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albert venezio's avatar

Very Powerful Melissa, such a great breakdown on many things I have not thought of for years. You could be describing the situation in a few countries now.

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Michael Vigne's avatar

This is good. He went to fight fascists and then became wanted by the Communists who had the same objectives but would not tolerate anything that looked counter-revolutionary. Deeply ironic. In '1984' the three main world powers are at war and change allegiances but each time they do, the past is reinvented so hide the fact it was ever any different. His books are largely concerned with the fungibility of truth and how it is traded and converted. The state, culture and class crush the individual, by first making them the enemy. Things are never as they seem and repeatedly, idealism and rebelliousness give way to circumstantial acceptance, sometimes complete conversion. It is what he observes in his non-fiction and it is a theme that recurs throughout all his fiction. There always seems to be a sad recognition that it was all for nothing somewhere near the end.

Reporting and propaganda are difficult to distinguish during war because information is also a weapon. This is also why factual reporting can make a person an enemy of the state or be made to appear treasonous. I think that made him realise how dangerous that could be in peacetime too - 'Aspidistra' explores perceived hypocrisies in advertising for example. Much of what we know about this is what he showed us. That is why we are still talking about Orwell.

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