Everything George Orwell

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Everything George Orwell

Post by Orwellian » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:33 pm

Who is a big fan of Orwell?

My favorite book of his, as you might have guessed, is 1984.

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To me, 1984 represents a call to arms against totalitarian communism and fascism, all forms of totalitarianism. He took the idea of a strong central government and extrapolated it to the extreme point where the State controls thought and even history.

I was thinking about this the other day, and it seems we may well get to the point where technology would allow the State to control history and wipe people away or "vanish" them as occurred in the book. After all, a sufficiently good spider with face recognition, etc., could scour the web in seconds and eliminate a person. With the wave of the future being terminals accessing "clouds" like iCloud, the idea of a person having an "offline" computer is going to become obsolete in not too many years. Once that occurs, for all intents and purposes, everyone's informational lives will be within the reach of the Ministry of Information of 1984.

I wonder if Orwell's dystopian imaginings will eventually prove prescient?
To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone — to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink — greetings!
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by stripes4 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:52 pm

Whoa!! I just bought Coming up for Air on recommendation from a friend. Do you rate it?
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Animavore » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:54 pm

1984 = Best book ever (after Ulysses)
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Pappa » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:00 pm

I've read all his novels, plus Down & Out. He's easily one of my favourite authors (if not the favourite).

I read 1984 about once a year or so. I love it.

Burmese Days is one of my favourite books of his, though I like them all for different reasons.
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by klr » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:18 pm

I have an omnibus edition of his 6 novels - as well as separate copies of AF and 1984, "somewhere". I keep meaning to get around to his essay collections, but not there yet.
stripes4 wrote:Whoa!! I just bought Coming up for Air on recommendation from a friend. Do you rate it?
This is the only one of the novels I've yet to read fully - something about it being in the first person jars with me. :dunno:
Pappa wrote:I've read all his novels, plus Down & Out. He's easily one of my favourite authors (if not the favourite).

I read 1984 about once a year or so. I love it.

Burmese Days is one of my favourite books of his, though I like them all for different reasons.
I never stop reading 1984 - it's just one of those books that I'm forever re-reading parts of. :read:

Burmese Days is great, but very depressing at the same time. :ddpan:
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Pappa » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:21 pm

klr wrote: Burmese Days is great, but very depressing at the same time. :ddpan:
Burmese Days is one of the very few books I've ever read that actually shocked me as I read it. It was horrific to see the story unfold.
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by klr » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:24 pm

Pappa wrote:
klr wrote: Burmese Days is great, but very depressing at the same time. :ddpan:
Burmese Days is one of the very few books I've ever read that actually shocked me as I read it. It was horrific to see the story unfold.
It's also a great way of trying to understand the colonial mindset/lifestyle. Orwell never pulls his punches on that or any other score.
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by nellikin » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:27 pm

Homage to Catalonia - not a novel but still fantastic.
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Geoff » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:44 pm

Yep, I love Orwell...and one of my favourite local pubs is this one:

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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by FBM » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:41 am

Burmese Days found, will read. Thanks for the recommendation. :tup:
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Bella Fortuna » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:53 am

FBM wrote:Burmese Days found, will read. Thanks for the recommendation. :tup:
Thanks FBM, I was interested to read it too.

I'm also reminded that I bought Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up For Air a few months back, and must read...
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by Bella Fortuna » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:38 am

"A bad face he had, Gordon thought. Pale, heavy, downy, with bad contours. Welsh, by the look of him --"

:hehe:
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by charlou » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:51 am

Thanks for the link, FBM.
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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by FBM » Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:00 am

Bella Fortuna wrote:"A bad face he had, Gordon thought. Pale, heavy, downy, with bad contours. Welsh, by the look of him --"

:hehe:
:lol: :shifty:

charlou wrote:Thanks for the link, FBM.
No sweat. Literally. I just googled the book title. :biggrin:

I'm already on Chapter 3 and I can see why Pappa is shocked anew at every reading. :shock:
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

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Re: Everything George Orwell

Post by FBM » Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:16 am

Well, doo-doo. The Google Book link stops at page 80. :lay:

Now I'm gonna have to buy it. And it takes weeks before it will get here. :nono:


Edit: :dance: :tut:

http://www.george-orwell.org/Burmese_Days/index.html
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."

"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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