Bloomsbury George Orwell and Religion

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. Review This volume is his first extended study of the life and opinions of the man born as Eric Blair. The depth and breadth of Brennan's research is impeccable and is reflected in the blend of bibliography and biography that prevails throughout the narrative. The chapters lead the reader through the stages of Blair/Orwell's life, from his family lineage and Anglican schooling through his death in 1950, paying constant attention to possible sources of religious influence while also cataloging and explicating his commentaries (generally negative) on religion. Brennan pays special attention to Orwell's anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism, arguing that the latter remained consistent even as the former faded during WW II ... Summing Up: Recommended. -CHOICE About the Author 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 (Continuum, 2010).