Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier"

Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937

I read this for the "1937 Club".

I have read a few books by George Orwell already and they were all highly interesting. This one started off a little tedious, many numbers that would have been easier to understand had they been converted to today's currencies or at least given the money in context. How am I supposed to know how much 15s. or 3s. 6d. are? How much do people have to pay for a piece of bread? How much does a good earner receive?

But the book improves after the author goes on to mention the conditions under which people live.
We are in the year 1937. A year that was very important. As another blogger wrote: "A LOT of good writing came out of the 30's. Turbulent times tend to do that...." (see here, thanks Cyberkitten)

And yes, we have similar turbulent times again and if we don't pay attention, history might repeat itself.

A quote from the book:
"They [Socialists] have never made it sufficiently clear that the essential aims of Socialism are justice and liberty. With their eyes glued to economic facts, they have proceeded on the assumption that man has no soul, and explicitly or implicitly they have set up the goal of a materialistic Utopia. As a result Fascism has been able to play upon every instinct that revolts against hedonism and a cheap conception of ‘progress’. It has been able to pose as the upholder of the European tradition, and to appeal to Christian belief, to patriotism, and to the military virtues. It is far worse than useless to write Fascism off as 'mass sadism', or some easy phrase of that kind. If you pretend that it is merely an aberration which will presently pass off of its own accord, you are dreaming a dream from which you will awake when somebody coshes you with a rubber truncheon."

We shouldn't forget these famous words by Martin Niemöller.
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."
If we don't pay attention, we will be there again. And sooner than we would like to think.

From the back cover:

"In the 1930s, commissioned by a left-wing book club, Orwell went to the industrial areas of northern England to investigate and record the real situation of the working class. Orwell did more than just investigate; he went down to the deepest part of the mine, lived in dilapidated and filthy workers' houses, and used the tip of his pen to vividly reveal every aspect of the coal miners' lives. Reading today, 80 years later, Still shockingly true. The despair and poverty conveyed by this picture have a terrifying power that transcends time and national boundaries. At the same time, the Road to Wigan Pier is also Orwell's road to socialism as he examines his own inner self. Born in the British middle class, he recalled how he gradually began to doubt and then hate the strict class barriers that divided British society at that time. Because in his mind, socialism ultimately means only one concept: 'justice and freedom.'"

 

Orwell, George "Down and Out in Paris and London

Orwell, George "Down and Out in Paris and London: A Gritty Memoir on Life & Poverty in Two Cities" - 1933

Having read "Nineteen Eighty Four" and "Animal Farm", I was expecting, well, I don't exactly know what I was expecting but it was something else.

The book was well written and this will not be the last one I read by this author, it just didn't seem what I thought it might be. Although, I should have known. After all, this is a memoir.

George Orwell gives us a good insight into life on the streets. The book is almost 90 years old, so it is easy to assume that things have changed in the meantime. But have they? We sill see homeless people in the streets, the larger the city, the more homeless people there are.

I guess the author's very insightful novels about the future stem from his experiences in the slums, he must have thought a lot about that when writing his later novels. It also shows us where it can lead when we neglect the poor. Not long after his experiences on the street, WWII started.

Maybe this should be read by everyone, especially those who have no empathy for anyone less fortune than them.

From the back cover:

"Orwell is well-known for his 1984 and a satire, Animal Farm. Down and Out in Paris and London is his memoir where he pens down his life as a penniless writer in two Paris and England. Through his beautiful phrases, meticulous, honest, and vivid experiences of searching for work and spending nights on benches, he blends the testimonies of others of his kind on the streets of London and Paris. The book both illuminates the huge change between 1933 and now, and exposes horrifying similarities. Job insecurity is still a major driver of homelessness nearly 90 years later. This is just an important read now as it was back then."

Orwell, George "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

Orwell, George "Nineteen Eighty-Four" - 1949

I am pretty sure I read this book in my youth. But that was so long go, certainly before 1984. So, I thought it was about time to re-read it.

Has Orwell's negative Utopia arrived, did he predict well? Yes and no. "Big Brother" IS watching us. Even as I type this, I know that anybody who would like to, will be able to read this. But is “Big Brother” really interested in my musings about the books I read. I doubt it. A few of my friends read it and that is no different to me making a couple of photocopies and distributing it.

However, I think "Big Brother" are all of us. We have seen how useful the internet was last year when all those people protested against the regime in their countries. Without the internet, without mobile phones, facebook, etc., there would not have been this massive change as there was.

So, for better or worse, Orwell's phantasies have come true but it is used in a completely different way. The telescreen could be compared to facebook, only, we can decide what we put in there and what not and we can also decide who we let in to read what we are writing and who not. Huge difference.

My favourite quote of the book: "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life - the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language - and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written."

I love maps and I love to know where the people I'm reading about are, so I was looking for a map of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia and found one here.

Another great Orwell book "Animal Farm".

Orwell, George "Animal Farm"

Orwell, George "Animal Farm" - 1945

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." I think this must be one of the most popular quotes ever. And the most truthful.

Everyone knows "Animal Farm", if you haven't read it, then you have heard about it, if not, a very quick recap: The animals on Manor Farm start a revolution and chase the farmer away and take control. They start very democratic and socialistic but in the end the pigs get more and more like the humans and exploit the other animals.

Orwell was against Stalin and his policies, so this is a very political book, disguised as a fairy story. What can I say? I love it!!!

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the henhouses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring. As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say."

I also recommend "Nineteen Eighty Four".