tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56517509827718842.post7558958478711642294..comments2024-03-27T22:41:54.513-07:00Comments on Raritania: Lying About What We ReadNaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06937701625419069972noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56517509827718842.post-59238646875852115222013-08-18T12:52:37.995-07:002013-08-18T12:52:37.995-07:00I certainly agree that it is relevant, and that th...I certainly agree that it is relevant, and that this is probably why people do end up lying about it-because it keeps coming up, and rightly so. (By contrast, Joyce, for example, isn't likely to come up in a talk about current events, or the state of society; his concerns lay elsewhere.)<br /><br />And because when it does come up, one is more likely to be embarrassed about not having read it than, for instance, conceding that they didn't read Proust. Indeed, the title of Germaine Greer's piece in The Guardian,<br />"Why do people gush over Proust? I'd rather visit a demented relative," pretty much says it all.<br /><br />The piece, which came up third when I typed "Proust" into the Google search engine, can be read at the address below:<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/nov/08/germaine-greer-proustNaderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06937701625419069972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56517509827718842.post-24569245993904917442013-08-18T10:43:40.146-07:002013-08-18T10:43:40.146-07:00Propably because 1984 is still seen as relevant in...Propably because 1984 is still seen as relevant in politic and society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56517509827718842.post-85030668256673168842013-08-18T07:56:24.270-07:002013-08-18T07:56:24.270-07:00Hi Freivolk.
I certainly don't argue with the...Hi Freivolk.<br /><br />I certainly don't argue with the poll numbers, or the widespread confusion about the book's contents. As I say in the post "Certainly it is, like the books previously mentioned, much more often cited than read, let alone understood." (In the United States, in fact, the understanding of the book seems almost totally distorted by the ways people have used it in political argument.)<br /><br />I was just surprised that more people reported lying about it than lying about War and Peace or Joyce or Proust, simply because I found it a much easier book to begin and to finish than many of the others mentioned on the list.Naderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06937701625419069972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56517509827718842.post-67707428036500161442013-08-18T07:32:00.469-07:002013-08-18T07:32:00.469-07:00I think I must answer to an articel, which mention...I think I must answer to an articel, which mentions Dr. Doofenshmirtz.<br /><br />I believe 1984 is really one of this books which lot people talk about, but few have read it. I was actually very surprised as I read it the first time. After all the talk I heard about it, I expected a futuristic-computirized world and not all that old-fashioned Stalinism. Still I had the excuse to be a teenager, but at the same time a german movie critic wrote about the new 1984 movie, that all this 1940-style missed the point, because the book was all about the danger of modern consumerism.<br /><br />freivolkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com