The Cambridge Companion to Nineteen Eighty-Four (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

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. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Title - Full......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Figures......Page 8 Contributors......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Chronology......Page 13 Abbreviations......Page 15 Introduction......Page 18 Part I - Contexts......Page 38 1 - Teaching and Learning in and beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four......Page 40 2 - The Virtual Geographies of Nineteen Eighty-Four......Page 54 Part II - Histories......Page 97 5 - Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Tradition of Satire......Page 98 6 - Orwell’s Literary Context: Modernism, Language, and Politics......Page 112 7 - Wells, Orwell, and the Dictator......Page 126 8 - Orwell’s Literary Inheritors, 1950–2000 and Beyond......Page 140 Part III - Questions......Page 156 9 - Europe, Refugees, and Nineteen Eighty-Four......Page 158 10 - The Problem of Hope......Page 172 11 - Oceania’s Dirt......Page 185 12 - Room 101......Page 198 Part IV - Media......Page 214 13 - Nineteen Eighty-Four on Radio, Stage, and Screen......Page 216 14 - Making Nineteen Eighty-Four Musical......Page 230 15 - Nineteen Eighty-Four and Comics......Page 249 16 - ‘In this game that we’re playing’......Page 264 17 - Coda......Page 282 Further Reading......Page 296 Index......Page 298 Introduction: Orwell's book / Nathan Waddell -- Teaching and learning in and beyond Nineteen eighty-four / Natasha Periyan -- The virtual geographies of Nineteen eighty-four / Douglas Kerr -- The politics of the archive in Nineteen eighty-four / Diletta De Cristofaro -- Orwell and humanism / David Dwan -- Nineteen eighty-fourand the tradition of satire / Jonathan Greenberg -- Orwell's literary context / Lisa Mullen -- Wells, Orwell, and the dictator / Sarah Cole -- Orwell's literary inheritors, 1950 to 2000 and beyond / Hollie D. Johnson -- Europe, refugees, and Nineteen eighty-four / Janice Ho -- The problem of hope : Orwell's workers / Elinor Taylor -- Oceania's dirt : filth, nausea, and disgust in Airstrip One / Nathan Waddell -- Room 101 : Orwell and the question of evil / Peter Brian Barry -- Nineteen eighty-four on radio, stage, and screen / Daniel Buckingham -- Making nineteen eighty Nineteen eighty-four musical : pop, rock, and opera / Jamie Wood -- Nineteen eighty-four and comics / Isabelle Licari-Guillaume -- 'In this game that we're playing' : Nineteen eighty-four and video games / Soraya Murray -- Coda: The imaginaries of Nineteen eighty-four / Adam Roberts The Cambridge Companion To Nineteen Eighty-four Is Aimed At Undergraduates, Postgraduates, And Academics. Situating The Novel In Multiple Frameworks, Including Contextual Considerations And Literary Histories, The Book Asks New Questions About The Novel's Significance In An Age In Which Authoritarianism Finds Itself Freshly Empowered.