Bill Bohanon wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

People always make a mistake when they drag
in a novelist's politics, or what they think is his
politics. Anyone who is in the used book business
can likely tell you that 1984 remains one of the most
requested novels by a Twentieth Century author who
has been gone a couple of generations -- and for
'the most part is read by people who could care
less about Orwell's politics.

In a sense, people make the same mistake
with "1984" that they make with Heinlein's
"Puppetmasters." In the case of the
latter, people often take a simplistic
approach holding that Heinlein was merely
commenting on communism. The reality
is that he was likely commenting -- if we want
to take his terrifying story as anything beyond
sheer entertainment -- on a pernicious tendency
in human nature, a tendency which became
overt not only in communism, but also
in Nazism, and, I suspect, Heinlein would
agree, in the terrorist groups of today. When
people start making suicide attacks on
innocent people, then something just as
pernicious as Heinlein's Puppetmasters
(a novel which should be required reading for
anyonce seeking a better understanding
of Al Quaida) .has gotten hold of their nervous
systems... But getting back to 1984,
technology being what it is today, any sort
of totalitarian government could institute a
surveillance system far more through than
what Orwell depicted. That is very basic
knowledge to likely all "1984" readers,
which is one good reason why the novel
remains scary stuff..

Hi Bill. Regarding this 1984 book you mention above, I recently bought a
copy at a book sale for a dollar. The title is spelled out though, it says
Nineteen Eighty Four.

It would be interesting to see how Orwell
felt about the matter. What I can tell you
is that the Signet (New American Library)
paperback, which was first published in
July, 1950, not only has the title on the
outside front of the paperback written
in numbers, but the title page also has
"1984" written the same way. On the
other hand, the spine of the book has
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" written as a word.
Perhaps, then, we are to conclude that it
is 6 of 1, and one-half dozen of the other,
regarding important differences in the
way you write the title. (I usually write
the title in numbers because, hey, if
you can save maybe 16 keystrokes
and still get your idea accross, why not?)

Inside it says "first american edition" inside and has
a blue dust cover. I didn't know it was famous or anything,

You have spent the past sixty
years touring deep in the Coal Sack
Nebula, I take it

I bought it
because I thought it was a typo of some sort, because the book was published
in 1948 which is 1984 sort of backwards. Are you saying that this book might
be worth more than the dollar I paid for it?

No, but instead of asking me you should
be checking in Addall.com.

That would be ironical, because
although I collect things that are mistakes (like books with typos) I bought
this by mistake but it isn't a mistake.

Hmm...sometimes I have a hard time
telling if a post is a clueless attempt
at humor or just written by someone
who happens to be clueless...

[Memo from the upstairs office.]





[Memo from the upstairs office.]
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