Excellent take on a fascinating essay. BTW, Orwell was in the habit of trying to figure out and visualize the "ideal" writers had in mind when he was analyzing them - see for instance his essays on George Gissing or WB Yeats, or "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool." Sometimes he seems closer to the mark than others, but it's an interesting approach.
Interesting. I was reading the Dickens essay for a little class I'm teaching on Orwell's journalism, so I have the ones on Gissing and Yeats to look forward to. I know the Lear/Tolstoy/Fool essay quite well, having taught it in a different seminar about loyalty. It's another outstanding essay.
I share your enjoyment of Orwell's essay--one of my favorite essays by him. I think it an unusually generous articulation of the Marxist's ambivalence about the liberal reformer (though I know one must be careful about applying any label to Orwell--or Dickens, for that matter).
James, thank you. It is a great essay. And written when the socialist Orwell's doubts about how "actually existing" Marxism was playing out in the USSR were already well developed. "Liberal reformer" is probably not quite the right label for Orwell, but I cannot help thinking that he also sees himself in that closing description of Dickens.
Excellent take on a fascinating essay. BTW, Orwell was in the habit of trying to figure out and visualize the "ideal" writers had in mind when he was analyzing them - see for instance his essays on George Gissing or WB Yeats, or "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool." Sometimes he seems closer to the mark than others, but it's an interesting approach.
Interesting. I was reading the Dickens essay for a little class I'm teaching on Orwell's journalism, so I have the ones on Gissing and Yeats to look forward to. I know the Lear/Tolstoy/Fool essay quite well, having taught it in a different seminar about loyalty. It's another outstanding essay.
Fascinating essay! I had no idea Orwell wrote about Dickins.
Thanks, Amelia! Sometimes I think Orwell wrote about almost everything somewhere or other. His range and productivity are pretty impressive.
I share your enjoyment of Orwell's essay--one of my favorite essays by him. I think it an unusually generous articulation of the Marxist's ambivalence about the liberal reformer (though I know one must be careful about applying any label to Orwell--or Dickens, for that matter).
James, thank you. It is a great essay. And written when the socialist Orwell's doubts about how "actually existing" Marxism was playing out in the USSR were already well developed. "Liberal reformer" is probably not quite the right label for Orwell, but I cannot help thinking that he also sees himself in that closing description of Dickens.