That is actually a very good point and the way I ended up asking the question. I was rereading "The Lion and the Unicorn" the other day and it occurred to me that despite occurring in the middle of the War, the essay barely mentions Churchill at all. So I looked through some other of his essays (fairly at random I will admit) and again noted that he seemed not to have discussed Churchill at length. Orwell himself was full of contradictions (which is probably what makes him still so fascinating and interesting). Orwell was an anti-imperialist while Churchill was unashamedly pro-Empire. Yet Churchill alone stood against both Hitler and Stalin, at times when it was not popular to do so. Finally, while Orwell was a self described "democratic socialist," unlike many left wing intellectuals, he was not one for pulling down the structure of society. He was for socialism, but for a very English socialism -- tea, cricket and nationalizations as opposed to nationalizations and destruction of the past and the English character. As Churchill in many ways embodied the traditional English character, I could see Orwell liking WSC. Thanks all for the suggestions.
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 11:22:14 -0500From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [ChurchillChat] Re: Churchill and Orwell On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Anthony Calabrese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I was wondering if anyone knows if George Orwell ever wrote anything on Churchill. I have been looking through some of Orwell's essays and while I find the odd reference to Churchill (and Orwell named his most remember creation Winston), I have not found anything more substantive and comprehensive. Any directional pointing would be helpful. What occurred to me were Orwell's essays "The Lion and the Unicorn," "Notes on Nationalism," and "Politics and the English Language," but while all of them are relevant to Churchill at points, none of them address him directly. So I asked a friend who's a bonafide Orwell expert, and he reported as follows: "It's a striking fact that [Orwell] never wrote anything specifically about [Churchill]. In a poem exchange with the pacifist/appeaser Alex Comfort, who wrote under the pseudonym Obadiah Hornbrook, [Orwell] says that while he'd happily shoot Churchill and all other Tories when the war was over, it was important to back him now. Probably he didn't want to explore this contradiction too far..." Orwell's reply was titled "As One Non-Combatant to Another," but I failed to find the text on-line. Maybe some else has it? I did find this (see at the bottom): http://telelib.com/words/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/essay/tribune/AsIPlease19440728.html _________________________________________________________________ See how Windows Mobile brings your life together—at home, work, or on the go. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093182mrt/direct/01/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ChurchillChat?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
