Approaches to Teaching the Works of George Orwell

The author who famously warned of the surveillance state and its consequences

Though students may be familiar with the themes of Orwell's works, from colonialism and class to dystopian fascism, they often find the writings themselves alienating. This volume will help teachers in a range of courses—including those on British literature, dystopian fiction, literature and politics, postcolonial literature, surveillance studies, philosophy, and technical writing—bring the historical and literary complexity of Orwell's novels and essays into clearer focus.

Part 1, "Materials," details the author's critical and cultural reception. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," explore Orwell's use of allegory, trauma-informed readings of his works, and his relationship to modernism and pacificism. Contributors also show how Orwell's works can be profitably paired with texts by authors such as Octavia E. Butler, Amitav Ghosh, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Instructors at a wide variety of institutions, including those at community colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions, will find useful classroom strategies in these essays.

This volume contains discussion of Octavia E. Butler, "Speech Sounds"; Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace; George Orwell, Animal Farm, Burmese Days, Coming Up for Air, "A Hanging," Homage to Catalonia, "Inside the Whale," Nineteen Eighty-Four, "Politics and the English Language," The Road to Wigan Pier, "Shooting an Elephant," "Why I Write"; Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer; J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.