Orwell

Life & Times

by Scott Lucas

George Orwell (1903-1950) is Britain’s most famous political writer. He aspired to be a novelist, but it was with his reportage on the conditions of the poor and on the Spanish Civil War, and his journalism on popular culture and politics, that he became a leading observer of his times. With his last books, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, he became a global icon, leaving ideas and terms that continue to shape political and cultural debate. In this controversial new biography, Scott Lucas argues that we now need to be rescued from Orwell. Orwell was never really a socialist, Lucas argues, and, in spite of his interest in "clear writing", he remained as confused in his politics as he was talented and prolific in prose. Most strikingly, soon after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell passed a list of ‘suspect’ individuals, from Charlie Chaplin to Michael Redgrave, to British Intelligence. Since his death, Lucas suggests, Orwell has become a talisman for the neoliberal right, for "little England", and even for an American-led world.

180 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2003

Reviews

[Horza]

A short, sharp, critical retrospective, focused more on the political than the literary. An enthusiastic participant in the Orwell Wars and it isn't hard to tell which contemporary Orwell interpreters Lucas is aiming at.

[Delphine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terribly biased (short) biography, apparently written with the sole purpose of bringing Orwell down.

What grudges the author holds against Orwell: according to Lucas, Orwell lacked depth and resolution in his literary work, was always defining himself against things but offered no real alternative (except a return to 'decency'). He was a socialist, but attacked the left and compiled a list with suspected communist sympathizers for the British intelligence services. He often changed ideas during his lifetime.

Scott Lucas repeats these aspects over and over again, without any attention for Orwell's redeeming features. Quite a sad enterprise, to engage in a biography like this.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this has just completely changed my view of Orwell...