Lord of the Flies 1984 This is our destination when history is ignored and culture is trashed, civilization must return to its primal roots to relearn. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
With as much as I read (I currently have 13 books checked out from the library) you'd have thunk I would have read Lord of the Flies. But --- nooooooo. So I ordered a used copy from Amazon. Our library system has 27 copies and most are checked out. Don't forget Fahrenheit 451 - a personal favorite of mine.
Cube, I plan to read Animal Farm one day also. Retirement days.
I've enjoyed Kurt Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle. Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions. Slaughterhouse 5 has some of Kurt's real time WWII experiences folded in.
I've read all of the books mentioned here, including, I believe, all of Vonnegut. A lot of that was when I worked in an auto plant and had time on the job. I don't read books much anymore. Like Kid said, retirement days.
Kid, I may appear to be just a science geek, but I've read many of the classics and I've also read of all of the Vonnegut books you mentioned. Animal Farm is one you should read right now. It's as important as 1984 is in our times. Don't put it off.
Those are the major dystopian novels I've read. All paint essentially the same gruesome, terrifying picture. Though the details, characters and settings vary, each of these books carries essentially the same message:
WE are OUR OWN WORST ENEMY.
Even Walt Kelly's cartoon character Pogo said it in the mid-nineteen-fifties when he famously published "WE have MET the ENEMY, and he is US!" I was fourteen at the time, and remember being struck by that while reading the Pogo strip in the New ork Herald Tribune when Kelly first first presented it.
The veneer giving us the appearance of being civilized is, and always has been, exceedingly thin –– and very fragile.
Things aren't really different now from what they always have been, BUT since the powerful discoveries and developments in "Science" and "Technology" have replaced the absolute authority of DIVINE LAW –– especially in the minds of far too many members of our supposedly "elite," educated class, the process of degeneration and dissolution has been greatly accelerated.
Unless and until we learn once again to RESPECT, BELIEVE and RELY on the supremacy and benevolence of GOD, as revealed to us in the Holy Bible, things aren't going to get any better. We'll just keep on chasing our tails with ever increasing efficiency and ferocity at ever increasing ates of speed in impotent frenzy –– a truly dismal prospect.
Franco, High school students read most, if not all, of those books. But these students, thanks to leftist teachers, do not glean the real lessons presented therein. This does not bode well for the future of our republic!
I know, but interesti gly enough neither Huxley, Orwel or Atwood fully realized the TRUTH in what they wrote. All three were "socialists" and Atwood in particular has been described as an ardent militant feminist who interpreted her own work, The Handmaid's Tale as an attack on tradtional patriarchal White Male supremacy which SHE. apparently, believes has been responsible for most of the evils experienced in the so-calle civiized world.
I see this great music as well. BRAHMS for instance was quoted as saying after listening to a performance of one of his own works, "SO it can be interpreted THAT way too! I never thought of it thart way before, myself, but YES. it WORKS."
These apparent disparities are a good part of the reason my belief in God has grown stronger and stronger the more i learn. Whether an actor, author, artist or composer is aware of it, –– or not ––, GOD WILL GET HIS MESSAGE OUT –– no matter what.
The Scottish theologian Oswald Chambers, author of the daily devotionl My Utmost for His Highest, wrote to this effect: The strain of daily iiving,–– and of striving to strengthen our faith despite adversity ––, is the source of all our strength. The STRAIN ISthe STRENGTH.
As austere and unpalatabe as tha may seem to our sybaritic modern ears, I –– after nearly 78 years of challengung, highly eventfu living –– have come to believe it more and more.
ORWELL –– and the rest on tha list and many beyond –– proved at least that INSIGHT and IMAGINATION are greater and more important than KNOWLEDGE, Kid.
IMAGINATION is the Mother of all Human Achievement and most of r Woe.
I believe that if we could IMAGINE ourselves INTO the Stinking Mess we now must live with, we could –– with FAITH and LOVE –– jolly well IMAGINE ourselves OUT of it, and move on to places with cleaner, purer air, and better prospects.
TRUTH cnnot be killed, we have only to grasp and acknowledge its immense power to get ourselves on a more productive track.
Franco has listed a number of George Orwell dystopian classics of which large chapters of each have become reality in 2018.
I would cite 'Darkness at Noon,' by Arthur Koestler, published in the 1940's. Once we succumb to socialist utopian politics (which always sound good on paper), just watch this classic lay the blue print for what is to come. Not good.
'Lord of the Flies' is a good read, and has a lot of problematic tendencies inherent in 'democracies' that we are seeing these days. Especially in Broward and Palm Beach counties in FL.
Fredd - we have a copy of Darkness at Noon,' by Arthur Koestler at our library. I've put it on hold and should have it in a few days. Thanks for the suggestion.
You should read my latest about erasure of history.
ReplyDeleteYour latest one ED? I'll get to it. I saw it but didn't have the time.
ReplyDeleteWith as much as I read (I currently have 13 books checked out from the library) you'd have thunk I would have read Lord of the Flies. But --- nooooooo. So I ordered a used copy from Amazon. Our library system has 27 copies and most are checked out. Don't forget Fahrenheit 451 - a personal favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteAdrienne, Lord of the Flies is an eye opener just as 1984 is. I have not read Fahrenheit 451. I will do so.
DeleteOh, Dear Lord in Heaven - you haven't read Fahrenheit 451??? Now I don't feel so bad for not having read LotF.
