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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I'm surprised at how Socialist he is. He clearly has some major critiques of how it's presented in Britain at the time, but they're the critiques of a supporter that wants to improve things so the cause can move forward more effectively, not the critiques of an opponent of the philosophy, which is what I would have expected from him.
Interesting quote:
"I went there [Wigan] partly because I wanted to see what mass-unemployment is like at its worst, partly in order to see the most typical section of the English working class at close quarters. This was necessary to me as part of my approach to Socialism. For before you can be sure whether you are genuinely in favor of Socialism, you have got to decide whether things at present are tolerable or not tolerable, and you have got to take up a definite attitude on the terribly difficult issue of class"
Interesting quote:
"I went there [Wigan] partly because I wanted to see what mass-unemployment is like at its worst, partly in order to see the most typical section of the English working class at close quarters. This was necessary to me as part of my approach to Socialism. For before you can be sure whether you are genuinely in favor of Socialism, you have got to decide whether things at present are tolerable or not tolerable, and you have got to take up a definite attitude on the terribly difficult issue of class"
Probably my least favourite of Orwell's works, but mainly due to the later chapters. While the first part reads extremely well and underlines a lot of Orwell's arguments for socialism, the last 40%, with the exception of the last chapter, simply lost me. I still remain a proponent of social-market economy and this did little to change that.
the fact that this is relevant 90 years later. i don't tend to pick up political books, i don't like their (in most cases) very confrontational and polarizing tendencies. but with orwell, whether you agree with his political views or not, at their core you feel his desire for people to just be decent human beings, and maybe make our lives on this planet a little easier for everyone. and i vibe with that
As powerful and brilliant as I imagine it was when it came out.
slow-paced
Orwell's masterpiece, describing the dreadful immiseration of the coal miner while making a compelling case for socialism.
On ne s'en souviendra pas comme d'un grand féministe (pas dans ce livre-ci, du moins), mais Orwell offre plusieurs réflexions percutantes dans ce drôle d'ouvrage, mi-enquête sociologique, mi-texte pamphlétaire excessivement virulent. J'ai surtout aimé sa description minutieuse de la qualité de vie et du travail des mineurs du Nord de l'Angleterre, dans la première partie ; j'ai lu sa critique du socialisme avec moins d'intérêt, mais je me suis beaucoup accrochée aux passages qui parlent de la montée du fascisme. Il y a une certaine consolation, ténue mais bien là, quand la lecture d'un texte du milieu des années trente nous ramène à nos propres angoisses, à notre propre impuissance, à nos propres temps troublés :
It is far worse than useless to write Fascism off as 'mass sadism', or some easy phrase of that kind. If you pretend that it is merely an aberration which will presently pass off of its own accord, you are dreaming a dream from which you will awake when somebody coshes you with a rubber truncheon. (p. 199)