海角大神

Seventy years ago the publication of George Orwell鈥檚 鈥�1984鈥� transformed our intellectual landscape. His depiction of Oceania, a repressive surveillance state based on ever-changing official truths. He gave names to the unsettling political realities that had been occurring for decades: 鈥淣ewspeak,鈥� "Big Brother,鈥� 鈥渄oublethink,鈥� 鈥淭he Memory Hole,鈥� and 鈥渢houghtcrime.鈥� A lifetime later Orwell鈥檚 novel still speaks to us. In January 2017 after President Donald Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway聽defended demonstrably false statements by then White House spokesman Sean Spicer聽with the remark 鈥渉e gave alternative facts,鈥� 鈥�1984鈥� rose to the top of Amazon鈥檚 U.S. bestseller list.

In The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell鈥檚 1984, Dorian Lynskey, a longtime contributor to The Guardian and the author of 鈥�33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day,鈥� attempts an intellectual and artistic exploration of the origins of 鈥�1984鈥� and its remarkable life as a cultural touchstone. Unfortunately, despite some key insights and the wealth of history in its pages, this book is not what Orwell鈥檚 last and most famous novel deserves. 鈥淭he Ministry of Truth鈥� is a superficial, scattered account of the authors and books that provided a context for 鈥�1984鈥� and the events that helped make Orwell the artist who could write it, with none of the depth that Orwell, his times, or the novel deserve.

Lynskey commands an impressive knowledge of the literary culture of the period, which he puts on full display to provide a sense of the artistic cross-pollination that helped Orwell write his dystopian novel. However Lynskey鈥檚 passages on pre-鈥�1984鈥� authors and speculative fiction will try the reader鈥檚 patience with their length and on occasion their irrelevance. He devotes an entire chapter to the life and work of Edward Bellamy, whose 1888 novel 鈥淟ooking Backward:聽2000鈥�1887鈥� depicted a United States in the year 2000 that had been transformed into a socialist utopia. However culturally important 鈥淟ooking Backward鈥� was (it was an international bestseller) it鈥檚 difficult to imagine the impact it could have had on Orwell. As Lynskey admits, 鈥渢here is not a single reference to Edward Bellamy鈥� in any of Orwell鈥檚 writing. For a man who wrote about and discussed books extensively throughout his life, it鈥檚 a telling omission.

The chapter on H.G. Wells begins promisingly 鈥� Orwell read Wells avidly as a young man, and a short story he wrote during his teens clearly bears Wells鈥� stamp 鈥� but it veers off track into a mini-biography of Wells, following him into his bitter later years, when political leaders consistently ignored his grand plans for humanity鈥檚 betterment. And while many of the authors Lynskey writes about are certainly relevant to an understanding of Orwell, particularly Aldous Huxley聽and the Russian novelist Yevgeny Zamyatin, many chapters of 鈥淭he Ministry of Truth鈥� bombard the reader with so many writers and book titles (even Ayn Rand is mentioned at one point) it鈥檚 overwhelming and confusing.

Lynskey would have done better to write in more detail about the lived experiences that provided Orwell with material for 鈥�1984.鈥� He states repeatedly that the atmosphere of political terror that gripped Barcelona in the spring of 1937 was the basis for the atmosphere of suspicion and denunciation that pervades Oceania, but his account of Orwell鈥檚 time in Barcelona is little more than a chronicle of events, despite providing every indication that people wrote about the human toll of living in such circumstances.

Another disappointing aspect of Lynskey鈥檚 book is his refusal to discuss at any length wartime rationing and its effect on the British psyche. He devotes at most 8 sentences to the subject, skirting any engagement with a reality that must have profoundly influenced Orwell in his writing of 鈥�1984.鈥� For Oceania is not just a world of pervasive lies and emotional and intellectual repression. It鈥檚 also a world of physical deprivation: of bad food and frayed clothes, where fresh fruit and real chocolate are almost unimaginable luxuries. It鈥檚 impossible to believe the hardships of life in 1940s Britain weren鈥檛 central to the creation of Orwell鈥檚 masterpiece.

The failures of 鈥淭he Ministry of Truth鈥� are doubly frustrating because Lynskey is clearly a talented writer. His chapters on 鈥�1984鈥檚鈥� life after Orwell鈥檚 death 鈥� its appropriation across the political spectrum, the adaptations for stage and screen, and its importance to artists such as David Bowie and Terry Gilliam 鈥� are fascinating. And the parallels he draws between the propaganda of Oceania and the alternative realities created by the Trump administration are truly chilling.

Unfortunately the better parts of 鈥淭he Ministry of Truth鈥� aren鈥檛 enough to redeem its flaws. Anyone inclined to observe the anniversary of the publication of 鈥�1984鈥� would do better to re-read the novel itself.