All of us - well, most of us, Des! - know such famous opening lines as "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", "Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember", "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way", and "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen", but how many have actually read the whole book? All right, I admit, I never quite finished "Anna Karenina" but I've just re-read George Orwell's "1984".
Whether it's as "C'était une journée d'avril froide et claire. Les horloges sonnaient treize heures", "Hari yang cerah dan dingin di bulan April, dan jam-jam dinding berdentang tiga belas kali", "Был холодный ясный апрельский день, и часы пробили тринадцать", or "Es war ein klarer, kalter Tag im April, und die Uhren schlugen gerade dreizehn", the opening line of "1984" quickly introduces the reader to the oppressive, dystopian world that the protagonist, Winston Smith, inhabits. (I remember asking my Burmese neighbour in Komin Kochin Avenue in Rangoon in 1975 if he had read "1984", to which he replied, "We don't have to read it; we live it every day." Nothing has changed since then.)
It's not an easy book to read but, read in conjunction with "Brave New World", it's where we are today. As Neil Postman wrote in "Amusing Ourselves to Death", "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘'failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.’ In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."
Like in the oft-quoted frog-in-boiling-water myth, "1984" has quietly caught up with us. The battle between these two great dystopian novels is strikingly urgent in our world of Donald Trump, 'fake news', and technological advances. In this video clip, Will Self argues for "Brave New World" and Adam Gopnik for "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Both novels imagine extraordinary futures, but which better captures our present and offers the keener warning about where we may be heading?
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At least on one subject Orwell and Huxley seemed to have agreed:
"So long as they continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern. Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult." George Orwell
"... the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled." Aldous Huxley
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Here at "Riverbend", it's a dark cold night in July, and the clock above the blazing fireplace - I've spent the night sleeping on the floor in front of it and periodically adding another log - shows it's four o'clock in the morning. This blog is the result of this fretful and uncomfortable night.
