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Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

nytimes.com

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Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#41

Post by antod »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #24
vinceguidry wrote: post #16

This takedown of 1984 and Orwell in general was really good IMO: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-overrated-novel-of-th...

"Really good" is a baffling take on a post that accuses Orwell of being "extraordinarily uninterested in socialism" despite voluntarily joining and fighting in a socialist revolution . If picking up a rifle and traveling to a foreign country to participate in their socialist revolution isn't enough to bury any accusations of not being a true believer, I can't imagine what is.

> If picking up a rifle and traveling to a foreign country to participate in their socialist revolution isn't enough to bury any accusations of not being a true believer, I can't imagine what is.

I had the impression that he went more for fighting fascism than fighting for a socialist revolution.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#42

Post by nonrandomstring »

norir wrote: post #40
nonrandomstring wrote: post #35

Just put it out there, If you love Orwell then Christopher Hitchens on Orwell is like the whole pudding, coffee and after-dinner mints. He's my fave Orwell scholar and throws a lot of light on the life, thoughts and implications of the writer.

Hitchens had an arrogant and chauvinistic side that spoils his writing for me.

Indeed, The chauvinism is ugly and a real turn-off. But even as a Christian I loved his ballsy bitchynes, coining things like antitheism - because just not believing in god isn't enough... shame he left the stage too young.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#44

Post by cassepipe »

mhitza wrote: post #28
OkayPhysicist wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Really good" is a baffling take on a post that accuses Orwell of being "extraordinarily uninterested in socialism" despite voluntarily joining and fighting in a socialist revolution . If picking up a rifle and traveling to a foreign country to participate in their socialist revolution isn't enough to bury any accusations of not being a true believer, I can't imagine what is.

While I haven't read yet Orwell's Ode to Catalonia, I highly recommend the movie Libertarias, a fictional movie based on same period, focused on a feminist militant anarchist group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarias

Ken Loach's Land and Freedom is worth mentionning too.

Loosely bases on the book

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#45

Post by nonrandomstring »

alliao wrote: post #9

Literature's power lies in it's low cost and broad viewpoints. And whatever topic became popular because they reflect the times. We must be in trouble, given Orwell became so popular. Extra so if powers that be deemed worthwhile to character assassinate someone who writes "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". It should have never gotten as popular as it did.

It's inspiring to imagine subversive writers bravely speaking truth to power, when the reality is they're just observing the mundanity of their own time, then later as world shifts into insanity their commonplace objections to ordinary injustice look like unspeakable challenges.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#46

Post by nonrandomstring »

DiscourseFan wrote: post #19
moate wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The neoliberalism of the 80s was a conservative movement, but it was still liberal , it still allowed for the proliferations of basic freedoms, and people's lives (depending on where you lived in the world) either stayed mostly the same or improved dramatically. Now that neoliberalism is falling apart, and the world is careening towards an ecological catastrophe, and no established state government is able to manage…

What first appears as madness is a sane response to an insane world. (probably Erich Fromm)

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#47

Post by photochemsyn »

The British colonial recipe that Orwell was immersed in seems to have been: (1) gain entry to a country via stablishing trade relations with the local economy, (2) identify likely ethno-religious groups that can be armed and encouraged to overthrow the ruling power, (3) establish leaders from those minority groups as the new political power, while (4) ensuring that those new leaders are reliant on British Empire for their continued grasp on power. At its worst the result was the rise of slave-trading outfits like Britain's Royal Africa Company.

The opposing view is that Britain's ex-colonial possessions should count themselves lucky to have been colonized by the British, who built trains, schools and hospitals, as compared to the French, Spanish or Belgian versions, so it was all okay. The British, they say, would have loved to have been colonized by a superior culture, only one wasn't available.

In Burmese Days, the only character who seems to really understand the system and thrive within it is one of the story's villains, U Po Kyin. He might have served as a template for Napoleon in Animal Farm:

> “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#49

Post by vinceguidry »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #24
vinceguidry wrote: post #16

This takedown of 1984 and Orwell in general was really good IMO: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-overrated-novel-of-th...

"Really good" is a baffling take on a post that accuses Orwell of being "extraordinarily uninterested in socialism" despite voluntarily joining and fighting in a socialist revolution . If picking up a rifle and traveling to a foreign country to participate in their socialist revolution isn't enough to bury any accusations of not being a true believer, I can't imagine what is.

The Spanish Civil War was certainly not a 'socialist revolution', even though all the communist factions fought on the same side. It was more akin to the French Revolution where the goal was to set up a republican form of government. This is kind of like saying the Democratic Party of the US is a socialist party because socialists caucus with and support them. Socialist government in Spain was never on the table, so calling it a socialist / Marxist revolution is just silly.

More to the point, Blair thought he needed socialist credentials to get invited into the war, but couldn't actually get them because the socialists didn't trust him, looks like for very good reason. He got in instead using his Labour contacts, which was far more conventionally liberal. He really didn't care at all about socialism, he just hated fascism.

1984 wasn't anti-socialism, he actually had very little to say about it, all his criticisms were aimed at fascist totalitarianism, IngSoc was only socialist in name. Nothing owned and controlled by the people, everything controlled by the government.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#50

Post by fuzztester »

carlosjobim wrote: post #15

Just finished his "Down and out in Paris and London"[1] about life in extreme poverty as an unemployed man, as a low-wage worker and as a tramp in the 1930s. A good read and a short book. [1] https://annas-archive.org/md5/6486c7cb2f83f4a97cc02728ff77c2... (Public domain)

We had it in English Literature class at some point. Also Animal Farm by him. His 1984, I think I read on my own. I heard from older people that when 1984 rolled around, many people bought the book, thinking the date was meant literally.
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