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Every year I resolve to read 1984....but never do. But why? Well, it's such a cultural touchstone and it's themes, language and narrative are so frequently referenced in every conceivable media that I wonder is there anything left to discover in the actual novel that I haven't previously absorbed from my environment? Is there anything of value in the book that hasn't already seeped into the popular imagination? Does anyone else have a particular book they would prefer to have read long ago but are now struggling to justify the  ?
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Sep 18, 2014 08:59
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 09:26 |
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I would say 1984 is worth reading simply because what you likely perceive as the parts that have seeped into the popular imagination aren't what make it notable. Honestly, I love 1984, because I have read very few novels where the term "dystopian" seems to really apply. The Party is not "misunderstood" they are not the product of "good intentions gone bad" or whatever trope is usually trotted out in most books and movies. I kind of laugh when people use the term "Orwellian" to describe this or that government action, as if anything happening in our world comes close to the level of sheer evil that is 1984's The Party. Here is a sampling: "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites." Our my favorite... "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
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Sep 18, 2014 09:45
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Kilmers Elbow posted:Every year I resolve to read 1984....but never do. But why? Sure! The thing is that a lot of what's seeped out is at the least slightly twisted or misrepresented, and there's plenty of other interesting stuff in there; just off the top of my head, the bit where Winston goes to the pub in search of some truth is pretty great.
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Sep 18, 2014 10:14
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Kilmers Elbow posted:Every year I resolve to read 1984....but never do. But why? I am going to continue with a the general agreement that, yes, you should make the effort. Orwell just writes a good atmosphere and that is lost when you only know it through parody and reference. The Proles, as Orwell pushes them, are underrepresented in pop culture, assuming I didn't miss a huge period of time when referencing the Proles was a big thing.
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Sep 18, 2014 22:34
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Yes. Read 1984. Its a quick read. I read it for the first time at age 11. I've read it once since. Please don't believe the myth that a book is pointless once its contents have been reduced and devolved into pop culture. The book itself has far more to offer you than hearing references and seeing derivatives.
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Sep 18, 2014 23:19
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God Of Paradise posted:Yes. Read 1984. Its a quick read. I read it for the first time at age 11. I've read it once since. Yeah this. Even if you already know what happens, a good book is a good book regardless. If knowing all that stuff ahead of time really ruins it, then heck, I'd hesitate in calling it good!
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Sep 19, 2014 03:33
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The book is like 200 pages and is one of the most referenced and influential books of the last century. So yeah, read it. You'll be done with it in no time. It was one of my favorite books for a long time. I actually wrote my lovely senior thesis in high school on it now that I'm thinking about it. Also, I will second the idea that you know everything about a book you need to know from osmosis through pop culture. That is just ridiculous reasoning. Also, never stress about reading a book under like 300 pages. By the time you are done thinking about whether you should or shouldn't read it you probably could have already read it. Seriously, 200-300 page books are nothing. I would only start wondering if a book is worth my time based on lengths around 1000 pages really. Damo fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Sep 19, 2014 |
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Sep 19, 2014 03:56
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Read it and I liked it My only criticism is when Winston and Julia visits O'Brien's home. O'Brien builds up this fairytale of spying in foreign lands for the brotherhood and meeting contacts and having to have cosmetic surgery if need be. But by that point there's less than a hundred pages left in the book and so you just know that nothing like that will ever occur It's probably a fault on my part because I can't help but note how many percent of a book I finished and then compare it to the content I read so far to try and estimate how much further the plot can go.
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Sep 19, 2014 07:18
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Oh and the book is totally worth reading. If for no other reason than to see that 99% of people who reference is have never read it "The google ap demands that I provide an email address. This is how 1984 started"
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Sep 19, 2014 16:07
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Thanks for the replies, all. A new(ish) copy of 1984 has this morning fallen through my letter box so I'm really running out of excuses not to read it. (It has an introduction by Thomas Pynchon which surprised me as I didn't think he did stuff like that) Might crack it open this weekend unless something from my shelf of neglected books catches my eye.
