Bill’s review of We > Likes and Comments
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I'm reading this at the moment and loving it so far! What do you think of it (do you think it inspired 1984)?
Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜ wrote: "I'm reading this at the moment and loving it so far! What do you think of it (do you think it inspired 1984)?"
I respect it, but don't exactly love it.
Review to come.
This is on my tbr. Another positive review for this!
What would we need wings for when we have airplanes! Wings would get in the way on an airplane! Imagine trying to squeeze past Icarus so you could get your carry-on luggage from the overhead compartment!
Thank you for the review!
Just checked my calendar... yep... 1984 this year.
I'm reading it- somewhat entertaining (he's just met the Other Woman) but while the language strains to suggest the future the attitudes are still early 20th C.
So is it an exaggeration to say Orwell plagiarized the plot of 1984 from a previous novel, even if he improved on it?
"Plagiarism" is a legal term, and I deliberately avoided it, preferring the verb "to steal." As to the rest of your comment, I'll merely quote T.S. Eliot from The Sacred Wood: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”
"Good artists borrow. Great artists steal" - Picasso
Fascinating, thank you, Bill. For me, 1984 is hard to surpass.
Before Zyamatin’s We, was Jerome K. Jerome's "The New Utopia" (1891) that influenced Zyamatin.
http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/c...
I like We and Brave New World better than 1984. The latter is rather hollow and what happens in it seems obligatory.
I don't know what you mean by calling 1984's plot obligatory; but may I suggest my review as one that does take 1984 with a grain of salt.
J wrote: "I mean it was predictable, compulsory."
Well, perhaps; but I would point out that so is Brave New World, in the sense that when your birth was genetically manipulated and your job planned beforehand, of course your life would seem compulsory.
To me, brave new world was not predictable.
Noi è piu psicologico, devi capirlo a fondo per poter comprendere perchè sia meglio di tutti gli altri, e questo non è da tutti.
"Where We fails is precisely where 1984most succeeds: in its treatment of language itself and its effects on pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary consciousness...
Unfortunately, when our hero falls in love, his language becomes filled with cliché."
Interesting because for me, the beautiful language was what I loved the most, including its transition to soppy clichés, reflecting D-'s evolving soul. Orwell's grim world is clearly dystopian from the start, whereas One State is clean and shiny and transparent, with plenty of food and work. The horror is subtler, and always counteracted by (attempts at) beauty and happiness.
Cecily wrote: ""Where We fails is precisely where 1984most succeeds: in its treatment of language itself and its effects on pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary consciousness...
Unfortunately, when our hero f..."
Thanks for your comments. I have always respected your judgment. Perhaps I was in too cynical in a mood when I read it, too severe in my reaction to the switch to a more romantic note in its prose.
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Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜
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Nov 11, 2016 04:46PM
I'm reading this at the moment and loving it so far! What do you think of it (do you think it inspired 1984)?
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Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜ wrote: "I'm reading this at the moment and loving it so far! What do you think of it (do you think it inspired 1984)?"I respect it, but don't exactly love it.
Review to come.
This is on my tbr. Another positive review for this!
What would we need wings for when we have airplanes! Wings would get in the way on an airplane! Imagine trying to squeeze past Icarus so you could get your carry-on luggage from the overhead compartment!
Thank you for the review!Just checked my calendar... yep... 1984 this year.
I'm reading it- somewhat entertaining (he's just met the Other Woman) but while the language strains to suggest the future the attitudes are still early 20th C.
So is it an exaggeration to say Orwell plagiarized the plot of 1984 from a previous novel, even if he improved on it?
"Plagiarism" is a legal term, and I deliberately avoided it, preferring the verb "to steal." As to the rest of your comment, I'll merely quote T.S. Eliot from The Sacred Wood: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”
"Good artists borrow. Great artists steal" - Picasso
Fascinating, thank you, Bill. For me, 1984 is hard to surpass.
Before Zyamatin’s We, was Jerome K. Jerome's "The New Utopia" (1891) that influenced Zyamatin.http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/c...
I like We and Brave New World better than 1984. The latter is rather hollow and what happens in it seems obligatory.
I don't know what you mean by calling 1984's plot obligatory; but may I suggest my review as one that does take 1984 with a grain of salt.
J wrote: "I mean it was predictable, compulsory."Well, perhaps; but I would point out that so is Brave New World, in the sense that when your birth was genetically manipulated and your job planned beforehand, of course your life would seem compulsory.
To me, brave new world was not predictable.
Noi è piu psicologico, devi capirlo a fondo per poter comprendere perchè sia meglio di tutti gli altri, e questo non è da tutti.
"Where We fails is precisely where 1984most succeeds: in its treatment of language itself and its effects on pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary consciousness...Unfortunately, when our hero falls in love, his language becomes filled with cliché."
Interesting because for me, the beautiful language was what I loved the most, including its transition to soppy clichés, reflecting D-'s evolving soul. Orwell's grim world is clearly dystopian from the start, whereas One State is clean and shiny and transparent, with plenty of food and work. The horror is subtler, and always counteracted by (attempts at) beauty and happiness.
Cecily wrote: ""Where We fails is precisely where 1984most succeeds: in its treatment of language itself and its effects on pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary consciousness...Unfortunately, when our hero f..."
Thanks for your comments. I have always respected your judgment. Perhaps I was in too cynical in a mood when I read it, too severe in my reaction to the switch to a more romantic note in its prose.
