WHY DO WE STILL READ GEORGE ORWELL?

Abstract

Abstract:This paper approaches Orwell’s writing from the perspective of the
21 st century and asks whether Animal Farm, his satirical fable of the USSR, and the
dystopian vision of Nineteen Eighty-Four remain relevant. It dismisses the suggestion
that these last two novels can be regarded as the natural culmination of Orwell’s earlier
work, principally by examining these other writings demonstrates that there is no
natural trajectory. The paper also refers to key dates in Orwell’s life and comments on
his career at those particular moments. Orwell remains relevant, the paper concludes,
because the forces of oppression he so vehemently opposed remain potent today. The
residue of Stalinism survives in some countries, while others have become tyrannies
where personality cults can flourish. Political doublethink still exists. The very fact that
the adjective “Orwellian” remains current in English, and that his metaphors have
entered mainstream discourse, are further indications that his work remains important.
Far from being a writer of the 1930s, Orwell has been able to transcend both distance
and time. Keywords: Relevance, Satire, Orwellian, Derivative, Universal