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Topic:
Modern Classics of World Literature (currently disc. "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck)
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
9/1/07 6:52pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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Okay, take a deep breath, and consider this: why did the American Revolution not end in a military dictatorship? It *nearly* went awry, during the constitutional conferences; it was Washington that pulled the irons from the fire. Do you know that Europeans were absolutely *astonished* when he retired after his second term?
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GrandAdmiralJello
Title:
Emperor
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Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
9/1/07 8:25pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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It *nearly* went awry, during the constitutional conferences; it was Washington that pulled the irons from the fire.
Explain.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 4:06pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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He basically prevented the constitutional conference from dissolving in acrimony, as it threatened to do.
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DarthBoba
Registered:
Jun '00
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 4:58pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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This book is genuinely horrifying in a way Stephen King can't even come near. What happens to the draft horse when he's too old to be of use, anyone?
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Neils Bohr:
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GrandAdmiralJello
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 5:36pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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Zaz posted:
He basically prevented the constitutional conference from dissolving in acrimony, as it threatened to do.
Mmm, yes--that.
Sorry, given your previous line I thought you were referring to the US turning into a dictatorship.
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Roma Æterna|SPQR Imperium Sine Fine "Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque" -Ennius, Annales "Tu regere imperio populos, Romanæ, memento;hæ tibi erunt artes; pascisque imponere morem, parcere subjectis et debellare superbos" -Virgil, Aeneid
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DarthBoba
Registered:
Jun '00
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 5:37pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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1954 animated film — The book was the basis of an animated feature film in 1954 (Britain's first full-length animated movie), directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor and quietly commissioned by the American CIA.[10] This version softened the theme of the story slightly by reducing the role of Moses, the character representing religion. It also added an epilogue where the other animals successfully revolt against the pigs immediately after the novel's iconic concluding imagery is depicted.
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Ender_Sai
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Feb '01
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 5:44pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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Orwell, like GB Shaw, was both a socialist and critic of Stalinism which is, as Zaz notes, the basis of this novel. I think of the most piercing insights into the way the Soviet style of government worked (not just in the USSR, but in China, and the Warsaw Pact states) is that the revolutionaries forget that which drove them and so instead of the state serving the people, the people serve the state.
E_S
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Thrawn1786
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
9/2/07 8:11pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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*wonders how she missed this thread* 
I read Animal Farm out of sheer curiosity a few years ago, and it was intriguing. Also kind of sad, if that makes any sense. I really ought to re-read it, now that I know a little bit more about politics than I did when I first picked up the book.
Oh, and I remember I got all sorts of weird looks for reading this instead of Harry Potter.  (I don't want to start a fight about HP. It just frustrated me when people would tease and make stupid comments because I didn't read it. One person, when I was reading A Tale of Two Cities, told me there was no way Dickens was better than Rowling, and I was just wasting my time.  )
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NYCitygurl
Title: Manager of SFFBC, C&G, and NSWFF
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
9/3/07 8:25am
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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Zaz posted:
He basically prevented the constitutional conference from dissolving in acrimony, as it threatened to do.
I'll give you that; however, I'm still incredibly sick of him. There are other great leaders.
I agree with Ender
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MarcusP2
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Jul '04
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Date Posted:
9/3/07 9:55am
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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Had to read this book for English years ago but like many of the assigned texts (with the exception of Grapes of Wrath) I enjoyed it a lot. Not too long, easy to read, but it has a powerful message. I'm a fan of Orwell (at least the two books of his I've read  )
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GrandAdmiralJello
Title:
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Date Posted:
9/3/07 2:54pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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NYCitygurl posted:
Zaz posted:
He basically prevented the constitutional conference from dissolving in acrimony, as it threatened to do.
I'll give you that; however, I'm still incredibly sick of him. There are other great leaders.
Certainly. It's odd that your schools had such a focus on him--beyond the usual fables told in elementary school, I can't really ever recall being given any sort of focus on Washington in any history course. Then again, I did have an internationally-based education so that could do it.
I enjoyed Animal Farm and I found it to be a nice allegory, but I didn't find it as deep or studied as well as Orwell's other works--for instance, I continue to see The Burmese Days as his best work.
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Roma Æterna|SPQR Imperium Sine Fine "Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque" -Ennius, Annales "Tu regere imperio populos, Romanæ, memento;hæ tibi erunt artes; pascisque imponere morem, parcere subjectis et debellare superbos" -Virgil, Aeneid
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NYCitygurl
Title: Manager of SFFBC, C&G, and NSWFF
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
10/4/07 6:50pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing Animal Farm)
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The Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum's successful book is the story of a young girl from Kansas who is swept off to the land of Oz during a tornado. She inherits a pair of slippers from the Wicked Witch of the East, and is hunted by her sister, the famous Wicked Witch of the West. She has to defeat the witch, with help from the Cowardly Lion, the Tinman, the Scarecrow, and her dog Toto, and return home to her aunt.
It was made into a famous movie starring Judy Garland, and was one of the first color movies. It has recently gained popularity again with the novel Wicked, which told the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The story has been made into a Broadway musical.
I love the Judy Garland movie, and the play Wicked was fabulous. I didn't like the book, though -- as a matter of fact, I'm not all that fond of the original book, even though I've read it several times, probably because I saw the movie first, when I was very little.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
10/4/07 9:18pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing The Wizard of Oz)
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Actually Baum had a terrific sense of humour, honed by years and years as an actor in vaudeville. And this is one of the very few classic-era fantasties with an American origin. There's a whole raft of sequels, some godawful, some very funny.
The movie has a bit of a vaudeville flavour to it, too.
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Palpateen
Registered:
Apr '00
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Date Posted:
10/4/07 9:24pm
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing The Wizard of Oz)
- Date Edited:
10/4/07 9:24pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Palpateen
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Didn't the three actors who played the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion have some previous vaudevillian experience that they invested in their characters?
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
10/5/07 7:00am
Subject:
RE: Modern Classics of World Literature (currently discussing The Wizard of Oz)
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Yes, they were all vaudevillians, so they got the proper spirit.
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