George Orwell and Religion

by Brennan, Michael G.

• ISBN13: 9781472531940
• ISBN10: 1472531949
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-12-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

In his attitude toward religion, George Orwell has been characterised in various terms: as an agnostic, humanist, secular saint or even Christian atheist. Drawing on the full range of his public and private writings - from major works such as Keep the Aspidistra Flying, 1984 and Down and Out in Paris and London to his shorter journalism and private letters and journals - George Orwell and Religion is a major reassessment of Orwell's life-long engagement with religion. Exploring Orwell's life and work, Michael Brennan illuminates for the first time how this profound engagement with religion informed the intensely humanitarian spirit of his writings.

Author Biography

Michael G. Brennan is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the author of Graham Greene: Fiction, Faith and Authorship (2010).

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Childhood, Down and Out in Paris and London and Burmese Days
2. A Clergyman's Daughter, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and The Road to Wigan Pier
3. The Spanish Civil War, Coming Up for Air and the Outbreak of World War II
4. World War II and Animal Farm
5. The Last Years and 1984
Bibliography
Index