All of the ephemera that is far too trivial to be bothered with elsewhere on this site or, depending on your point of view, a meta-commentary on it. This ephemera includes, but is not limited to art, music and literature. Most of the content here will be discussed in terms that are as abstract as possible, reality being a singularly overrated concept.
Monday, May 05, 2003
The Guardian has an excerpt from Thomas Pynchon's introduction to 1984, argung that the common interpretation of the story as being concerned with a critique of Stalinism is incorrect. The point is well made, and anyone who has read Homage to Catalonia should be aware that Orwell was at least as concerned with fascism as with communism. That said, it does seem to be a case of stating what I had always assumed to be obvious; allegory as a form was originally perfected in religious discourse (e.g. The Pilgrim's Progress) and it is probably true to say that there is a constant elision in Orwell's allegorical works of the political in favour of the moral and vice versa. Orwell is clearly referring to traits of specific ideologies, but is reluctant to confine himself therein. Pynchon's observation that Orwell was himself the greatest practitioner of doublethink puts the matter most clearly;
"The idea seems to have presented Orwell with his own dilemma, a kind of meta-doublethink - repelling him with its limitless potential for harm, while at the same time fascinating him with its promise of a way to transcend opposites"
