Gorgeous writing here, and your conclusion really rings true in this day and age, as we approach an election year when, more than ever, we need to muster the courage to step away from our own centers to observe another and try to wander in the spaces between so we can build understanding and community somehow despite the deep divide.
I like how you brought these three pieces home: interesting to consider the cause-and-effect of how his Syrian experience imprinted formative programming and institutional cynicism, and led him to the impulse to affirm his democratic socialist values through a wartime commitment in Spain. Through your account of his life, with Solnit as a sturdy guide, there is a clear story told. I loved "1984" as a sixteen-year-old, and appreciated "Animal Farm"'s cleverness (despite its didacticism), so these pieces provided interesting context on how Orwell became Orwell.
Overall, a well-drawn portrait of a man shaped by complex and contradictory life events. We get the sense of both how callous his brand of utilitarianism could be towards those he disdained; we also get the sense of a man whose heart pumped red blood for the causes he lived by. Triple-plus good 🫡🤝
Just finished "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene: he's another author who has a lot to say on the psychology behind power structures, especially the Catholic Church's. 10/10 recommend, as I would his novels "The Quiet American" or "The Heart of the Matter".
Gorgeous writing here, and your conclusion really rings true in this day and age, as we approach an election year when, more than ever, we need to muster the courage to step away from our own centers to observe another and try to wander in the spaces between so we can build understanding and community somehow despite the deep divide.
I like how you brought these three pieces home: interesting to consider the cause-and-effect of how his Syrian experience imprinted formative programming and institutional cynicism, and led him to the impulse to affirm his democratic socialist values through a wartime commitment in Spain. Through your account of his life, with Solnit as a sturdy guide, there is a clear story told. I loved "1984" as a sixteen-year-old, and appreciated "Animal Farm"'s cleverness (despite its didacticism), so these pieces provided interesting context on how Orwell became Orwell.
Overall, a well-drawn portrait of a man shaped by complex and contradictory life events. We get the sense of both how callous his brand of utilitarianism could be towards those he disdained; we also get the sense of a man whose heart pumped red blood for the causes he lived by. Triple-plus good 🫡🤝
Just finished "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene: he's another author who has a lot to say on the psychology behind power structures, especially the Catholic Church's. 10/10 recommend, as I would his novels "The Quiet American" or "The Heart of the Matter".
You get me! Haha. Thanks for following along on this uniquely Orwellian adventure. Back to Tocqueville next...