1984: Goldstein and "the book"

[jbor]

on 10/5/03 10:48 PM, Mike Weaver wrote:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,952390,00.html

> Thomas Pynchon repeats a common mistake. The Book is not written by Goldstein
> but by O'Brien: indeed there is no evidence that Goldstein exists at all. Any
> interpretation which assumes Goldstein is the author (even though the text
> makes clear who really is) is a misreading and results in a failure to realise
> just how black Orwell's novel actually is.
> Malcolm Pittock
> Breightmet, Bolton

I don't think authorship is ever definitively attributed. I got the
impression in the interrogation suite scenes that O'Brien was speaking of
the book as if it had been written by someone other than himself, though he
does throw doubt on whether or not it was Goldstein, or whether or not
Goldstein ever actually existed.

Whatever plot purposes it serves, much of the historical and ideological
content in the excerpts from "the book" struck me as Orwell's own beliefs.

best