The George Orwell thread.

Actually, I read that in the article on Nineteen Eighty Four on This Very Wiki... but that passage seems to have been deleted now, so maybe he didn't Joss it after all. I really need to snap out of believing everything TVTropes tells me

Oh, his essay on the English language is good, his style perfect. He just didn't write very good literature.

If by "literature" you mean "fiction", you've got a point. Like I've said before, he was much better at writing essays and non-fiction books than fiction.

Orwell did change his writing style (as noted in "Why I Write") - consider Burmese Days and Keep the Aspidistra Flying as compared to Nineteen Eighty-Four, for example.

Hullo thread; I confess that I'm a bit of an Orwell maniac. I've read a large number of his essays, some of his very interesting Wartime Diaries and of his longer works:

• Animal Farm
• Burmese Days
• A Clergyman's Daughter
• Down and Out in Paris and London
• Keep the Aspidistra Flying
• Nineteen Eighty-Four

I'd really like to read Road to Wigan Pier, but I can't seem to find a copy.

BROTHER!

Welcome

I've had an obsession with Orwell for a few years. The way he presents his views in his essays in such a conversational, readable, inviting tone fascinates me almost as much as the views themselves. Also, Animal Farm is brilliant on several levels.

^^I would offer you a fistbump, but I believe in a George Orwell thread, a cup of tea and some biscuits would be more appropriate. Tea?

By the way, I'm female.

...

Marry me?

I finally remembered to read 1984 and have internet at the same time. That war could not have happened.

I've enjoyed everything I've read of Orwell, specifically 1984, Animal Farm, Burmese Days and The Lion and the Unicorn.

I first read 1984 when I was 12 and I had no idea what it was about. The book floored me; I'd never once been exposed to a story so brutal and full of cruelty as this and the Downer Ending took me completely by surprise, having until that point been raised on more cheery fantasy fare. Just thinking about O'Brian's torture of Winston and Room 101 still manages to chill me.

His work had a huge influence on me growing up and was my first foray into overtly political material. I've always admired his resolute conviction in the welfare of the masses as well as his willingness to witness and live amongst the destitute and poverty-stricken in London and Paris. Where most would have been just content to throw some change into the poor box at the Salvation Army, he assumed the role for weeks at a time and learned firsthand what it meant to be at the bottom-rung of society in England.

I have to say that the only work of his I read so far is Animal Farm.

THAT, is the book that really taught me the true meaning of "The pen is mightier than the sword."

Currently listening to the audiobook of 1984 from Audible. There's a free trial going on there and I thought I'd pick up the book everyone recommended me to read.

George Orwell, George Carlin, and Mark Twain all seem pretty similar to me.

You know as much as I like the book 1984 is nowhere near as relevant to the world as most people would believe. Brave New World is a much more likely and terrifying prospect of the future.

I read both Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four. With the former, I think the animated film is a good translation of the material; sure, the ending isn't like in Orwell's book but it is powerful nonetheless.

With Nineteen Eighty Four, yes, it's a good book but Brave New World is a better and more prescient novel. I saw the film with John Hurt and Richard Burton and couldn't help but snicker when Winston said "I love you" in a manner reminiscent of Patrick Star...

Simply look at Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and his comparison between Orwell and Huxley, and you realize that Huxley's vision of the future is more terrifying than Orwell's when you really think about it.

edited 27th Nov '14 5:04:38 PM by Aldo930

I agree with this. George Orwell was probably the better writer overall but it is Brave New World that constantly sticks with me after all these years and never seems to get less relevant.

I believe 1984 was about totalitarianism. It doesn't really have to be prescient, totalitarian states aren't as relevant anymore with the collapse of the USSR.

Huxley was dead on in predicting that our culture's downfall is our addiction to mindless crap.

Then I read Gilbert Seldes' The Seven Lively Arts, in particular Chapter 19, "The Great God Bogus," and then I realized that there was a dimension of our cultural downfall that Huxley never thought about.

When you consider that the only totalitarian state around these days is North Korea, and they're pretty much a laughingstock, 1984 loses its terrifying power a little.

If anything you could make a strong argument that Best Korea is the perfect example of how the dystopia in 1984 could never come to fruition. Brave New World on the other feels more relevant by the day.

@Garcon: We can't know that for sure. Maybe in an alternate universe the USSR succeeded instead of the United States.

well, I was debating with a nacionalist and I get really,really tired of his dishonest tactics, I found in this page(actually in the moral myopia) orwell essay about nacionalism and...damn is really good, it pretty much focus my mind.

So aside of his novels, what other writing did you like of him?

@Erock: Alternatively the Party rules the entire world and Eurasia and Eastasia don't even exist. They're just fear and hate inducing construct like Goldberg and the Brotherhood.

Erock, that's a great theory. It makes sense. Convince thee's nowhere to escape. So terrifying.

I make a guess. Eurasia and Eastasia are to busy warring with each other to deal with Oceania. The Party convinces everyone like you said, Erock.

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Hmm.

Helps that Hitchens and Orwell are dead, I suppose. Though to give that article's writer whatever due he's worth, Hitchens was still alive at the time.