Barbara Bailey wrote:
On 27 Jun 2006 15:43:02 -0700, wrote:


Dave wrote:
On 26 Jun 2006 17:16:52 -0700, wrote:

Tsk, I should have remembered 1984 at least from Lit class, but it was
always scheduled in the morning ....

That strikes me as a bit bizarre,
because almost any person of
normal reading ability EXPERIENCES
"1984" and could not forget the story
if he wanted to.

That's a pretty broad generalization.
I consider myself to be a person with 'normal reading ability' and I
didn't "experience 1984". I slogged through it, hating every minute.
Maybe it would have been more powerful had I read it at a different
stage in my life (I think I was in freshman high school English, so I
was, oh, about 13. Might have been sophmore year, that would make me
14.)
I slogged through Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 the same year. Hated
them, as well. I don't think I was ready for overt socio-political
commentary in my fiction yet.

Interesting. I have never understood
"1984" to be socio-political commentary,
though. For me, it is more like science
fiction with a terrifying warning. After
all, I think few people would deny that
there is a tendency in human nature
toward the creation of a "big brother
(or "big sister," for that matter) state.
The technology of today is already
far advanced over what the ruling elite
of Orwell's novel employed to acheive
their means. It's very scary, and it
certainly could still happen. That is
characteristic of a type of science
fiction when successful.

"Fahrenheit 451" is one of my
favorites. Would you deny that
there is also a tendency in human
nature toward thought control
through means such as book
burning? Neither of us was
around when the Nazi's were
burning books in the 1930's,
but I have certainly seen horrifying
photos of it. And we have had all
sorts of attempted censorship in
the U. S., from Dr. Wertham's anti-
comic book crusade of the early
1950's, to people demanding that
Huckleberry Finn be removed from
the library (to cite only a couple
of drops in the attempted-censorship
bucket). So why is "Fahrenheit
451" with its fireman who burn books
instead of putting out fires such a
stretch for you?

[Memo from the upstairs office]

Barb

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