Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell

by Philip Bounds

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 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. In this thoughtful and original study Philip Bounds argues that Orwell's writings effectively took the form of a dialogue with the leading British Marxists of his day. Bounds shows that Orwell often agreed with the Marxists and built on their insights in his writings, while on other occasions he used his disagreements with them as the basis of his own critical position.

Through close analysis of Orwell's writings as well as his historical and literary context, 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.

Genres: Biography, Politics

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Caitlin Knowles]

i’m being rude cos it caught me in my reading slump but a long slog of a book ahhaha.

very interesting and reminded me how much i love orwell, maybe im just being nasty

[Sai]

3.44

[Sylvester]

A comprehensive book on the life of George Orwell. With good intention(?) but the writer's ability to write was disastrous, the language he used made this almost completely unreadable. It should be about Orwell but somehow it seemed more like a book on the history of British communism. He wrote a lot but nothing was really intelligible,sadly it's another book that will be forgotten.

[David]

I thought it would be a collection of articles by George but it's the writer's opinion and prejudices.