{"id":1479356,"date":"2024-07-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1479356"},"modified":"2024-07-25T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T13:00:00","slug":"george-orwell-is-being-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/george-orwell-is-being-cancelled\/1479356\/","title":{"rendered":"George Orwell Is Being Cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Orwell Is Being Cancelled<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Paul Sutton via DailySceptic.org,<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Orwell observed how some writers are so important that cultural and political \u201cownership\u201d of their work is fiercely contested<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He said this of Dickens and Shakespeare, so would be delighted that he\u2019s now firmly in that camp.<\/p>\n

But I think he\u2019d be less happy that the weasel word \u2018problematic\u2019 is the cover under which his position is now being undermined<\/strong> \u2013 as he\u2019d have predicted, by our censorious \u2018progressives\u2019.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

To this group, certain writers \u2013 Eliot, Pound, Kipling, Celine \u2013 are clearly beyond the pale, so that any discussion of them has to be prefaced by an impassioned and often inaccurate lecture on their moral and political failings. There is a sense that this is done as much from the fear of not doing so, especially for Pound. The denunciations are highly performative and follow a script, an observation that could be easily made of much discussion with progressives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They seem to speak nervously and miserably, as if under constant observation. Self-censorship is at work: they feel the need to monitor everything and everyone and so assume this applies to them.<\/p>\n

I was subjected to one such lecture by some graduate students, whom I and a good friend were chatting to in an Oxford cafe. One chap was English, the other Italian, both were doing DPhils in Literature. The place is Greek-run and, being half-Greek (though not a speaker), I enjoy its atmosphere and coffee. Indeed, we started talking when I overheard them speaking Greek to the English bloke\u2019s Greek girlfriend.<\/p>\n

The students maintained that the important thing is quality of writing but, paradoxically, this can only be judged by a strict contemporary \u201cevaluation\u201d of any Right-wing or outdated views. <\/strong>Inevitably, this contextualisation then reveals that said writers are \u201cproblematic\u201d and \u201cnot as good as XYZ\u201d \u2013 usually some figure who fits their sensibilities, and coincidentally one who\u2019s almost always female \u2013 or at least better suited to the diversity required by these commissars.<\/p>\n

So far, so well known and wearily familiar. The absolute impossibility of literature under such a mindset \u2013 one enthusiastically endorsed by graduate students who professed to live for literature \u2013 is utterly depressing. We\u2019re in effect dealing with its cancellation<\/p>\n

I made a perfunctory effort in observing their complete inconsistency, but things got more interesting when Orwell was discussed. Of course, Orwell famously wrote against their stand, not least in his brilliant defence of Kipling\u2019s literary merit and his refusal to allow orthodoxy to dictate his aesthetic preferences, in\u00a0Benefit of Clergy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Orwell\u2019s stint in the Burmese Imperial Police made him a despicable figure to the students, little better than a Waffen SS or Gestapo officer. <\/strong><\/p>\n

True, he\u2019d belatedly retrieved himself by his \u201ceventual writing\u201d in the 1940s, but he\u2019d spent many years performing the dirty work of the British Empire. His famous essay,\u00a0A Hanging<\/em>, showed him enthusiastically hands on at it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d honestly never heard such a narrow and limited view, and was intrigued. As a preposterous misrepresentation, it needs little rebuttal.\u00a0A Hanging<\/em>\u00a0is indeed a brilliantly disturbing account of an Indian murderer being hanged, a man who\u2019d have been executed at that time in any country. The essay explores the deep unease Orwell felt about his role, so it\u2019s a lie to claim it shows him uncritically doing his job, let alone revelling in his exertion of British authority.<\/p>\n

