McFarland Literary Companions
2 total works
George Orwell (1903-1950) is one of the most influential authors in the English language. His landmark novels Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949) have been translated into many foreign languages and inspired numerous stage and film adaptations. His well-known essays, "A Hanging" and "Shooting an Elephant", are widely anthologized and often taught in college composition classes. The writer is credited with inventing the terms "Big Brother", "thought crime", "unperson" and "double think". His name itself has become an adjective - "Orwellian."
Seventy years after its publication, 1984 remains very popular, its sales surging in an era of enhanced surveillance and media manipulation. This literary companion provides an extensive chronology and 175 entries about both his literary works and personal life. Also included are discussion questions and research topics, notable quotations by Orwell and an extensive bibliography of related sources.
Seventy years after its publication, 1984 remains very popular, its sales surging in an era of enhanced surveillance and media manipulation. This literary companion provides an extensive chronology and 175 entries about both his literary works and personal life. Also included are discussion questions and research topics, notable quotations by Orwell and an extensive bibliography of related sources.
A three-time National Book Award for Fiction winner, Saul Bellow (1915-2005) is one of the most highly regarded American authors to emerge since World War II. His 60-year career produced 14 novels and novellas, two volumes of nonfiction, short story collections, plays and a book of collected letters. His 1953 breakthrough novel The Adventures of Augie March was followed by Seize the Day (1956), Herzog (1964) and Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970). His Humboldt's Gift won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 and contributed to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature that year. This literary companion provides more than 200 entries about his works, literary characters, events and persons in his life. Also included are an introduction and overview of Bellow's life, statements made by him during interviews, suggestions for writing and further study and an extensive bibliography.