The Cambridge Companion to Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Cambridge Companion to <I>Nineteen Eighty-Four</I>
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) remains a book of the moment. This Companion builds on successive waves of generational inheritance and debate in the novel's reception by asking new questions about how and why Nineteen Eighty-Four was written, what it means, and why it matters. Chapters on a selection of the novel's interpretative contexts, the literary histories from which it is inseparable, the urgent questions it raises, and the impact it has had on other kinds of media, ranging from radio to video games, open up the conversation in an expansive way. Established concerns (e.g. Orwell's attitude to the working class, his anxieties about the socio-political compartmentalization of the post-war world) are presented alongside newer ones (e.g. his views on evil, and the influence of Nineteen Eighty-Four on comics). Individual essays help us see in new ways how Orwell's most famous work continues to be a novel for our times.
- Provides analyses of Nineteen Eighty-Four across multiple media, including literature, film and television, radio, songs, dance, comics, and video games
- The book is structured around four key emphases: contexts, histories, questions, and media
- Situates Nineteen Eighty-Four not only in new conceptual and literary-historical contexts, but also in relation to the rest of his writing
Product details
October 2020Hardback
9781108841092
280 pages
160 × 230 × 20 mm
0.62kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Chronology
- Introduction: Orwell's book Nathan Waddell
- Part I. Contexts:
- 1. Teaching and learning in and beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four Natasha Periyan
- 2. The virtual geographies of Nineteen Eighty-Four Douglas Kerr
- 3. The politics of the archive in Nineteen Eighty-Four Diletta De Cristofaro
- 4. Orwell and humanism David Dwan
- Part II. Histories:
- 5. Nineteen Eighty-Four and the tradition of satire Jonathan Greenberg
- 6. Orwell's literary context Lisa Mullen
- 7. Wells, Orwell, and the dictator Sarah Cole
- 8. Orwell's literary inheritors, 1950 to 2000 and beyond Hollie D. Johnson
- Part III. Questions:
- 9. Europe, refugees, and Nineteen Eighty-Four Janice Ho
- 10. The problem of hope: Orwell's workers Elinor Taylor
- 11. Oceania's dirt: filth, nausea, and disgust in Airstrip One Nathan Waddell
- 12. Room 101: Orwell and the question of evil Peter Brian Barry
- Part IV. Media:
- 13. Nineteen Eighty-Four on radio, stage, and screen Daniel Buckingham
- 14. Making Nineteen Eighty-Four musical: pop, rock, and opera Jamie Wood
- 15. Nineteen Eighty-Four and comics Isabelle Licari-Guillaume
- 16. 'In this game that we're playing': Nineteen Eighty-Four and video games Soraya Murray
- 17. Coda: the imaginaries of Nineteen Eighty-Four Adam Roberts
- Further Reading.
