THE ASPIDISTRA, THOUGH TATTERED, STILL FLIES

George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] was born one hundred years ago today in Motihari, Bengal, India. We have a number of links to more information about and by him. If you notice broken links or know of others that should be added please let us know (it looks like several of his essays were taken down, presumably for copyright reasons). Or if you have a favorite we'll add it at the front here so others can share in it.

There's much bickering these days over who is entitled to his legacy, with the Left staking their claim on the basis of his professed socialism, and nothing else that can be discerned. But to understand how profoundly conservative he really was you need to read two of his lesser known novels--Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up for Air--which express an overwhelming love for middle-class England, especially as it existed before WWI. Here's more on his conservatism, in relation to Christopher Hitchens's book, which similarly is a product of a former-Leftist's move to the Right: AB HONESTO VIRUM BONUM NIHIL DETTERET (Brothers Judd Blog, 2/11/03). Posted by Orrin Judd at June 25, 2003 9:48 AM