Orwell & Nineteen Eighty-Four

[jbor]

>> Orwell was pro-democracy. Socialist democracy.

on 5/5/03 9:30 PM, Terrance wrote:

> "Ingsoc," English Socialism. Like so many Americans on the left, Orwell
> was more concerned with what Russia portended for socialism than with
> the actual struggles of the working class.

I don't think that is correct at all. Though the particularities might have
changed as events unfolded, Orwell was and remained a socialist, and he was
and remained pro-democracy. Trawling on the web yesterday I found two decent
pieces on Orwell. The first accurately places _1984_ in its literary genre
and genealogy as an anti-utopia or "dystopia":

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture13.html

The second is a review of an Orwell biography which presents a good summary
of the developments and changes in Orwell's politics:

http://www.marxists.de/culture/orwell/chen.htm

Both are more informative and accurate than what I've seen of Pynchon's
Foreword.

best