DeleteI've read them both. I'll throw in Animal Farm. I may be a science major, but I'm no slouch when it comes to the rest of the liberal arts humanities.
DeleteAdrienne, Orwell, in my view, told me everything I needed to know to prepare for current times. I'll read it anyway though on your rec.
DeleteCube, I plan to read Animal Farm one day also. Retirement days.
DeleteI've enjoyed Kurt Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle. Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions.
Slaughterhouse 5 has some of Kurt's real time WWII experiences folded in.
You might all enjoy Kurt's views on EQUALITY in this short 6 page fictional vision. Fits 2018 pretty well !
DeleteI've read all of the books mentioned here, including, I believe, all of Vonnegut.
DeleteA lot of that was when I worked in an auto plant and had time on the job.
I don't read books much anymore.
Like Kid said, retirement days.
Kid, I may appear to be just a science geek, but I've read many of the classics and I've also read of all of the Vonnegut books you mentioned. Animal Farm is one you should read right now. It's as important as 1984 is in our times. Don't put it off.
DeleteThanks Cube. Will do.
DeleteDon't overlook The Iron Heel by Jack London ...
ReplyDelete:-)
Mustang
Mustang, Thanks, I'll check it out. Jack London comes with a 5 star rating.
DeleteThe Machine Stops (1909) by E.M. Forster
ReplyDeleteA Brave New World (1931-32) by Aldous Huxley
ANIMAL FARM (1945) by George Orwell
Nineteen-EIghty-Four (1949) by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
Those are the major dystopian novels I've read. All paint essentially the same gruesome, terrifying picture. Though the details, characters and settings vary, each of these books carries essentially the same message:
WE are OUR OWN WORST ENEMY.
Even Walt Kelly's cartoon character Pogo said it in the mid-nineteen-fifties when he famously published "WE have MET the ENEMY, and he is US!" I was fourteen at the time, and remember being struck by that while reading the Pogo strip in the New ork Herald Tribune when Kelly first first presented it.
The veneer giving us the appearance of being civilized is, and always has been, exceedingly thin –– and very fragile.
Things aren't really different now from what they always have been, BUT since the powerful discoveries and developments in "Science" and "Technology" have replaced the absolute authority of DIVINE LAW –– especially in the minds of far too many members of our supposedly "elite," educated class, the process of degeneration and dissolution has been greatly accelerated.
Unless and until we learn once again to RESPECT, BELIEVE and RELY on the supremacy and benevolence of GOD, as revealed to us in the Holy Bible, things aren't going to get any better. We'll just keep on chasing our tails with ever increasing efficiency and ferocity at ever increasing ates of speed in impotent frenzy –– a truly dismal prospect.
Franco,
DeleteHigh school students read most, if not all, of those books. But these students, thanks to leftist teachers, do not glean the real lessons presented therein. This does not bode well for the future of our republic!
I know, but interesti gly enough neither Huxley, Orwel or Atwood fully realized the TRUTH in what they wrote. All three were "socialists" and Atwood in particular has been described as an ardent militant feminist who interpreted her own work, The Handmaid's Tale as an attack on tradtional patriarchal White Male supremacy which SHE. apparently, believes has been responsible for most of the evils experienced in the so-calle civiized world.
DeleteI see this great music as well. BRAHMS for instance was quoted as saying after listening to a performance of one of his own works, "SO it can be interpreted THAT way too! I never thought of it thart way before, myself, but YES. it WORKS."
These apparent disparities are a good part of the reason my belief in God has grown stronger and stronger the more i learn. Whether an actor, author, artist or composer is aware of it, –– or not ––, GOD WILL GET HIS MESSAGE OUT –– no matter what.
The Scottish theologian Oswald Chambers, author of the daily devotionl My Utmost for His Highest, wrote to this effect: The strain of daily iiving,–– and of striving to strengthen our faith despite adversity ––, is the source of all our strength. The STRAIN ISthe STRENGTH.
As austere and unpalatabe as tha may seem to our sybaritic modern ears, I –– after nearly 78 years of challengung, highly eventfu living –– have come to believe it more and more.
All Good Ones Franco.
DeleteNow did Orwell predict the future, or did he lay out its blueprint ??
ORWELL –– and the rest on tha list and many beyond –– proved at least that INSIGHT and IMAGINATION are greater and more important than KNOWLEDGE, Kid.
DeleteIMAGINATION is the Mother of all Human Achievement and most of r Woe.
I believe that if we could IMAGINE ourselves INTO the Stinking Mess we now must live with, we could –– with FAITH and LOVE –– jolly well IMAGINE ourselves OUT of it, and move on to places with cleaner, purer air, and better prospects.
TRUTH cnnot be killed, we have only to grasp and acknowledge its immense power to get ourselves on a more productive track.
Good Idea Franco. I'll get to work.
DeleteFranco has listed a number of George Orwell dystopian classics of which large chapters of each have become reality in 2018.
ReplyDeleteI would cite 'Darkness at Noon,' by Arthur Koestler, published in the 1940's. Once we succumb to socialist utopian politics (which always sound good on paper), just watch this classic lay the blue print for what is to come. Not good.
'Lord of the Flies' is a good read, and has a lot of problematic tendencies inherent in 'democracies' that we are seeing these days. Especially in Broward and Palm Beach counties in FL.
Fredd - we have a copy of Darkness at Noon,' by Arthur Koestler at our library. I've put it on hold and should have it in a few days. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteFredd, I'll have to digest that one. Thanks.
Delete