A very English idealism
|
You don't have to be a socialist to enjoy this little collection of Orwell essays. You just have to enjoy simple but bitingly precise use of the English language, and hold a forlorn affection for the English themselves. 'England is.. a land of snobbery and privilege, ruled largely by the old and the silly,' says Orwell. And then adds, 'But in any calculation about it one has got to take into account its emotional unity..'
It is Orwell's combination of a sentimental attachment to the ordinary Englishman who doesn't hesitate in the face of Fascism, and a withering dismissal of English anti-intellectualism, that makes this book so beguiling. It feels remarkably contemporary as he observes 'England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.' And touchingly prescient as he predicts in 1940 that 'in whatever shape England emerges from the war..the gentleness, hypocrisy, the thoughtlessness, the reverence for law and the hatred of uniforms will remain, along with the suet puddings and the misty skies.'
Towards the end he gets a little bogged down in his manifesto for change - and his belief in nationalisation now seems quaint. But the book returns to form at the end with a coruscating attack on the misuse of English.
Poor a slightly warm beer, look out over some interlocking hills, and enjoy.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada