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Nineteen Eighty - Four

George Orwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

1984 Overview, (From William Cuddy, age 9) 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

1984 overview/review
In the beginning of 1984, Winston, you might think, is a normal Outer Party member, but when you get to the second chapter, it becomes clear that he is against Big Brother, the hero of the totalitarian state he lives in.
An obscure friend of his, Syme, lectures him on newspeak at cafeteria's, his "Girlfriend", Julia, appears before as another Outer Party member, slipping a note into Winston's pocket in the bathroom, reading, "I love you". Confirming the fact that Julia does not want to kill Winston, but the exact opposite. O'Brien, the friend of Winston, though also his torturer in the Ministry of love, (Miniluv) incorporates him into a secret society, "The Brotherhood." O'Brien gives Winston a quick glance, in turn beginning their friendship. Eventually Julia and Winston are found out by the Thought Police and both are brought to the Ministry of Love for torture, after which, Winston finds himself in a café. Winston is brainwashed into thinking certain ideas, ending with Winston himself succumbing to the thought police. A truly depressing and suspenseful book, a book that all should read.

Even though Oceania is a controlled government, it still has signs of falling apart. Oceania is in constant war, and indicates that it is destroying itself, for the sake of the war, perhaps for propaganda. Newspeak is the language of Oceania, and a propaganda language as well, the three slogans that the party has, "Ignorance is Strength," "War is Peace," and "Freedom is Slavery." Are quite untrue, but the Proles choose not to worry about it, while party members use "Doublethink" mostly.

Suggesting this is a good book is unworthy, this is an AWESOME book, so you should read it, get depressed.

Editorial Review:

Newspeak, Doublethink, Big Brother, and the Thought Police - the language of 1984 has passed into the English Language as a symbol of the horrors of totalitarianism. George Orwell's story of Winston Smith's fight against the all-pervading party has become a classic, not the least because of its intellectual coherence.

Shooting an Elephant: And Other Essays (Penguin Modern Classics)

George Orwell

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Customer Reviews:
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Orwell on politics and language 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Of course I read this collection many years ago as most self-respecting writers of my generation have. After all, Orwell was a mentor to all of us as well as one of our heroes, and this collection includes not only the title piece, which is as good a personal experience essay as has ever been written, but also "Politics and the English Language," an essay on how to write and how not to write that is without parallel.

But as I perused the "Contents" page a forgotten chapter title caught my eye,"Confessions of a Book Reviewer"! I immediately turned to page 171. Oh, what a delight I beheld! Orwell begins the essay with, "In a cold but stuffy bed-sitting room littered with cigarette ends and half-empty cups of tea, a man in a moth-eaten dressing gown sits at a rickety table, trying to find room for his typewriter among the piles of dusty papers that surround it." After some further dreary detail, Orwell continues, "Needless to say this person is a writer. He might be a poet, a novelist, or a writer of film scripts or radio features, for all literary people are very much alike, but let us say that he is a book reviewer."

Of course Orwell is writing (with some scant distance) about Orwell. How candid he is and how well he eschews any glamour or romance in the self-portrait! And yet, there is something heroic about Orwell's depiction of the literary "hack" that is agreeable. He goes on to say as "the menacing finger of the clock" moves toward the reviewer's deadline, "suddenly he will snap into it. All the stale old phrases--'a book that no one should miss,' 'something memorable on every page.' 'of special value are the chapters dealing with, etc., etc.' will jump into their places like iron fillings obeying the magnet, and the review will end up at exactly the right length and with just about three minutes to go."

Orwell practiced a style that never called attention to itself (because the content was paramount), yet upon closer examination is characterized not only by precise diction and a rare clarity of expression but with the sort of metaphorical language that brings content to life. Note those "iron fillings"!

"Shooting an Elephant" begins with these famous words, "In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people--the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me." A few lines down he remarks, "I was young and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it...With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny...; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts. Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism; ask any Anglo-Indian official." Change a few words and the sentiments he expresses might very well apply to someone from the United States in Iraq in the 21st century.

"Politics and the English Language" begins "Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language--so the argument runs--must inevitably share in the general collapse." Ah, the lament of prescriptive linguists everywhere! What is wonderful about this essay is how specific Orwell is in first giving examples of writing that is, as he terms it, "a little below average" (there are five selected paragraphs); and second in referring back to these paragraphs as he demonstrates just what is wrong with that way of writing. He condemns in turn, "Dying metaphors," e.g., "ride roughshod over," "no axe to grind, etc."; "Operators or verbal false limbs," "militate against," "make contact with..."; "Pretentious diction," "epoch-making," "unforgettable..."; "Meaningless words...," e.g., "democracy," about which he notes, "not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides."

