Classics and the Western Canon discussion

Here’s the schedule. We’ll start with “Animal Farm.”

“Animal Farm”

April 9 — Chapters I-VI
April 16 — Chapters VII - X, Whole Book

“1984”

April 23 —Part 1, Chapters 1-5
April 30 —Part 1, Chapter 6 - Part 2, Chapter 2
May 7 — Part 2, Chapter 3 - 8
May 14 —Part 2, Chapter 9 - Part 3, Chapter 1
May 21 — Part 3, Chapter 2-6 and Appendix “The Principles of Newspeak”

For those who like audiobooks, YouTube offers several readings of “Animal Farm.” The ones I sampled had commercials, but if you don’t mind hitting the “skip” button every so often, they work. Here’s one sample: https://youtu.be/iosHzNmVYbA?si=heuRn...

Speaking of audiobooks, I highly recommend 'The Orwell Collection,' narrated by Stephen Fry, which includes both 'Animal Farm' and '1984.'

Emil wrote: "Speaking of audiobooks, I highly recommend 'The Orwell Collection,' narrated by Stephen Fry, which includes both 'Animal Farm' and '1984.'"

Thanks for the tip. Stephen Fry is such a good narrator; I’ll have to look for that

YouTube has several audiobook versions of “1984” available, including (at least in the US) the Stephen Fry version recommended by Emil:
https://youtu.be/rx0UBSegOu0?si=1VOGi... (Part 1)
https://youtu.be/WPSvSOABnKI?si=1z5Y-... (Part 2)

a soon to be released animated film of Animal Farm

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025...

Michael wrote: "a soon to be released animated film of Animal Farm

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025..."

This sounds intriguing.

This website has a lot of good info about Orwell and his work, including a selection of his essays: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-...

Rebecca Solnit's Orwell's Roses explores Orwell's life and times. She traces Orwell’s career, includes biographical details of his life and political convictions, cites copiously from his essays and novels, and probes his ideas. A very interesting book.

Today I watched the new documentary, Orwell 2 + 2 = 5. It has just recently been released and may or may not be showing in your city.

I thought it was good; depressingly real. It reads from Orwell's journal while showing images and clips from his past, places he lived, and things he did. It also quotes from his other writings, including 1984, while showing clips from past films of his works, interspersed with 20th-century and contemporary clips from global politics and war.

Basically, it reiterates his anti-totalitarian arguments while connecting them to current events.