Orwell and the Left in the United States—The Under-Reported Side of Oceania!

Abstract

During WWII, the “New York Intellectuals” adopted Orwell and showcased him to literary and political America. These nurturers of the “Orwellian ” brand were a vociferous group of mostly Jewish thinkers who were in varying degrees distancing themselves from Leon Trotsky , and their reception of Orwell has had a profound impact on the growth and shape of his American, and even international reputation. They subjected him to a more rigorous dialectic than their equivalents in Britain. It outlines the outlets and their editors, such as Irving Howe and Dissent, Dwight Macdonald and politics and Philip Rahv and Partisan Review and considers their responses.