throughout his life.
376 pages, Hardcover
Published February 4, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews
July 23, 2020
There is no doubt that Mr Rodden has fully researched and very knowledgeable about George Orwell.
However, this book is more about him than it should be. He has no idea what life was like for an expatriate colonial government employee. He seems to make Orwells fiction into fact based on Orwell's life which we really know very little about. He pans "Homage to Catalonia" which in my mind is Orwell's best book as it is written with such larity about the Spanish civil war.
However, this book is more about him than it should be. He has no idea what life was like for an expatriate colonial government employee. He seems to make Orwells fiction into fact based on Orwell's life which we really know very little about. He pans "Homage to Catalonia" which in my mind is Orwell's best book as it is written with such larity about the Spanish civil war.
May 23, 2026
The man at the party you wish you hadn't started talking to, now in book form. It's as much about him as it is George Orwell (and now I can't write George Orwell without hearing WRIT LARGE after it, a term he uses for the popular perception of George Orwell versus the man who used that pen name).
George Orwell wrote two books that came out at just the right time to capture the zeitgeist and it vaulted him to author stardom, and then he obligingly died in short order, so everybody can imagine every political thing they stand for is something Orwell would support. Also, the books are intelligent, but not so daunting you can't assign them to every high school student.
If you pick up this book, you'll learn that over and over and over, and then hear about Rodden's political leanings, and other books he's written about Orwell, and some other writers who didn't become as famous or influential as George Orwell (George Orwell, WRIT LARGE!) because they didn't release books at the right time or wrote many books that had different things to say or they lived a long time or...
Rodden's whole career has been Orwell, apparently, and he wants to info-dump at you about it.
George Orwell wrote two books that came out at just the right time to capture the zeitgeist and it vaulted him to author stardom, and then he obligingly died in short order, so everybody can imagine every political thing they stand for is something Orwell would support. Also, the books are intelligent, but not so daunting you can't assign them to every high school student.
If you pick up this book, you'll learn that over and over and over, and then hear about Rodden's political leanings, and other books he's written about Orwell, and some other writers who didn't become as famous or influential as George Orwell (George Orwell, WRIT LARGE!) because they didn't release books at the right time or wrote many books that had different things to say or they lived a long time or...
Rodden's whole career has been Orwell, apparently, and he wants to info-dump at you about it.
June 5, 2022
I had high expectations for this book, alas Mr Rodden failed to deliver on many fronts.
As an expert on Owrell, Mr Rodden writes like he had never taken any advice from Orwell's suggestions on how to write. The use of Latin, French and German expressions for example hints at a pretentiousness that would have made Orwell cringe. Examples such as: "joie de vivre"(such a cliche) and throwing in the German word "Heimat" when writing about the Frenchman Malaquias take the cake. Zeitgeist, sure, but come on Mr Rodden.
I needed the help of Merrian Webster and a translation app to negotiate this book. To whose benefit such lofty writing?
Often themes were repeated and overall the book could have been a been a much shorter work.
Finally, for an academic of his stature, Mr Rodden should know better that it is "Ukraine" and not "...the Ukraine." Goodness sake!
Luckily this book was a library issue and made its way back to the shelf in quick time.
As an expert on Owrell, Mr Rodden writes like he had never taken any advice from Orwell's suggestions on how to write. The use of Latin, French and German expressions for example hints at a pretentiousness that would have made Orwell cringe. Examples such as: "joie de vivre"(such a cliche) and throwing in the German word "Heimat" when writing about the Frenchman Malaquias take the cake. Zeitgeist, sure, but come on Mr Rodden.
I needed the help of Merrian Webster and a translation app to negotiate this book. To whose benefit such lofty writing?
Often themes were repeated and overall the book could have been a been a much shorter work.
Finally, for an academic of his stature, Mr Rodden should know better that it is "Ukraine" and not "...the Ukraine." Goodness sake!
Luckily this book was a library issue and made its way back to the shelf in quick time.
January 23, 2022
More of a literary biography than a life and times, this is an interesting look at the ongoing significance of Orwell’s work. The discussion of the transformation of Orwell the writer into Orwell the myth is enlightening, as is his discussion of how Catholics in America embraced the atheistic Orwell (which was totally news to me).
August 1, 2025
Rodden has achieved something remarkable in making Orwell boring.
This is not a book in any meaningful sense. It is a series of glib and uninteresting observations, connected together only in the sense that they follow each other in sequence like turds from the arse of a dying dog.
As others have pointed out, the writing is bloated and pretentious. I suspect this results from the need to pad out and obscure the essential shallowness of what is nothing more than a series of vague half-thoughts.
I say ‘suspect’ because I will avoid this author’s work in future so will never get the chance to confirm or contradict my hunch.
This is not a book in any meaningful sense. It is a series of glib and uninteresting observations, connected together only in the sense that they follow each other in sequence like turds from the arse of a dying dog.
As others have pointed out, the writing is bloated and pretentious. I suspect this results from the need to pad out and obscure the essential shallowness of what is nothing more than a series of vague half-thoughts.
I say ‘suspect’ because I will avoid this author’s work in future so will never get the chance to confirm or contradict my hunch.
January 1, 2026
Nothing on his married life, only that he married Eileen O’Shaughnessy, nothing else. Blink and you will whoosh right past the bit on the Spanish war. Chapters 10 & 12 I found preachy.
February 19, 2026
Just finished reading this. Rodden minimizes Orwell's homophobia, mysogyny, and antisemitism. He never even once mentioned that Orwell cheated on his wife continually.
Saying that, I did learn some things: (1) Nineteen Eight Four owes a lot of its popularity to the television productions, (2) 1984 is overt criticism of Soviet communism specifically (knew that about Animal Farm, but not 1984), (3) 2+2 = 5 is reference to a particular push in the USSR for workers to work harder producing in four years what they usually produce in five, and (4) Rodden made a good case that for the book to flourish Orwell died at an optimal time.
Saying that, I did learn some things: (1) Nineteen Eight Four owes a lot of its popularity to the television productions, (2) 1984 is overt criticism of Soviet communism specifically (knew that about Animal Farm, but not 1984), (3) 2+2 = 5 is reference to a particular push in the USSR for workers to work harder producing in four years what they usually produce in five, and (4) Rodden made a good case that for the book to flourish Orwell died at an optimal time.
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December 31, 2020Good one.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews