ROBIN BUNCEpraises a book that explores George Orwell’s writings on everything from race to censorship – and asks, what can we learn from him today?
LITERATURE
Years after his death, George Orwell is everywhere. Social media is littered with protests about ‘Orwellian censorship’, Big Brother and the Ministry of Truth. In this context, Laura Beers’ new book, Orwell’s Ghosts, is essential reading. Beers’ approach is to situate Orwell in his original context, recover his concerns and, from this vantage point, address contemporary debates.
Beer starts with the vexed question of ‘Orwellian cancel culture’. Here, she argues that there is simply no comparison between the fate of celebrities who are ‘cancelled’ on social media, and Winston Smith’s torture in the cellars of the Ministry of Love. And, in opposition to claims about the ‘Orwellian censorship’ of ‘alternative facts’, she observes that for Orwell, freedom was the ability to hold the state to account by insisting that 2+2=4. Orwell never defended the freedom of the powerful to hide behind the lie that 2+2=5.
Like Orwell, Beers asks her readers to face ‘unpleasant facts’. On the topic of race, she argues that, while Orwell’s writings clearly contain racist stereotypes, he was an implacable opponent of the institutionalised racial domination of empire. She tackles Orwell’s misogyny, too, discussing everything from his casual sexism and the apparent relish with which his novels depict sexual violence. And she also exp
