The Politics of Literary Reputation: The Making and Claiming of 'St. George' Orwell

George Orwell (Eric Blair, 1903-1950) didn't care ``tuppence for the opinion of posterity.'' Yet his early death soon after the appearance of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four made him especially inviting for canonization as an intellectual hero. In this impressive, wide-ranging cultural investigation, Univ. of Virginia professor Rodden brilliantly examines Orwell's reputation as a rebel, common man, prophet and saint from a variety of critical standpoints: political, national, professional, cultural, religious, gender and generational. Truth-teller, plain man, vehement devil's advocate and pragmatist, socialist and anti-communist, Orwell, shows Rodden, was ``the Zelig of modern intellectuals''--a human kaleidoscope whose variegated imagery has represented nearly all things to all people. Particularly interesting here are the detailed analyses of the ``impassioned responses'' to Orwell of literary critics Lionel Trilling, V. S. Pritchett and Irving Howe, British Marxist Raymond Williams, neoconservative Norman Podhoretz, English Catholics Christopher Hollis and Brian Wicker. (May)