Why I picked it up at the time I did: When I read some things about Jack London it linked his dystopian novel The Iron Heel to Nineteen Eighty-Four. That put Orwell in my mind. Later when I went to the library and was reading God is not Great, it mentioned Animal Farm and asked why heaven hates ham? In light of my earlier posts about BBQ, I knew I had to read the book immediately.
Under the original title Animal Farm, A Fairy Story, it was written by Orwell to express what he saw happening in Russia after the revolution. The promises and subversions of the revolution leaders are examined by the actions of animals who take over a farm. If you have not read the book, it is short, easy to understand, and enjoyable.
If possible, you should read Orwell's purposed but originally unpublished introduction to the novel. There is a copy of the introduction available online. It summarizes his struggle to find a publisher and is a tract for freedom of the press. Also floating around out there is Orwell's introduction to the Ukrainian edition of the novel. It basically introduces Orwell as the author, establishes his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, and why the story is important to him. However, reading the previous paragraph of this post is more introductory material than you need to reap the knowledge of the book. These are both good introductions, unlike the one in front of the edition I read.
A word on Introductions
Why do publishers put writing in the front of books and call them introductions if they give away details of the plot and slant viewpoints of the readers? Are works really so hard to understand or people so stupid that they need to be told the lessons and points of the story before it begins? An introduction that comes before a work (novel, short story, etc.) should respect the plot and actions of what is to follow.
As a person who writes things and tells stories, I would be offended if my work was preempted by spoiler type information. Surprise, contradiction, and sudden plot twists can be used to great effect. However, if a publisher has given away the farm with dissemination of details up front the reader is robbed of the full force and experience of reading the work.
In Animal Farm, when something bad happened to one of the characters at the end of the book, I knew it was going to happen because the introduction had already hinted at it. Any feelings of outrage or betrayal I felt were tempered, because I knew what was coming long before the end.
There is something called an afterword. It is placed after the work and read after the work. As such, it can give a fuller discussion of the book and mention any details of the plot it wants to.
As I have said before, I will not carelessly reveal any details of books or other works on this blog that could take away from experiencing the works themselves for the first time. The following image does not tell anything about the story or what will happen to any of the characters so I will post it. It is what I imagined the flag to be like when I was reading the book.
Now it is time for something else.Drama Queen
2 oz Rum
1/2 oz Peach schnapps
Orange juice
7-up
After combining the rum and peach schnapps, fill with half 7-up and half orange juice. I found this drink at Bar None Drinks.
I couldn't agree more with your comments about introductions in books, Chris. Recently, I bought a copy of a play by a famous contemporary American playwright. For some reason, the playwright thought it would be a sensible idea to write an introduction to his own play and give away the story's dramatic final twist in the introduction. I felt robbed by the author before I even finished the introduction.
ReplyDeleteChris, I'm still working my way through your older posts, but I did want to say this:
ReplyDeleteI was temporarily rather upset because I am a huge Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan. But then, on your next post, you pointed out that Rocky and Bullwinkle is available on Hulu. I had not known that, and I am greatly looking forward to watching it! So it's all good.
Authors should know better. Since it is a recent publication, you could write the publisher and/or author a letter informing them of the problem.
ReplyDeleteI have plans to mention Hitchhiker's Guide in a future post. You can help me defend it from some accusations.