Laurence Brander has written book-length analyses of the works of at least four authors -- Somerset Maugham, EM Forster, Tobias Smollett and George Orwell. Having enjoyed and learned from his books on Maugham and Forster, I was glad to obtain his account of George Orwell's works. Brander knew Orwell back in the 1940s (Orwell's last decade), as they both contributed to BBC broadcasts in India during World War II; they also corresponded until shortly before his death in 1950.

Brander's book is a description and literary critique of the traditional sort. Each of Orwell's major novels is given a separate chapter. Other chapters are devoted to his literary essays, his prose and politics, an overall assessment of his work, and an epilogue. Having been published in 1954, Brander's book is probably the very earliest such work. Thus, it predates the abundance of criticism and analysis published over the past several decades, including works that challenge and defend Orwell's politics and views on social and economic issues. Accordingly, it does not contribute to the extensive dialogue that post-dates him, and in that respect, it is dated.

Nevertheless, I found Brander's account a useful overview, and free of the pedantry and jargon that such later works often contain. I made marginal notes in several places for future reference, and highlighted several memorable quotes. Here's one from Brander's epilogue:

”Orwell helped to carry on two great traditions in English prose. He was an individualist and he cared for prose style. He did his work at a time when individualism was as unpopular as ever and when more crude writing than ever was getting into print.... By the time he wrote his later essays he had tempered his style into a strong, fine, supple instrument. He worked on his prose in the furnace of his intellect until it became a clear reflection of his character and what he had to say. He is therefore a model as he would have wished to be; for the fight which he fought will be continued for a long time. So long as totalitarianism exists anywhere, free government is under threat and every free man is in danger. Orwell concentrated his energies on making people more conscious of this danger.”

Interestingly, Brander attributes the dark mood of Orwell's 1984 (as compared to its Newspeak appendix and to Animal Farm) to Orwell's failing health (he was dying of TB). "As he first conceived it, this picture of the future was intended to have the hilarity which is really the best mood for such an escapade, as Brave New World has shown. But as he wrote, he became more and more ill and the book turned out very differently. As he said himself: 'It wouldn't have been so gloomy if I hadn't been so ill.'" (p. 204) (I have verified the quote).

From other accounts that I've read (such as Christopher Hitchens' Why Orwell Matters) I doubt that scholarly commentators will find this work to be especially insightful. However, students and other readers may find its descriptions and perspective useful. Although this book will chiefly be of interest to people familiar with Orwell's writing, it may well stimulate some readers to seek out his lesser known novels and essays. ( )