Such an interpretation shows a shocking lack of understanding. As does the idea that Orwell only recanted any pro-Imperial views in the 1940s; his underrated\u00a0Burmese Days<\/em>\u00a0was published in 1934 and he wrote extensively about his disgust for the job he did in the late 20s and 1930s. Of course, he didn\u2019t only feel disgust, nor would he pretend that the British brought only misery and were unique as imperial exploiters.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m most interested in is how an alternative Orwell was then offered up, a writer who\u2019d accepted the British Empire was \u201cproblematic\u201d yet offered a nice comforting view of how nice and comforting life can be \u2013 if you agree with the progressives, that is.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step forward Jan Morris and his trilogy\u00a0Pax Britannica<\/em>. Now, I haven\u2019t read this non-fictional account of the British Empire but from background knowledge, it\u2019s not in any way a replacement for Orwell or even remotely comparable. It\u2019s an exhaustive historical work, not a personal creative one. But this trilogy was extolled by the students as what Orwell should have done when discussing empire. There was the implication that Orwell could now be \u2013 somewhat thankfully \u2013 ignored.<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, the Englishman then introduced Joyce, first saying that the man was a lifelong sponger who\u2019d have probably fleeced him, but as a writer was the very model of a pan-European, liberal and open to all cultures. Again, the grubby contradictions and sheer banality of such a perspective are eye-popping \u2013 from a DPhil student in perhaps the country\u2019s finest university.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ve a nagging feeling that Jan Morris \u2013 a famous case of gender realignment (he \u2018transitioned\u2019 to female in 1972) \u2013 was picked for the \u2018acceptable author\u2019 reasons. That\u2019s the problem with \u2018author context\u2019 vetting \u2013 as with \u2018diversity hires\u2019. Much as I\u2019ve enjoyed Morris\u2019s travel writing, especially\u00a0Oxford<\/em>, it\u2019s staggering for this author to be proposed as some alternative to Orwell! Not only in terms of obvious lesser importance, but they\u2019re not remotely comparable in terms of genre or aims. How could any serious reader \u2013 let alone one at a leading university \u2013 talk such gibberish?<\/p>\n

Discussion on Pound and Eliot was even more absurd. Both were (begrudgingly) great poets, but it was impossible to read either without a thorough warning of their antisemitism \u2013 the Italian seemed to think this was a safety requirement. He had no faith in any reader simply reading a text, whilst disingenuously claiming to believe that anything worthwhile would always survive on its own merits. If someone genuinely feels this, then why the need for all the Health and Safety proclamations? It\u2019s the pathetic unwillingness to be honest I most despise \u2013 why not just say \u201cI want Eliot to neither be read nor survive\u201d?<\/p>\n

Pure funk \u2013 he\u2019d be afraid someone would accuse him of being a philistine, as Eliot\u2019s status is near-unassailable. I say \u201cnear\u201d, since these people are \u2013 though they\u2019d never admit to it \u2013 really working on that. So, just be honest about it!<\/p>\n

Needless to say, discussion then moved on to the Rhodes statue at nearby Oriel College, which both DPhils were adamant had to be removed. It was easily as disturbing to \u201cvictims of British imperialism\u201d as any supposed hurt caused by Gaza protest chants of \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d to Oxford\u2019s Jewish students<\/strong>. Anyway, the English chap maintained, Jewish students (of which he wasn\u2019t one) mostly approved of the protests, since only two had signed a petition in Balliol approving Israel\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder how those brave souls felt?\u201d I asked. \u201cI thought minorities were the key to all this?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Englishman \u2013 in fact, a pseudo-European intellectual \u2013 lovingly informed me that he could sniff out a fascist, and only one course of action could then follow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some stirring words from Lorca on the Spanish Civil War were recited.<\/p>\n

I should have quoted Nietzsche \u2013 but presumably he\u2019s problematic and a fascist?<\/p>\n

He who fights with monsters best take care lest he himself becomes the monster.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Paul Sutton\u00a0can be found on Substack<\/a>.\u00a0His new book on woke issues\u00a0<\/em>The Poetry of Gin and Tea<\/a>\u00a0is out now.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 07\/25\/2024 – 05:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/george-orwell-being-cancelled<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Orwell Is Being Cancelled Authored by Paul Sutton via DailySceptic.org, Orwell observed how some writers are so important that cultural and political \u201cownership\u201d of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1479357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1479357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}