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Author Topic: How much George Orwell have you read??  (Read 759 times)

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Scrapheap

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How much George Orwell have you read??
« on: November 10, 2010, 12:11:34 PM »
For those of you who didn't know, Eric Blair is the true name of the author who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell.

Christopher Hitchens wrote an excellent book on the life of Eric Blair and his books called "Why Orwell Matters". It's an excellent book that I recommend to everyone in addition to reading as much Orwell as you can.

George Orwell is perhaps the most important author in the English language in the last 500 years.

READ HIS BOOKS PEOPLES!!!
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Offline Adam

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2010, 12:31:51 PM »
I've read all of them except Edit: Mistake

 :zoinks:

1984
Animal Farm
Road to Wigan Pier
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Offline Natalia Evans

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2010, 01:18:14 PM »
I have only read Animal Farm and I read the beginning of 1984 but I grew bored and had no idea what was going on in it so I stopped reading it.

But I have seen both of the movies.

Basically 1984 has already happened, we have cameras pretty much anywhere now in buildings and stores.  :lol:

Sometimes people are right when they predict what we have in the future. Even if it's their imagination or not, especially for a story.
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Offline Adam

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2010, 01:18:51 PM »
We don't have cameras in our houses!!!
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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2010, 01:19:56 PM »
Quote from: Smikester on November 10, 2010, 01:18:51 PM
We don't have cameras in our houses!!!

yet...  ::)
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Offline Natalia Evans

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2010, 11:19:53 PM »
My god I hope that never happens. I like my privacy.
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The_Chosen_One

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2010, 01:06:17 AM »
I've only read 'Animal Farm' and '1984'.

They were my brother's high school books, which I read in Grade 6. Didn't understand a lot of 1984, so I re-read it later. Felt sorry for Winston.
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Frolic_Fun

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2010, 01:44:17 AM »
Read a bit of 1984 but got the gist of it beforehand. I would rather draw my conclusions by observing on what's going on rather than reading a book though, despite the possibility that it could be like 1984 sooner or later.
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The_Chosen_One

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2010, 02:22:08 AM »
When I saw the movie, I thought 'now who is Big Brother?' when they flashed the signs around the place. Later on I realised it was Stalin.
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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2010, 10:56:34 AM »
Quote from: Shleed. on November 11, 2010, 01:44:17 AM
Read a bit of 1984 but got the gist of it beforehand. I would rather draw my conclusions by observing on what's going on rather than reading a book though, despite the possibility that it could be like 1984 sooner or later.

But without reading the analysis of others, on what basis would you draw your own conclusions? If you're simply drawing off of your own experience, then you are severely limiting yourself.

George Orwell (Eric Blair) had considerable life experience that he used as a basis for 1984. He had been an Imperial Cop in Burma, and fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of a Communist group that was a rival to Stalin before writing 1984.

He knew what he was talking about, he wrote from experience.
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Frolic_Fun

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2010, 11:13:22 AM »
It's not hard to realise, Scrap. Why need a book to get the conclusion that people are fucking you over etc? It's pretty obvious if you used common sense and looked around you. Orwell wrote 1984 from observing Stalin's rule, various observations of other dictators along with emerging technologies concerning video conferencing etc for example.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2010, 11:17:10 AM by Shleed. »
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Offline "couldbecousin"

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2010, 11:32:03 AM »
Whoops, I checked off 1984  but not Animal Farm,  had to read them both in high school.  :duh:
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"I'm finding a lot of things funny lately, but I don't think they are."
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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2010, 12:43:16 PM »
Quote from: Shleed. on November 11, 2010, 11:13:22 AM
It's not hard to realise, Scrap. Why need a book to get the conclusion that people are fucking you over etc? It's pretty obvious if you used common sense and looked around you. Orwell wrote 1984 from observing Stalin's rule, various observations of other dictators along with emerging technologies concerning video conferencing etc for example.

Because you may be getting fucked over in a manner that you don't recognize. By looking at totalitarianism from another perspective, you may see things that you didn't see before.

For example, the constant erasing and re-writing of history. Most people aren't aware that it's being done, but it's a central theme of 1984. History is thrown down a "memory hole" that incinerates it. That brings up another brain-washing method, naming things the opposite of what they are.

...and the list goes on and on.
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The_Chosen_One

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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #13 on: November 11, 2010, 07:36:27 PM »
Comparison: The Wall by Pink Floyd.
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Re: How much George Orwell have you read??
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2010, 08:27:16 PM »
Quote from: Steve-O on November 11, 2010, 07:36:27 PM
Comparison: The Wall by Pink Floyd.

The Wall touches on some of the same subjects, but doesn't go nearly as in-depth.
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