TY - BOOK AU - Rodden,John TI - Becoming George Orwell: Life and Letters, Legend and Legacy SN - 9780691182742 AV - PR6029.R8 Z775125 2021 U1 - 823.912 23 PY - 2020///] CY - Princeton, NJ PB - Princeton University Press KW - BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary KW - bisacsh KW - 1Q84 KW - 2 + 2 = 5 KW - A Hanging KW - Airstrip One KW - Aldous Huxley KW - Big Brother Is Watching You KW - Brave New World KW - Burmese Days KW - Down and Out in Paris and London KW - Eastasia KW - Emmanuel Goldstein KW - Eurasia KW - Homage to Catalonia KW - Ingsoc KW - Keep the Aspidistra Flying KW - Ministry of Truth KW - Murakami KW - Oceania KW - Orwellian KW - Road to Wigan Pier KW - Room 101 KW - Winston Smith KW - authoritarianism KW - doublespeak KW - duckspeak KW - dystopia KW - dystopian novel KW - oldspeak KW - perpetual war KW - propaganda KW - surveillance state KW - thought crime KW - thought police N1 - Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; PROLOGUE. Donald and Winston at the Ministry of Alternative Facts --; INTRODUCTION. Orwell, My “Orwell” --; PART 1. Life and Letters --; CHAPTER 1. The Quixotic, Adamantly Unsainted Life He Lived --; CHAPTER 2. Frenemies at Fisticuffs? --; CHAPTER 3. The Literary Breakthrough, or When Blair Became Orwell --; CHAPTER 4. Orwell’s Twin Masterpieces, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four --; Chapter 5. A “Utopian” Edition of a Dystopian Classic --; CHAPTER 6. England’s Prose Laureate --; PART 2. Legend and Legacy --; CHAPTER 7. French Connection, Part 1 --; CHAPTER 8. French Connection, Part 2 --; CHAPTER 9. How and Why Orwell Became “A FAMOUS AUTHOR” --; CHAPTER 10 “Catholic Exceptionalism” --; CHAPTER 11. “Orwellian” Warfare: From Cold to Cyber --; CHAPTER 12. Why I Am Not a Socialist --; CONCLUSION. Whither Orwell–and “Orwell”? --; Notes --; Illustration Credits --; Index; restricted access N2 - The remarkable transformation of Orwell from journeyman writer to towering iconIs George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John Rodden’s provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth. Rodden does not argue that Orwell was the most distinguished man of letters of the last century, nor even the leading novelist of his generation, let alone the greatest imaginative writer of English prose fiction. Yet his influence since his death at midcentury is incomparable. No writer has aroused so much controversy or contributed so many incessantly "ed words and phrases to our cultural lexicon, from “Big Brother” and “doublethink” to “thoughtcrime” and “Newspeak.” Becoming George Orwell is a pathbreaking tour de force that charts the astonishing passage of a litterateur into a legend.Rodden presents the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in a new light, exploring how the man and writer Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, came to be overshadowed by the spectral figure associated with nightmare visions of our possible futures.Rodden opens with a discussion of the life and letters, chronicling Orwell’s eccentricities and emotional struggles, followed by an assessment of his chief literary achievements. The second half of the book examines the legend and legacy of Orwell, whom Rodden calls “England’s Prose Laureate,” addressing his influence on everything ranging from cyberwarfare to “fake news.” The closing chapters address both Orwell’s enduring relevance to burning contemporary issues and the multiple ironies of his popular reputation, showing how he and his work have become confused with the very dreads and diseases that he fought against throughout his life UR - https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691190129?locatt=mode:legacy UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780691190129 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780691190129/original ER -