Thomas Fensch

Orwell in America Thomas Fensch

George Orwell never came to America; he published five books before fighting Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War. Shot in the neck by a sniper, he came within a fraction of an inch of dying on the spot. His book Homage to Catalonia, neglected during his lifetime, was eventually recognized as one of the great books about The Spanish Civol; War. He returned to his native England and wrote Animal Farm, the Russian Revolution in fable form, then his masterpiece, 1984, while fighting tuberculosis. In 1984, Orwell warned against constant warfare, constant surveillance, govermental-sponsored torture, and a totalitarian dictator he called Big Brother (based on Stalin).

70 years later, America has gone past all of Orwell's warnings--far past all of them and recently engaged in a national debacle Orwell -- or Big Brother - -could never have have dreamed of.

Orwellian now means any real or imagined dictatorial government. 1984 lives today, as dramatic now as it was when it was first published.