A 2009 collection of George Orwell’s (you know, 1984) critical essays from the 40’s…
Wait! Don’t e-run away just yet.
They are remarkably relevant to today’s dummy, neo-fascist climate. Allow a brief quote: “The first thing we demand of a wall is that it shall stand up. If it stands up, it is a good wall… yet even the best wall in the world deserves to be pulled down if it surrounds a concentration camp.”
See?
Essays on Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, Henry Miller, Good Bad Books, and penny postcards drip with a discerning wit and intelligence that shows us “how to be interesting, line after line.” Reading Orwell is like sitting down to a meal that you were sort of dreading ( maybe at your grandmother’s house) and finding it wholly satisfying. Another quote-bait: “..one of the aims of totalitarianism is not merely to make sure that people think the right thoughts, but actually to make them less conscious.” 1984 is all over this book, and was still five years in his future.
All Art is Propaganda – George Orwell