Dorian Lynskey

I read this in paralell with my re-read of 1984.

The angle this book took (being a biography of a book) worked really well. In the introduction it is said that:

"The book was a consummation of years of thinking, writing and reading about utopias, super-states, dictators, prisoners, propaganda, technology, power, language, culture, class, sex...."

The Ministry of Truth opens a window into what these were, what influences was Orwell exposed to (work, countries resided in, politics), what was the prevailing social and political climate of the time, how his other writings explored some of the themes which are fully developed in Nineteen Eighty-Four. The book Nineteen Eighty-Four has almost seeped into the edges of culture so even those who have never read it have an opinion on what it's about (at the very minimum Big Brother on TV - love it or hate it, you almost can't help but know it's there)

This book also has some really good references in the back that I'm looking forward to potentially sinking my teeth into (my TBR list continues to breed)

This was definitely a good book but due to lack of shelf space it won't be a keeper. I'll be placing it in my local little library so others can enjoy if they wish… (mehr)

Be advised – if you loved 1984 you will also love the many companion works cited in THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH. 1984 was well-known and influential, but it was just one among many dystopian/utopian works during Orwell’s life. The author has definitely done his research and it shows. The beginning is heavy with politics, then smooths out about 20% in with excellent compare and contrast of HG Wells, Orwell, and Aldous Huxley.

Orwell admired Brave New World, up to a point. He had fond memories of being taught by Huxley at Eton in 1918; a classmate claimed Huxley had given Orwell a “taste for words and their accurate and significant use”. However, [Orwell] was unconvinced by Brave New World’s tyranny of gratification. He notes that there was no “power-hunger, no sadism, no hardness of any kind. (E)veryone is happy in a vacuous way….it is difficult to believe that such a society could endure”.

The author goes on to note that 1984 and BNW overlap in one area: the status of the proles, then provides more compare/contrast dialogue. This is what makes the book shine – thoughtful and erudite treatment of multiple dystopian works and the ways they matter.

Other authors whose history is intermingled with Orwell’s are included in this book. We will learn more about Yevgeny Zamyatin (who Orwell was accused of plagiarizing), Ayn Rand, and Jimmy Burnham. The movie THX1138 and Animal Farm are also discussed at length. Each of these chapters add another layer explaining the genius of the tortured and driven Orwell. As the book progresses, the politics and descriptions of war-torn London do so as well. Finally, as the tubercular Orwell languishes in bed, post-war London starts its progression forward.

The second portion of the book brings 1984 into pop culture, and how the book affected music, movies, stagflation, and politics. Author Anthony Burgess compares his own blockbuster novel, A Clockwork Orange, to 1984 and shares his thoughts about Orwell. Time moves forward into the ‘60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s, with politics continuing to be at the forefront. McCarthyism rears its ugly head, if only for a moment. It is amazing how the author is able to use 1984 as the center of everything – this novel was much more influential than anyone could guess.

Altogether, this book is layered with anecdotes, political views, comparison, and original thoughts. If you are a fan of Orwell, you will adore this book. I certainly gained a new view of both Animal Farm and 1984 and plan to go back to re-read both.… (mehr)

Dorian Lynskey’s, The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984, while covering aspects of George Orwell’s (Eric Blair) life, documents the influences of utopian and dystopian literature upon Orwell in his creation of 1984. Influences include the more obvious, Looking Backward (1888) by Edward Bellamy, Huxley’s, Brave New World (1932), but also Zamyatin’s, We (1924). Orwell’s volunteer fighting with POUM, during the Spanish Civil War, hugely affected Orwell’s thinking on the double-think of totalitarianism. Left-wing journalists at the time accepted the lie of spies in the loyalist government, finding it convenient in their support of Stalin. Orwell refused to do so, and declared this refusal in, Homage to Catalonia. He became an heretic among the left as a result.
Later, Lynskey’s addresses in depth the myth that a dying Orwell wrote, 1984, in despair. “Nothing in Orwell’s work,” writes Lynskey, “supports a diagnosis of despair.”
After Orwell’s death, 1984 itself becomes the subject of biography. Both the left and the right took up the book for their cause. In response by the right's attempt to coopt him, Orwell declared that he was a socialist and would work to change socialism and the left from within. That did not stop the right from trying to use him for their purposes, nor the left from targeting him posthumously with the false claim that, had he lived, Orwell would have moved to the right.
In closing, Lynskey says that 1984 was meant to be a warning, not a prediction. Orwell, Lynskey emphasizes, emphasized the state, not the individual. Today’s individuals are threatened, not by the state, but by the bubbles and echo chambers they inhabit in social media. No torture or threats needed. Does Lysneky relate 1984 to the current political situation of Donald Trump. Absolutely. Fake news. Amnesia to history. Disregard of facts all get mentioned as the book closes. Understandably, Lynskey focuses on the individuals currently holding power, along with the misguided mass of people who support them.
In closing, Lysneky fails to mention the threat to truth from the left – a disappointment to this writer, himself a progressive -- where shame is proving a greater threat to truth than the interrogators serving Big Brother. In the middle of the current left-right toxicity, Orwell’s, 1984, stands as a refreshing antidote.… (mehr)

La fascinante obra 1984, de George Orwell, se ha convertido en un relato definitorio del mundo moderno. Su influencia cultural puede observarse en algunas de las creaciones más notables de los últimos setenta años, desde El cuento de la criada de Margaret Atwood hasta el hito televisivo Gran Hermano, mientras que ideas como «Policía del Pensamiento», «doblepensamiento» y «nuevalengua» están arraigadas en nuestro discurso. El Ministerio de la Verdad traza la vida de uno de los libros más influyentes del siglo xx y una obra que es cada vez más relevante en esta tumultuosa era de «noticias falsas» y «hechos alternativos». Dorian Lynskey investiga las influencias que confluyeron en la escritura de 1984, desde las experiencias de Orwell en la guerra civil española y en el Londres de la guerra hasta su fascinación por la ficción utópica y distópica. Lynskey explora el fenómeno en que se convirtió la novela cuando se publicó por primera vez, en 1949, y las formas cambiantes en que se ha leído desde entonces, revelando cómo la historia puede orientar a la ficción y cómo la ficción a su vez puede influir en la historia.… (mehr)