Foreword "If Plot Were All There Were"

[Dave Monroe]

"If this were really only a political essay disguised
as a novel, Julia would most likely have been obliged
to symbolize something--the Pleasure Principle, or
Middle-class Common Sense or something.  But because
this is a novel first of all, her character is not
necessarily under Orwell's firm control.  Novelists
may wish to indulge the worst kinds of totalitarian
whims directed against the freedom of their
characters.  But often as not, they scheme in vain,
for characters always manage to evade one's all-seeing
eye long enoughto think thoughts and utter dialogue
one could never have come up with if plot were all
there were.  It is one of the many joys of reading
this book that we can watch Julia turn from a
tough-cookie seductress into a loving young woman, as
it is one of the chief sadnesses when her love is
dismantled and destroyed." ("Foreword," p. xxii)

A libidinal/political theory of narrative?  Hm ...

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