Jim Devine wrote: > > Louis Proyect wrote: > > We never were told that "1984? was written as an attack on all forms of > > monolithic societies, including the Cold War anticommunist west. It was > > strictly a warning about the dangers of Communism. "big brother was watching > > you" was only about the GPU, not the FBI. To become an "Unperson" was > > something that happened to Soviet dissidents, not the Hollywood 10, etc. > > I think it's also about the war fever that Orwell encountered during > WW2 in England, including the propagandistic attitudes and > newspeak-type jargon among the bureaucrats.
William Empson, who was acquainted with Orwell personally, argued that it was also directed against Christianity. The regime wants not only agreement and obedience, but vigorous and deeply sincere agreement and obedience. And while Lou is right that that correspondns to (at least some of) the Cold-War accounts of Stalinism, it is more clearly correct in reference to a belief that belief itself can be virtuous or sinfu. Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
