Published on August 17, 1945, George Orwell’s Animal Farm transformed English political vocabulary. Beyond allegory, it gifted enduring metaphors—“some are more equal than others,” “Squealer tactics,” “Napoleonic rule”—still used to expose corruption, betrayal, and propaganda in modern discourse, embedding Orwell’s satire into everyday English critique of power.
Publication of Animal Farm – From Fairy Story to Political Vocabulary
It’s funny to look back, ten years on, and realise I’m still just doing the stuff I was trained to do at university. It’s essentially just close reading – I like to pick up a game and look at one facet or another. It’s not a strict rule, but it’s pretty clearly my bread and […]
Writing and the Public Sphere
Back in May, Faber and Faber reissued Alexander Baron’s brilliant novel The Lowlife, the entertaining, picaresque story of an amiable Jewish charmer trying to get by on his wits in seedy post-war London. The book is a welcome addition to the excellent Faber Editions series, which aims to spotlight rediscovered gems from the publisher’s archive […]
London Novels – ten favourites from my shelves
I have long been a fan of Shirley Jackson’s unnerving fiction, which never fails to unsettle me. From the creeping sense of dread running through her short stories to the magical but disturbing world of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Jackson excels at stripping back the surface veneer of seemingly polite society, exposing […]
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
With mid-April on the horizon, we’re heading towards another of Karen and Simon’s highly enjoyable ‘Club’ weeks – focusing, in this instance, on 1952. Starting Monday 21st April, the #1952Club is a week-long celebration of books first published that year. These reading events are always great fun, with various tweets, reviews and recommendations flying around […]
The forthcoming #1952 Club – some books I highly recommend!
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