| Description |
1 online resource |
| Summary |
George Orwell was one of the most significant literary figures on the left in the twentieth century. While titles such as 1984, Animal Farm and Homage to Catalonia are still rightly regarded as modern classics, his own politics are less well understood. Hope Lies in the Proles offers a sympathetic yet critical account of Orwell's political thinking and its continued significance today. John Newsinger explores various aspects of Orwell's politics, detailing Orwell's attempts to change working-class consciousness, considering whether his attitude towards the working class was romantic, realistic or patronising - or all three at different times. He also asks whether Orwell's anti-fascism was eclipsed by his criticism of the Soviet Union, and explores his ambivalent relationship with the Labour Party. Newsinger also breaks important new ground regarding Orwell's shifting views on the USA, and his relationship with the progressive Left and feminism. |
| Contents |
Cover; Contents; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: Discovering Orwell; 1. 'Until They Become Conscious They Will Never Rebel': Orwell and the Working Class; 2. 'Why I Join the ILP': Orwell and the Left in the Thirties; 3. 'Giants are Vermin': Orwell, Fascism and the Holocaust; 4. 'A Long Series of Thermidors': Orwell, Pacifism and the Myth of the People's War; 5. 'It is Astonishing How Little Has Happened': Orwell, the Labour Party and the Attlee Government; 6. 'Ceaseless Espionage': Orwell and the Secret States; 7. '2+2=5': Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the New Left |
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Conclusion: 'Capitalism has manifestly no future' -- Orwell Today |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 164-182) and index. |
| Subject |
Orwell, George, 1903-1950 -- Political and social views.
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Orwell, George, 1903-1950. (OCoLC)fst00036162
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Literature and literary studies.
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Literature: history and criticism.
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Political and social views. (OCoLC)fst01353986
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LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: 9780745399287 0745399282 (OCoLC)986615107 |
| ISBN |
9781786801890 (electronic bk.) |
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1786801892 (electronic bk.) |
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9780745399287 |
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0745399282 |
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9780745399294 |
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0745399290 |
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