1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

[jbor]

on 5/5/03 4:44 PM, Dave Monroe wrote:

> Dissident:government::critic:literature?  "Dissident" need not imply
> "anti-government,"

It *means* anti-government. As I said, the notion of a dissident government
is oxymoronic. Applied in the context to Orwell it makes some sense, because
the British Labour Party - the "official Left" - was in government at the
time Pynchon is talking about. But "the Left", even a "dissident Left",
isn't a monolithic bloc. In the Spanish Civil War, for example, there were
three "Left" groups opposing the fascists: Communist/Soviet, Socialist and
the Trade Unions. Even while he was there Orwell's allegiances seemed to
switch back and forth between the latter two. Politically, after that
experience, Orwell was more of a maverick, and his opinions and affiliations
on various issues, such as declaring war on Germany, were idiosyncratic. As
well, his political attitudes shifted over time.

> much less "anti-democratic" (indeed, there's a sense in which dissidence
> requires aspirations at least to democracy), much less "anarchist" (though I
> believe there are some here who would argue for a certain anarchism and/or
> libertarianism on Pynchon's part),

"Anarchist" is a possibility, although there you've got another potential
oxymoron and an ideological idealisation which has never been put to the
test. The two mentions of Bakunin in _GR_ might bear another look I guess.

> any more than "critical" need imply
> "anti-literature," much less, if not necessarily "illiterate" (illieracy not
> necessarily being a stance against literacy), "ill-read," "phillistine,"
> whatever.  Dissidence as a critical stance toward "the establishment" or
> whatever, albeit one which is in dissent, disagreement with it.  One need not
> be against governemnet, or even against "the" government per se in order to
> disagree with its practices and policies ...

I won't quibble over the semantics of it. If he's not "anti-government" then
it's worth asking where and what sort of "pro-government" attitudes are
revealed, if any.

best

>> jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
>> The idea of a "dissident government" is oxymoronic, and I posed the question
>> to Otto a couple of times whether Pynchon is in fact anti-government. If he
>> is, he's trying to yoke Orwell into that camp too, but that's inaccurate.
>> Orwell was pro-democracy. Socialist democracy.
>>