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, cussedly independent.§Best known today as the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, 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 counication 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 counism.§Through close analysis of Orwells writings as well as his historical and literary context, Philip Bounds has produced an important study of one of the iconic writers of the 20th century. Orwell and Marxism 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.'A really impressive piece of work. This is one of the best books on Orwell I have read recently. An important contribution that points the direction Orwell studies should take.' John Newsinger, Professor of History, Bath Spa University