Posted on January 14, 2021 at 2:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
George Orwell, 1984, and some of the iconic words and phrases from it are no stranger to the pop culture sphere.
But lately, politicians seem especially eager to invoke the author and novel when railing against the other side of the aisle.
Some literary folks are just as eager to hear these analogies stop.
Rachel Klein, an author and former high school English teacher, explains in an essay on Electric Literature why many of the modern comparisons to 1984 actually don’t work.
Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times, meanwhile, takes a historical view of how “Orwellian” became such a popular insult.
And for the record: Quartz confirms that Orwell’s novel, first published in 1948, has rocketed up the bestseller lists at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Categories: Today in Books