George Orwell's birthday

Something I remembered today, thanks to my many Facebook likes: George Orwell was born today, the 25th of June, 1903. The great George Orwell, who, as Christopher Hitchens said, "spoke the truth". I recently read Down and Out in Paris and London, which made me rediscover his genius. Yesterday I was in London, which I saw with new eyes. Of course, when I see London, a part of me sees it through the eyes of Winston Smith, from his most famous novel. Modern day London is very different than the nightmarish one of Orwell's cautionary take, still, you can indulge in a bit of projection. His name and his words have sadly been used in vain numerously and are still used now gratuitously. Many speak of Orwell, not many really read him, or understood him. Christopher Hitchens did and so did Anthony Burgess in the essay part of 1985. I would strongly recommend that people would come back to Orwell's writing, not only 1984 and Animal Farm, but also his other works. I have only recently discovered them, but I intend to preach by example.

The wisdom of George Orwell

I am about to finish Down and Out in Paris and London. I only have a few pages left (and I know it took so much more time than it should have had, since the book is quite short). I blogged about it here. George Orwell amazes me, because, as Christopher Hitchens said, he spoke the truth. Not merely because he was sincere, but because he was so darn accurate about life. I have decided to add here some quoted from the book, that stuck to my mind. Orwell, indeed, spoke the truth:

"I am glad that this happened, for it destroyed one of my illusions, namely, that Frenchmen knew good food when they see it."
"I think that one should start by saying that a plongeur is one of the slaves of the modern world."
"The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit."
"A beggar, looked at realistically, is simply a businessman, getting his living, like other business men, in the way that comes to hand. He has not, more than most modern people, sold his honour; he has merely made the mistake of choosing a trade at which it is impossible to grow rich."
"It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level."

There would be more to quote. His observations on religious charities and church people are brilliantly corrosive without ever going in the territory of unfair hostility. So yes, I will not stress it enough, read it.

Down and Out... (George Orwell)

"And there is another feeling that is a great consolation in poverty. It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. it takes off a lot of anxiety."

-George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

I am reading Down and Out in Paris and London at the moment, among the pile of books I read in the same period of time. So far I am in the Paris part. I don't read enough Orwell, just like I don't read enough Nabokov.We forget that he wrote more than Animal Farms and 1984. This is why I bought this book and decided to read it. Christopher Hitchens, who was a great admirer of Orwell, said that he "spoke the truth." This is how I feel reading it, not merely seeing a reality, but seeing the universal truth that is at the core of it. Poverty has never felt so true. Anyway, I wanted to quote Orwell's work without using his two most famous books, this struck me when I read it.So I decided to share it.