Copyright © George Orwell. First American Edition 2013.Re. your query about Animal Farm. Of course I intended it primarily as a satire on the Russian revolution. But I did mean it to have a wider application in so much that I meant that that kind of revolution (violent conspiratorial revolution, led by unconsciously power-hungry people) can only lead to a change of masters. I meant the moral to be that revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the masses are alert and know how to chuck out their leaders as soon as the latter have done their job. The turning-point of the story was supposed to be when the pigs kept the milk and apples for themselves (Kronstadt).1 If the other animals had had the sense to put their foot down then, it would have been all right. If people think I am defending the status quo, that is, I think, because they have grown pessimistic and assume that there is no alternative except dictatorship or laissez-faire capitalism. In the case of Trotskyists, there is the added complication that they feel responsible for events in the USSR up to about 1926 and have to assume that a sudden degeneration took place about that date. Whereas I think the whole process was foreseeable—and was foreseen by a few people, eg. Bertrand Russell—from the very nature of the Bolshevik party. What I was trying to say was, “You can’t have a revolution unless you make it for yourself; there is no such thing as a benevolent dictat[or]ship.2
What was he thinking?
What was he thinking?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archive ... lly-meant/
Re: What was he thinking?
Rube, I am a tremendous fan of Orwell's; he is quite possibly the greatest wordsmith of the 20th Century...(If HL Mencken wasn't...)
A few years ago, I received as a very treasured gift, a complete leather bound collection of his essays....a treasure trove of insights...
A few years ago, I received as a very treasured gift, a complete leather bound collection of his essays....a treasure trove of insights...
Re: What was he thinking?
Jim--that does sound like quite a treasure; I like Orwell as well, and 1984 has consistently been one of my favorite books since I first read it in around 6th or 7th grade.
Re: What was he thinking?
I read Animal Farm and 1984 back in junior high school, and obviously those are the works Orwell is best known for...
But those two books, (which would be more than enough of an accomplishment for a whole career for most people) do not even begin to do Orwell justice as a writer...
You really have to read the essays and columns he wrote to get the full appreciation of the man....
This trivializes him somewhat but in a way, as a writer Orwell was sort of the Hunter S. Thompson of his time...
(By which I don't mean he was consuming every drug in sight...)
What I mean by the comparison is that like Thompson, he had a brutal frankness in his writing that suffered no fools and a great gift for using the English language efficiently and descriptively...
But those two books, (which would be more than enough of an accomplishment for a whole career for most people) do not even begin to do Orwell justice as a writer...
You really have to read the essays and columns he wrote to get the full appreciation of the man....
This trivializes him somewhat but in a way, as a writer Orwell was sort of the Hunter S. Thompson of his time...
(By which I don't mean he was consuming every drug in sight...)
What I mean by the comparison is that like Thompson, he had a brutal frankness in his writing that suffered no fools and a great gift for using the English language efficiently and descriptively...
Last edited by Lord Jim on Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: What was he thinking?
You may enjoy this if you enjoyed Orwell Jim.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: What was he thinking?
I have seen some of the essays, and I agree with you. He also had a gift of making his point(s) readily understandable, and defended them well. And it was his frankness that was his greatest strength.
Re: What was he thinking?
I'm not familiar with that fellow Strop; I'll check it out...You may enjoy this if you enjoyed Orwell Jim.
Re: What was he thinking?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: What was he thinking?
If you have an e-book reader Jim; http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3608
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”