If you think 1984 is challenging to read, imagine trying to write it!

This article talks about Orwell’s writing of the novel in an isolated Scottish farmhouse in 1948. And how it just about killed him.  Students studying the novel might find this article interesting, especially about his thinking on the title of the novel.

From the GUARDIAN

Ignore the conventional advice and … try these at home!

1. The male characters in the film are more fragile and vulnerable than the female characters Do you agree?

2. How does Sarah Watt convey the connections and various views between her characters in the film, Look Both Ways?

3. Many of Sarah Watt’s central characters seem preoccupied with thoughts of death and despair. How she convey this in the film, and what does she suggest about the effects of such thoughts?

Here at the EnglishBook we don’t really tend to highly endorse the study guides that are available on single texts, especially those of the generic USA variety designed to help college kids with their SATs or something.

But, they play a part, and can be useful at times, when you’re checking your knowledge, refreshing your understanding or looking for some good words. As long as you keep them in their place and never use them to try to replace developing an understanding of your own!

Shmoop’s CRUCIBLE pages seem to have some good material, and nice hyperlinks to some of the background knowledge you might find useful. Just remember to read the book as well!

If you’re studying 1984 this year you might be intersested in following the Orwell Diaries.  Since August last year the Orwell Prize has been blogging George Orwell’s 1938 diaries, each diary entry published on the blog exactly seventy years since Orwell wrote it.

You won’t hear much about 1984, he hadn’t written it yet, but it’s a fascinating insight into the life and thinking of one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Even if some diary entries talk about nothing except the number of eggs the chickens have laid.

The site says:

‘When one reads any strongly individual piece of writing, one has the impression of seeing a face somewhere behind the page’, wrote George Orwell, in his 1939 essay on Charles Dickens.

Since 9th August 2008, The Orwell Prize has been blogging George Orwell’s diaries, allowing you to gather your own impression of Orwell’s face – behind the screen, rather than the page. Each diary entry is published on the blog exactly seventy years after it was originally written by Orwell, beginning in 1938 and allowing you to follow Orwell’s recuperation in Morocco, his return to the UK, and his opinions on the descent of Europe into war in real time. The diaries end in 1942, three years into the conflict.

What impression of Orwell will emerge? From his domestic diaries (which started on 9th August 2008), it may be a largely unknown Orwell, whose great curiosity is focused on plants, animals, woodwork, and – above all – how many eggs have been laid. From his political diaries (from 7th September 2008), it may be the Orwell whose political observations and critical thinking have enthralled and inspired generations since his death in 1950. Whether writing about the Spanish Civil War or sloe gin, geraniums or Germany, Orwell’s perceptive eye and rebellion against the ‘gramophone mind’ he so despised are obvious.

And for more references on Orwell, don’t neglect the EnglishBook delicious links on Orwell here:

http://delicious.com/englishbook/orwell

For those students doing the film text Look Both Ways, the good news is that SBS are going to be screening the film at 9PM on Sunday, August 24th as part of their Australian film festival. Take the opportunity to tape it if you haven’t already got your own copy.

It’s such a popular text for study that I’m sure this session of the forthcoming Melbourne Writers Festival will be popular. Get in quick!

Spotlight on Look Both Ways,

with William McInnes & Sarah Watt

Look Both Ways was written and directed by Sarah Watt and stars William McInnes in the leading role. Gain a privileged insight into this film from its two key players. Sarah will discuss why she wrote the film and William will talk about how he interpreted Sarah’s script. Both will discuss how the film was created and why it has resonated with so many people.

2514 VCE

Information

Venue: BMW Edge Theatre, Federation Square

Time: 5.00pm – 6.00pm

Cost: $6 per student (booking fee included)

MORE HERE

Some people will do anything to sell books but this is one of the stranger 1984 covers I’ve seen.

Apparently it’s from 1954. The back cover says:

Which One Will YOU Be In the Year 1984?

There won’t be much choice, of course, if this book’s predictions turn out to be true. But you’ll probably become one of the following four types:

Proletarian–Considered inferior and kept in total ignorance, you’ll be fed lies from the Ministry of Truth, eliminated upon signs of promse of ability!

Police Guard–Chosen for lack of intelligence but superior brawn, you’ll be suspicious of everyone and be ready to give your life for Big Brother, the leader you’ve never even seen!

Party Member: Male–Face-less, mind-less, a flesh-and-blood robot with a push-button brain, you’re denied love by law, taught hate by the flick of a switch!

Party Member: Female–A member of the Anti-Sex League from birth, your duty will be to smother all human emotion, and your children might not be your husband’s!

Unbelievable? You’ll feel differently after you’ve read this best-selling book of forbidden love and terror in a world many of us may live to see!

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Speaking of back cover blurbs: the original Penguin edition had this on the back cover:

Newspeak, Doublethink, Big Brother, the Thought Police – George Orwell’s world-famous novel coined new and potent words of warning for us all. Alive with Swiftian wit and passion, it is one of the most brilliant satires on totalitarianism and the power-hungry ever written.

and that was replaced recently with:

‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent – even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101 …

You can read more about how Penguin re-designed the cover of 1984 on the Penguin Blog HERE

The nice thing about doing ‘contemporary’ texts in English, rather than say Shakespeare or the ancient Greeks, is that you can sometimes see videos or hear audio of the writer themselves. Here’s Orwell’s own reading of the last pages of 1984.

Studying 1984 and finding it a little difficult? You’re probably not alone. It’s a dense and politically orientated text, presenting us with a very different and very frightening future.

You might find the COMIC version of Chapter 1 and 2 might help find your way into the text. It WONT replace a reading, but it might help you get the picture.  Online HERE

“Above all, I wanted to know the individuals, to get into their heads and their hearts. In all their variety of personalities, they must have been like people I knew and like myself - not heroes and not devils, but just human beings, stumbling from one small decision to the next and in so doing, without really planning it, creating the shape of their lives. As I wrote, I kept coming back to the central question: what would I have done in their place?”

So says author KATE GRENVILLE, as she expands on her thinking about writing The Secret River on her home page. Essential reading if you’re doing the context ‘Encountering Conflict’.