George Orwell Now‪!‬

George Orwell remains an iconic figure today – even though he died in 1950. His dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ depicts a Big Brother society in which the state intrudes into the most intimate details of people’s lives – and, not surprisingly, it became a constant reference point after Edward Snowden’s revelations. The word «Orwellian» is constantly in the media – used either as a pejorative adjective to evoke totalitarian terror or as a complimentary adjective to mean «displaying outspoken intellectual honesty». Interest in Orwell’s life and writings – globally – continues unabated. Beginning with a Preface by ‘Richard Blair’, Orwell’s son, ‘George Orwell Now!’ brings together thirteen chapters by leading international scholars in four thematic sections:. • Peter Marks on Orwell and the history of surveillance studies; Florian Zollmann on ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ in 2014; Henk Vynckier on Orwell’s collecting project; and Adam Stock on ‘Big Brother’s Literary Offspring’. • Paul Anderson «In Defence of Bernard Crick»; Luke Seaber on the «London Section of ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’«; John Newsinger on «Orwell’s Socialism»; and Philip Bounds on «Orwell and the Anti-Austerity Left in Britain». • Marina Remy on the «Writing of Otherness» in ‘Burmese Days’ and ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’‘; Sreya Mallika Datta and Utsa Mukherjee on «Reassessing Ambivalence in Orwell’s Burma»; and Shu-chu Wei on Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ alongside Chen Jo-his’s ‘Mayor Yin’. • Tim Crook on «Orwell and the Radio Imagination»; and editor Richard Lance Keeble on «Orwell and the War Reporter’s Imagination». ‘Peter Stansky’, in an Afterword, argues that Orwell is now more relevant than ever before.