Orwell and Marxism

Whether as a fighter in the Spanish Civil war an advocate of patriotic socialism or a left-wing opponent of the Soviet Union George Orwell was the ultimate outsider in politics-insecure scornful of Orthodoxies and cussedly independent. Best known today as the author of animal farm and nineteen Eighty-Four;/em> Orwell also wrote seven other full-length books and a vast number of essays articles and reviews. A pioneering cultural critic he addressed a range of important issues including art literature englishness mass Communication and the spectre of totalitarianism. Famously describing his own background as lower-upper-middle Class Orwell had a complex relationship with Marxism and all his work reflects the influence of British communism. Through close analysis of Orwell''s writings as well as his historical and literary context Philip bounds has produced an important study of an iconic writer of the 20th century. em> Orwell and Marxism;/em> offers a thorough introduction to Orwell the intellectual reviving his reputation as a serious cultural thinker and documenting his most important influences as well as a convincing portrait of British Marxism and society in the 1930s and 40s.