In the examples from last category I was struck again by how topical Orwell is now sixty-some years after this essay was written. He notes that "In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning." Clearly he has been reading some of today's postmodern literature!

Some of the essays are no longer of much interest, I must admit--although I would say that the two mentioned prominently above are easily worth the purchase of the book. In particular the essay, "Books vs. Cigarettes" is largely irrelevant because of the price comparisons in the pounds and shillings of many years ago. However even here there is something worthwhile. Near the end of the essay Orwell notes that "the ordinary [English]man spends more on cigarettes than an Indian peasant has for his whole livelihood."

What is most striking about this book is again the clean, crisp, easy to read, but by no means in any way "dumbed down" prose. Orwell is the sort of writer that other writers greatly admire. His easy to read style is the result of hard work. Despite the decades that have gone by, these essays are for the most part still very much worth reading. If you have never read Orwell on language and politics, you are in for a special treat.

Editorial Review:

This outstanding collection brings together Orwell's longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes "Shooting an Elephant", "My Country Right or Left", "Decline of an English Murder" and "A Hanging". With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose style, Orwell's essays challenge, move and entertain.

Down and Out in Paris and London (Essential Penguin)

George Orwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Orwell's denial of the post war democracy 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

In Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell, otherwise known as Eric Blair, introduces his readers to a compelling tale that loosely retraces his own life during the time he spent in Paris and London in the thirties. In this semi-autobiographical chronicle, he records the hardships that he faced as a Parisian "plongeur" (a restaurant worker at the very bottom of the industry's hierarchy) and as a voluntary "tramp" in London. Clearly, Orwell's account is a very personal one; however, it resonates the destitution of so many others who were equally unfortunate to have been the victims of the post-war social reform failure and the subsequent Great Depression that descended upon the world in the late nineteen twenties and thirties.
The author focuses on France and Britain in particular because these two countries, magnificent superpowers of the past, have abandoned their poor in order to pursue different agendas in terms of their political policy. During this era, France was much concerned with securing its borders with Germany. This was a reaction to the Great War, during which France suffered great losses in every aspect. Although Britain was not faced with similar issues as France, it struggled with its political instability that arose in the light of the economic hardship of the Great Depression. Orwell acknowledges the differences between the two countries but insists on the recurring similarities in the treatment of the lowest social class. In his account, Orwell presents several important issues that would most likely be overlooked or altogether unknown to those outside the lower social order that Orwell describes. He points out the invisibility of the lower classes, forgotten or made forgotten by those for whom hardship of this kind was unknown, the abhorrent conditions in which existence had to be made possible, and the practically inevitable maintenance of the same class order throughout their entire life. The presentation of these three main issues highlights Orwell's repudiation of respectable democratic society and outlines his disdain for this ideology that he believed to be a failure.

Editorial Review:

This is Orwell's record of a period in the late Twenties when he lived among the tramps, dregs and plongeurs of London and Paris. 'It is the white-hot reaction of a sensitive observant, compassionate young man to poverty, injustice and the callousness of the rich ...It offers insights rather than solutions; but always insights have to precede solutions ...No one has ever claimed "Down and Out" is its author's best book, yet many of his admirers describe it as their favourite Orwell. Its flaws are numerous, but oddly endearing'.

Dickens, Dali and Others

George Orwell

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Editorial Review:

Ten celebrated essays by a man universally regarded as a master of the essay form. Included are such classics as "Charles Dickens," "The Art of Donald McGill," "Boys' Weeklies," "Raffles and Miss Blandish," and "Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali."

Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: Text, Sources, Criticism (Harbrace Sourcebooks)

George Orwell

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Nineteen Eighty Four

George Orwell

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Editorial Review:

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted imply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.

Spark Notes 1984

George Orwell, SparkNotes Editors

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Editorial Review:

Get your "A" in gear!
They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. SparkNotes'™ motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because:

They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.

And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!

Smothered Under Journalism: 1946 (Complete Orwell)

George Orwell

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Editorial Review:

Orwell’s articles on The Intellectual Revolt his famous short essay Some Thoughts on the Common Toad, the radio play The Voyage of the Beagle, and his letter to Dwight Macdonald on the necessity for people to rid themselves of violent revolutionary leaders.

I Have Tried to Tell the Truth: 1943-1944 (Complete Orwell)

George Orwell

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Editorial Review:

Orwell reviewed 86 books as Literary Editor of Tribune in addition to his As I Please column, printed without cuts in this edition. Also included are literary essays; The English People; four London Letters, and Can Socialists Be Happy? written under the pseudonym, John Freeman.