Which notes of Orwell’s are you referring to? Orwell has seen tyranny and cruelty since boarding school. I really can’t see him succumbing to wistful nostalgia.
The young Communist who died heroically in the International Brigade was public school to the core. He had changed his allegiance but not his emotions. What does that prove? Merely the possibility of building a Socialist on the bones of a Blimp, the power of one kind of loyalty to transmute itself into another, the spiritual need for patriotism and the military virtues, for which, however little the boiled rabbits of the Left may like them, no substitute has yet been found.
There’s other such bits of left-conservative, anti-pragmatist sentiment sprinkled throughout his essays. Hell, it’s not a stretch to call him a National Socialist. I suggest that you take a fresh look, without the conventional view of Orwell—a petit-bourgeois view, I’d say—coloring your perception.
Also!
I really can’t see him succumbing to wistful nostalgia.
Which notes of Orwell’s are you referring to? Orwell has seen tyranny and cruelty since boarding school. I really can’t see him succumbing to wistful nostalgia.
Notes on the Way
That’s for a start. I already linked to that essay in the quotes thread. Also, one more in the same vein.
My Country Right or Left:
There’s other such bits of left-conservative, anti-pragmatist sentiment sprinkled throughout his essays. Hell, it’s not a stretch to call him a National Socialist. I suggest that you take a fresh look, without the conventional view of Orwell—a petit-bourgeois view, I’d say—coloring your perception.
Also!
Oh, but he did. Read Coming Up for Air.