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Sep 19, 2014 16:48
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1984 stands up as a novel on its own pretty well, although the last third is very expository. O'Brien's monologue toward the end of the book is one of my favorites in literature, so I'd say give it a read. If you like it, Orwell's other stuff is generally stronger, especially his nonfiction.
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Sep 19, 2014 18:02
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FactsAreUseless posted:1984 stands up as a novel on its own pretty well, although the last third is very expository. O'Brien's monologue toward the end of the book is one of my favorites in literature, so I'd say give it a read. I liked Animal Farm even if its digs at the Soviet Union get a little too heavy handed at times. Homage to Catalonia is my favourite by far. It made me laugh on more occasions than even Terry Pratchets books.
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Sep 19, 2014 18:47
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As someone else said, the bits that seeped into popular culture aren't even the best ones. It's been a long time, but I remember appreciating how the dumbing down of language and the deliberate erosion of vocabulary are part of a concentrated effort to limit cogitation and control the boundaries of thought.
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Sep 30, 2014 09:21
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I just read it for the first time around a year ago. For someone who mostly reads fantasy pulp crap, it was honestly mindblowing. The goon above me who said the best parts arent the most well known ones is absolutely spot on. I seriously couldnt get some passages out of my head. It really is a must read.
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Sep 30, 2014 10:43
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Reading 1984 has the same worth as reading the entire Bible. I don't think either of them by themselves contain useful lessons, but these books are heavily referenced in pop culture by people who haven't even read it, so reading them yourself will put you in a position of strength if they ever come up.
Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 17:32
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Finished it a couple of days ago. It was....alright. It was enjoyable (and instructive) to finally anchor all the cultural references I've absorbed over the years. And as an exercise in 'world building' it is very impressive. Less enjoyable was the heavy handed writing. Everything is explained in detail. Everything. Not a single aspect of Winston's world is mentioned without Orwell explaining the implications. So, the children are encouraged to spy on their parents? Here, let me spend the next three pages explaining to you how awful this would be. There's no subtlety, nothing is left to the imagination, nothing is left for the reader to do. By the time I reached the part where Winston finally gets to read The Book (and yes, lucky reader, so do you....pages and pages and pages of it) I was getting annoyed; the whole thing was becoming a chore. I felt like I was back in school sitting through a long, boring lesson; staring through the window; making plans for later; hoping it would end soon. It's one thing to have a character bludgeoned into submission by the author, but don't do it to the reader. Overall, I'm glad I read it - but at the same time I'm glad it's been read.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:52
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Same feeling you get out of actually reading the whole Bible instead of just the bits everyone keeps citing.  Try reading Orwell's Animal Farm next. I remember enjoying it more than 1984.
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Oct 1, 2014 01:20
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Oh, I like Animal Farm! It's one of the few books we read at school of which I have fond memories. I was only thirteen or so at the time and despite it being the 1980's the whole anti-communism theme sort of went over my head; reading about blast radii and fallout zones was much more immediate, fun and scary.
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Oct 1, 2014 05:32
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Animal Farm was designed to depict political machinations, ie how totalitarian states evolve, so it's fast-moving and plot-driven. It's a send-up of the Bolshevik revolution. 1984, by contrast, is about the experience of living under totalitarianism, so there is a lot of long-winded descriptions of emotions and sensations.
Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Oct 1, 2014 |
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Oct 1, 2014 07:09
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 09:26 |
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For any of you that enjoy "1984" (I certainly do), you owe it to yourselves to read "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It predates 1984 by a couple decades, but covers very similar ground more concisely, and in many respects, more interestingly. I haven't read either in a while, but I remember being of the belief that "We" is the better of the two. I won't go so far as to say "1984" is a blatant rip-off of "We", but I will say there is supposedly evidence that Orwell had, if nothing else, actually read a translation of the book before writing his own.
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Oct 1, 2014 13:42
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