Since his untimely death in January 1950, aged 46, George Orwell has been turned into a secular saint, with his Cold War-era novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four making Orwell - a democratic socialist - a hero to anti-communists across the world, but especially in England. This week, Juliet talks to critic Fatema Ahmed and writer Owen Hatherley about how and why Orwell became so revered, whether this reverence is useful, and how his writing might be reclaimed or reassessed by the contemporary British left.SELECTED REFERENCESWORKS BY GEORGE ORWELLAnimal Farm (1945)Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)Homage to Catalonia (1938)‘The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius’ (1941) - https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-lion-and-the-unicorn-socialism-and-the-english-genius/‘My Country Right or Left’ (1940) - https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/my-country-right-or-left/Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)‘Politics and the English Language’ (1946) - http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_politThe Road to Wigan Pier (1936)‘Why I Write’ (1946) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_I_WriteTheodor W. AdornoW. H. AudenBilly BraggRussell BrandE. H. CarrCharlie ChaplinCyril ConnollyROBERT CONQUEST, ‘George Orwell’ (1969) - http://misa-n-torpe.blogspot.com/2011/11/robert-conquest-on-george-orwell.htmlISAAC DEUTSCHER, ‘1984 – The Mysticism of Cruelty’ - https://www.marxists.org/archive/deutscher/1955/1984.htmT. S. Eliot - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/26/ts-eliot-rejection-george-orwell-animal-farm-british-library-onlineMichael Foot - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/mar/21/past.commentEric GillFRIEDRICH A. HAYEK, The Road to Serfdom (1944) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_SerfdomRAYNER HEPPENSTALL, Four Absentees (1960) - http://malkintowersbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/four-absentees-rayner-heppenstall.htmlCHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, Why Orwell Matters (2002) - https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/books/the-independent-of-london.htmlChristopher IsherwoodArthur KoestlerWyndham LewisHugh MacDiarmidNorman Ian MacKenzieKingsley Martin - https://spartacus-educational.com/TUmartin.htmMalcolm Muggeridge@OrwellFan - https://twitter.com/Orwell_FanSteven Poole - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/17/my-problem-with-george-orwellAnthony PowellPaul RobesonMichael Sayers - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-sayers-writer-whose-career-never-recovered-from-being-blacklisted-in-the-united-states-2032080.htmlStephen SpenderDylan ThomasRobert Webb - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/nov/05/russell-brand-robert-webb-revolutionRAYMOND WILLIAMS, Orwell (1971)