Orwell as a flexible thinker who doesn't fit neatly into any category is a very common take, but I honestly think this is too positive. When I read 1984 for the first time I had a similar reaction to Asimov, whose review of the book I only encountered later (http://www.newworker.org/ncptrory/1984.htm) but resonated with me

"[...]The communists, who were the best organised, won out and Orwell had to leave Spain, for he was convinced that if he did not, he would be killed From then on, to the end of his life, he carried on a private literary war with the communists, determined to win in words the battle he had lost in action.During World War II, in which he was rejected for military service, he was associated with the left wing of the British Labour party, but didn't much sympathise with their views, for even their reckless version of socialism seemed too well organised for him.He wasn't much affected, apparently, by the Nazi brand of totalitarianism, for there was no room within him except for his private war with Stalinist communism. Consequently, when Great Britain was fighting for its life against Nazism, and the Soviet Union fought as an ally in the struggle and contributed rather more than its share in lives lost and in resolute courage, Orwell wrote Animal Farm which was a satire of the Russian Revolution and what followed, picturing it in terms of a revolt of barnyard animals against human masters.[...]"

I honestly found a lot of his fiction to be representative of his personal feud with Stalinism, while most of his views of society seemed remarkably old-fashioned and conventional. I've always had the same feeling about one his admirers, Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens also was often treated like a maverick, but to me it seemed like he just rebelled in his reputation as a contrarian, with his views being more shaped by personal fights than anything else.

Offtopic and inflamatory, I know. But I do have to question: why is this not flagged like opposing view posts? It's the same: a political oppinion piece belonging to one end of the spectrum. No valuable information or intelectual discussion.