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Why Orwell Matters | 
| Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 161567
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 211
ASIN: B00029ZWQQ
Publication Date: September 2003
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Condition: Brand new book
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Hitchens on Orwell:This is not a biography, but I sometimes feel as if George Orwell requires extricating from a pile of saccharine tablets and moist hankies; an object of sickly veneration and sentimental overpraise, employed to stultify schoolchildren with his insufferable rightness and purity. This kind of tribute is often of the Rochefoucauldian type; suggestive of the payoff made by vice to virtue, and also of the tricks played by an uneasy conscience.What [Orwell] illustrates, by his commitment to language as the partner of truth, is that "views" do not really count; that it matters not what you think, but how you think, and that politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring, as do the few irreducible individuals who maintain allegiance to them.Others on Hitchens:"I have been asked whether I wish to nominate a successor, an inheritor, a dauphin or delphino. I have decided to name Christopher Hitchens."-Gore Vidal"Christopher Hitchens's writing has sweep and flair. He is accurate where others are merely dutiful, unpredictable where the tendency is to go for the cliche. In short, brilliant."-Edward W. Said"May his targets cower." -Susan Sontag
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Forever taking his own temperature (on the scale from beastliness to decency) September 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Has Hitchens answered his own question? I am not sure. Maybe he thought the answer is so obvious that one needs not waste time over it.
Let's compromise: knowing that Orwell was not a literary genius, but a highly relevant essayist with the ability to write clearly and often beautifully, that he wrote a few books which hit a nerve at their time, and which are likely to remain modern classics, one can safely assume that Orwell does matter to those who are interested in the history of the 20th century, mainly in the overlapping struggles against Imperialism, Fascism, and Stalinism.
Hitchens' book is an insider job: it is interesting to follow his discussion and usually defense of Orwell in different contexts: vis a vis his critics from the left, from the right, from feminists ...
While Orwell managed to remain by and large printable, ie he wrote very little that he would need to be ashamed of now, there are things that one can wonder about, like with any other non-saint. Such bleaker spots are his attitude towards women or gays; there were also instances of vague anti-semitism, or odd ambiguities in his attitude towards the victims of imperialism. His attitude towards fascism in the years leading up to WW2 are also not quite up to his later standard (i.e. he saw little difference between Hitler/Mussolini or England/France).
Orwell's main outstanding feature could be seen in his ferocious independance: he was a model for the modest self-employed and self-pubishing truth-teller. 'Orwellian' remains a name for state totalitarianism of a specific kind (quite different from what we understand as 'Kafka-esque'); 'Orwellian' is furthermore the spirit of resistance in the individual (again different from the victim in Kafka).
Hitchens' book is not recommendable as an introduction.
(My headline refers to Orwell's own unusually frequent use of the words beastly and decent.)
A Defense and Appreciation of Orwell August 12, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a huge fan of George Orwell. I consider him one of the handful of great writers of the twentieth century. His novel, 1984, remains one of my favorites and no one can deny its influence on our culture. Additionally, he wrote a number of wonderful memoirs and essays which retain an incredible impact and currency even up to seventy years later. It is nice to see a critic of the stature of Mr. Hitchens also has an admiration for Orwell.
In this slim volume, Mr. Hitchens analyzes various aspects of Orwell's work and its relationship to ideas that still resonate: imperialism, the left, the right, America, feminism, post-modernism, etc. No one will deny that Orwell had weaknesses as a writer. There is a generally tone of pessimism that runs through his work. He could take unfair potshots at people in his essays and he often struggled to create vibrant characters in his fiction, especially females. Mr. Hitchens acknowledges his weakness but is pointed about countering unfair criticism and makes the excellent point that Orwell always struggled to overcome his own prejudices. Unlike many of us, Orwell recognized his prejudices and was constantly trying to beat them down. Perhaps this is why much of his writing remains so relevant: he was generally very balanced in his opinions and cut through the crap to the truth as he saw it. He rarely gave anyone a pass. Which also may be why so many people like to criticize Orwell: everyone got pierced by him at some point.
If there are weakness in Hitchens' book, two stand out. First, Mr. Hitchens shares the smugness of a person who revels in his own intellect and he doesn't hide it in his prose. Like Harold Bloom, Hitchens can be irritating to read but he always leaves you with something worth thinking about. The second is not a criticism per se, but a warning: to get a lot out of this book you should be familiar with a large cross-section of Orwell's writing. Having read 1984 and, maybe, Animal Farm is not enough. I have read a lot of Orwell's stuff and there were still references and critics with which I was not familiar. Still, for anyone interested in Orwell, this is a valuable book.
 Hitchen's overly erudite style makes t his short book dificult for the non-Orwell specialist to enjoy July 30, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
George Orwell (real name: Eric Blair) took his pseudonym from the English nation's Saint George and a British river. He died young at 47 due to the TB disease he could not conquer. Orwell is an important writer as we face the already bloody twenty-first century. Call Mr. Orwell a prophet of our dystopia world of Darfar, terrorism and North Korea. Orwell is used as a text in many scholastic settings. Orwell is best known for "1984" and "Animal Farm. The latter is a satire of the evils of communism while 1984 paints a grim future of Big Brother and Mind Controlling goverment.
This book is not a biography but an exteneded essay divided into short chapters. Hitchens gives kudos to Orwell for being an opponent of fascism, communism and the imperialism he saw first hand while serving as a Police Officer in Burma. This anti-imperialistic view led to his fine novel "Burmese Days." Orwell broadcast on the BBC. penned excellent short stories and several novels which are now forgotten by the general public.
Hitchens has a keen mind and is very knowledgable on Orwell. The problem is that he assumes a prior knowledge of Orwell's works. This is a book for scholars and not the general reader. I have read several of Hitchens works but this one was not my favorite!
If you admire Orwell, read this book... May 17, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I admire Orwell, so I read the book. It presupposes a familiarity with the man and his oeuvre, so if you've never read a word by Orwell, this book may not be a good starting gate. The author, Christopher Hitchens, admires Orwell, too, and has a distinctive--dare I say quintessentially English--droll style. If you know Hitchens, you know what to expect: no hero-worship, no nonsense, and no pulled polemical punches against the hapless folks who nip at Orwell's heels for some perceived heresy or another. (One quibble with Hitchens: he includes Burmese Days as part of Orwell's inferior juvenilia...I think, after an admittedly shaky start, Burmese Days is outstanding, and does not deserve such comparative obloquy.)
No human being is above reproach, but Orwell definitely does have an overwhelming aura of decency about him...notwithstanding his distaste for fags, feminists, and what would be called "hippies" back then. (The group he hated most, however, would probably be rentier capitalists...of which I'm one!) The politically incorrect Orwell is thoroughly examined by Hitchens, who adduces reasons why he feels Orwell came to hold such views, and why they do not vitiate his mainstream moral and ethical legacy.
This decency--along with his vast literary ability and remarkable prescience--makes the man an attractive and relevant historical figure today...one who has added his nom de plume to the English lexicon as an adjective, and whose name and works will be remembered and discussed long after his critics have been utterly forgotten.
The truth about the truth January 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In this book Hitchens demonstrates to us the continuing relevance of a person who always kept an open mind and stayed true to principles. Throughout his career Orwell kept free of the ideological blindness that justifies so many sins by that one condemns in some but justifies in others in the name of serving a 'higher truth'. While clearly of the left he never blindly accepted its many sins in the name of some abstract greater good, or ultimate triumph. This book reminds us all of the necessity to keep an open eye and mind regardless of what our views are, or who we see as our natural allies.
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