Progressives are now trying to cancel author George Orwell, according to an article published Sunday.

A biography of Orwell’s wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, describes him as a “sadistic, misogynistic, homophobic, and sometimes violent man,” according to the Telegraph. And apparently the darkness within his most iconic text “1984” was a reflection of the inner Orwell … so one biographer claims.

“He desperately wants to be decent, and wanting to be decent is an honourable thing, a noble thing. But writing a book like 1984, which is violent, misogynist, sadistic, grim, paranoid: that comes out of a writer’s flaws,” O’Shaughnessy’s biographer, Anna Funder claimed of Orwell, with absolutely no grounds to base her assertion on.

[The Telegraph story on which this editorial is based can be found here. I don’t think this is a “cancel” attempt as much as it is an attempt at historical revisionism for ideological purposes. It probably aims at undermining the embrace of 1984 and Animal Farm to some extent, but it’s more of a piece with Orwell’s Ministry of Truth and their mission to change the past to suit the whims of the leaders of the present. That’s far more ironic than simple ‘cancellation’ would be. — Ed]