/lit/ - Literature

It did something that had never really been done before, kind of invented dystopia, and had a really cool atmosphere.

They don't read much. They also haven't read other Orwell.

>>1427517
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29

See what I mean, OP?

>>1427525
touche. I don't read too much. But I liked 1984.

>>1427525
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)

I've read Animal Farm, which classifies me as part of the don't read much crowd. To me, Orwell just seems to take on the tone of a frantic teenager when writing.

It was perfect for it's context, the USSR etc.

It appeals to crazies and people trying to look cultured.

>>1427541

I hope you're trolling.

His style was objectively very concise.

He literally poured his life into this book as it was the entity that killed him.

>>1427554
Nope.
It may be very concise, but his delivery was more frantic than it could have been. Also, as >>1427544 said, I think that it's entirely focused on bashing the USSR. I believe it would be better if he was less focused on propaganda.

The British Government decided to use it as a guide.

>>1427574

It wasn't about bashing the USSR, it was about bashing all totalitarianism. Orwell fought against fascism in Spain, he wasn't anti-socialist.

Perhaps you might feel that the politics was too dense for the story, but I would have to disagree.

Brave New World was much more prophetic.

I was going to reply with something along the lines of "he was right" when this guy came along. >>1427582

There are cameras everywhere. Everywhere. We can be branded as criminals for anything, literally. Thankfully the government is too incompetent to successfully pull off everything the party does.

>>1427574
just like all's quiet on the western front bashed the nazi germany, nice try op, but i think they had it coming. gulags are on the same level as concentration camps

>>1427595
>Perhaps you might feel that the politics was too dense for the story

I thought that about the big "explain everything about 1984 politics in detail" section.

Then I realised that the Party could have made that all up.

>>1427595
Never looked at it that way, thanks for sharing!
>>1427600
I'll definitely read it
>>1427611
I'm not defending the Gulags, it's just that the book feels too much like a cautionary tale.

It's useful for foreclosing thoughts of anything better than what exists.

It's useful for foreclosing the possibility of anything better than what exists.

>>1427611

All quiet on the western front was about the First World War, before the Nazis even came to power.

>>1427541
...what the fuck? He never once gets carried away with himself.

Because if you read it at a relatively young age it can have a profound effect on you and how you view the world. People might not think it's the best written or whatever book ever, but sheer quality is not really what "favorite" is about.

>>1427595
It may bash all totalitarianism, but i've always taken it to bash the USSR a bit harder (there's a reason the regime is "socialist" and not fascist). Seeing the USSR fuck with the resistance in Spain made him decidedly more anti-USSR (which is not the same as being anti-socialist).

It's a huge Orson Welles' favourite book.

>>1429251
i thought that was 1985?

It is a brilliant book as is animal farm but Down and out in Paris and London is his best.

>>1427607

Oh fuck off conspiracy nutcase.

>>1429229

>Because if you read it at a relatively young age it can have a profound effect on you and how you view the world.

I agree, and I think it is linked to Orwell's ability to remain concise without dimming the brilliance of his themes, it expounds the sudden illumination of the truth that leaves a vividly sensational impression (especially) on a teenage reader which will dwell in his consciousness forever.

>>1427607
You're a thought criminal!

Also anyone who thinks modern, democratic Britain is Orwellian has never lived in a totality.

>>1429436

I agree, it's not Orwellian. I would call it Ballardian.

>>1429436
Anyone who thinks people have lived "in a totality" has been fooled, as has anyone who believes 'totalitarianism' is a meaningful term or legitimate theory.

Anyone who thinks people have lived "in a totality" or "under totalitarianism" has been fooled, as has anyone who believes 'totalitarianism' is a meaningful term or legitimate theory.

>>1429905

>mfw you seriously believe that

You live in America, right?

Because if you lived in Europe, chances are you would at least have second hand experiences of the daily struggle of living under the soviets. To be constantly assaulted with propaganda, where your families standing with the party will determine how what jobs will get. A society, where the state will abuse psychiatry and section you if disagree with them, where you aren't allowed to leave the country without being interrogated by officials, where George Orwell, and similar anti-totalitarian literature, is banned, where you can't trust any official information because of the incessant political bias, where international news sources have their signal blocked, where the unemployed are labelled 'parasites' by the government and where you, and everything you have, is a possession of the state.

You do not know, sir.