I was a sophomore in high school in 1984. It was then that I became a fan of George Orwell. In the decades since I have read him and read about him. Considering the number of books Mr. Rodden had written about Orwell, I’m surprised I haven’t come across his work before. He clearly knows his subject well and loves it, which generally makes for good reading.
The theme of this book seems to be the development of Eric Blair into George Orwell into “Orwell”; that is, the iconic writer whom everyone seems to create in their necessary image. The first part is a brief biography of Orwell, focusing on points related to the theme. The second part covers key aspects of his posthumous transition to icon.
Though I enjoyed this book, it does feel like it was written by a guy that’s written a lot of books about Orwell. Maybe because he so conversant with the subject, it reads a bit like bullet points rather than coherent narrative. Still, some of the points he makes are insightful. He talks about “The Hanging” as the only quality essay written under the name of Blair. He makes a strong argument about the importance of the 1954 BBC production of Nineteen Eighty-Four as being crucial to Orwell’s posthumous elevation to the pantheon of great writers. As a Catholic, I enjoyed his crediting Orwell’s being lauded by Commonweal as another crucial part of his success.
On the other hand, as a fan, he’s a bit over-the-top with his belief in the influence of Orwell, and I consider myself a fan as well. Also, though I found his comparison of Orwell to the French writers Malaquais and Camus quite interesting, it read like a lot of work to make a small point. Maybe a good idea that needs to be fleshed out a bit more.
In the end, I don’t know if I’d recommend this to someone who is new to Orwell. On the other hand, someone who has read and liked Orwell is likely to find enough interesting tidbits here to make it worth reading. (P.S. Read the endnotes as you go along. They are worthwhile. I didn’t figure that out until I was well into the book.)
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