It is all sardonic humor and affection for all his characters.Įven more than most of Orwell’s writing, this story offers smooth reading-uncomplicated prose, so exacting and direct that it verbally brings to life scenes in which the words themselves almost disappear. It was published in 1936, following “Down and Out in London and Paris,” “Burmese Days,” and “The Clergyman’s Daughter,” and nine years before “Animal Farm.” It may be fair to consider it the best of his fiction, as it is a marvelous story, unencumbered by analogy and didacticism. The one lesser known exception is his short, bright novel, “Keep the Aspidistra Flying.” I would go as far as to call it charming and delightful. Orwell’s novels are not exactly where you turn when you are looking for uplifting reading with happy endings.
He is exceptionally good at splitting hairs, dissecting, with surgical precision, the problems others had got wrong. With his keen mind and sharp sense of humor, he critiqued, dissected, and roasted authors, readers, the use of the English language, Gandhi, the British Empire, Socialism, Fascism, being a child, etc. He was, in addition to a novelist, a journalist and essayist, primarily concerned with the wrongs in the world and their effect on individuals. The phrase “Big Brother” itself is a literary creation of Orwell.Īll of Orwell’s work touches on politics and class structure. Even for people who haven’t actually read these works, the adjective “Orwellian” elicits thoughts of oppressive, government-controlled society, where “Big Brother” is watching. Perhaps they have also read his futuristic (when it was written) “1984.” Orwell’s name has become synonymous with dystopian political fiction. Most people, when asked if they’re familiar with the works of George Orwell, will answer that they had read “Animal Farm” in high school. George Orwell’s novels are not exactly where you turn when you are looking for uplifting reading with happy endings.
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